antisemitism,  France

Who are these people?

As an American I can’t imagine a disgusting “comedian” like Dieudonné, who gets laughs from mocking the near-extermination of Europe’s Jews, appealing to any more than a psychologically-damaged fringe of neo-Nazis.

So who (sociologically speaking) are these young French fans of his who have turned out for his performances in their thousands– until his shows were banned on Thursday?

And where are the principled anti-fascists who ought to be confronting and shaming them?

Citing a Wikipedia entry, Dieudonné also claimed that the judge who upheld the ban, Bernard Stirn, was a great-nephew of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jewish army officer falsely accused and convicted of spying for Germany in 1894. According to the comedian, the judge’s background alone was enough to explain “why the show [in Nantes] was forbidden.”