Interview de Sarah Knafo sur GB News : Cérémonie d’ouverture des JO et censure de la fréquence C8.

A

very good Sunday morning to you. Now, after a rather damp opening to the Paris Olympic opening ceremony, that's come under a barrage of criticism, from the slow winding procession to a strange interpretation of a Last Supper tableau. Was the daring and unusual ceremony a damp squib? Well, joining me now to discuss this is the French member of the European Parliament for the Reconquête party, Sarah Knaffo. Sarah, thank you so much for making the time for us this morning. First of all, Friday started with an extraordinary act of coordinated arson before anyone made any move on the opening ceremony at all. Do we know anything about who is to blame yet?

In

any case, the government is not saying. Far-left organisations have been mentioned as being responsible.

And I

have to say, I would not be surprised at all. It was Jean-Luc Mélenchon's friends who have threatened the Israeli delegation not to come to the Olympics, which is unacceptable. This attack shows how vulnerable the organisation of the Olympics is, despite the billions of euros spent for the preparation and for security. It shows that despite Macron's best efforts, the underlying reality of French society today is there. We are so divided because of Macron's policies and his predecessor's policies that we need 50,000 policemen to secure our capital. Is this a society at peace? No.

It

is the result of years of neglect of the core problem of our societies, including mass immigration. We live in a society that is negligent towards the guilty, the terrorists, the ultra-left, but intransigent with honest people.

We've

seen just how tough French government is on our media.

And

I think we will talk about it again.

We

will. We'll get to that in a little bit. But to the opening ceremony, it's, of course, caused quite a stir, quite an unusual opening ceremony. What did you make of it?

I

must say that I'm ashamed for my country. What a terrible spectacle we have given to the world. I don't recognise myself in what was portrayed of my country during this ceremony. Where was the beauty and the pride of our history? I would have had a million ideas to give to the show's designer, but too bad they didn't call me. In reality, the organizers tried to push a progressist. Walk agenda, as you said.

It

was not a show. It was propaganda. And a very boring, bad-taste propaganda. The ceremony was about how Macron sees France, not about what France really is, deeply. It was a series of boring clichés about diversity, transgenderism and multiculturalism. Like, it was a political show. This is not France.

There

was quite a lot of French culture in there. We saw the Louvre. We saw the most popular French-language singer. And, of course, at the end, the light show on the Eiffel Tower was tremendous. Surely that's something to be proud of.

Yeah,

yeah, you're right. The beautiful images of Paris,

our

capital, and our national anthem were beautiful.

Because

they can do everything that they like to our bridges and monuments, but these marvelous bridges and monuments continue to dazzle the world.

Now,

I think that we need to move on from this appealing ceremony. What is important for me now is the athletes and the competition. I look forward to see the athletes competing and I'm very happy and now very proud that France already won its first gold medal yesterday with the rugby. Well done to them.

Now,

of course, the tableau of the last supper that we saw on one of the bridges has caused a huge amount of controversy online. Some people are saying it's blasphemous, and that's leaving aside the fact that it's a representation of an Italian scene by an Italian painter. I'm not quite sure how related to France it's supposed to be. But I suppose, on the other hand, there is a proud and strong French tradition of putting two fingers up to authority and to religion and promoting sort of mockery in a way. Isn't this precisely what France has been about since 1789?

Very

interesting question. What it demonstrates is that these people do not respect our history as French people. You can criticize any religion in France. You are right. But the real problem is the fact that these people would not do this for other religions,

and

particularly Islam.

But

they are ready to do everything to destroy and humiliate our Christian heritage. They know that with Christians, they risk nothing. Karl Marx is quoted as saying, it's like slapping your grandmother in the face.

This

means that they are attacking another they have already destroyed.

When

you are a rebel,

you

risk something. Take Solzhenitsyn.

It

took courage to denounce the Soviet Union,

and

he paid a heavy price for it.

At

this ceremony, we had rebels applauded by the President of the Republic and praised by the press. They are the most subsidized rebels in the world from every public purse and every organization.

In

short, their rebellion is an official rebellion. And yet, do

you not look at

some of this criticism that's talking about all of this blasphemy and how outrageous it is, and think, is this not the country of Voltaire? Is this not a proud French tradition to be, well, quite blasphemous?

You

know, I can say that in the past, being subversive meant to be against the norm. Today, being subversive is the norm.

So,

they are official rebels.

OK. Well, we're going to move on to this question of the French broadcast regulator now. Of course, it's shut down a television channel that happened to be owned by a conservative. What on earth is going on here?

Yeah,

there is an attempt in France to shut down free speech, particularly towards the right. The regulator's decision is part of that. C8, this is the channel you are talking about, has been cancelled by the state because it dares to showcase different views on the political situation and on the problems that France is facing.

This

is ironic because most of the media landscape in France is dominated by the left.

Take

the public broadcaster. Radio France.

It

is openly anti-right. And yet, they are not being investigated or even criticized because they are on the right side of the political discourse.

So,

there is a double standard. According to me, it shows that the system is disparate. They can't fight us using regular methods. So, they attempt to stop us from reaching the French public.

They

want to succeed.

Yeah,

the channel had already attracted, I think, 7.6 million euros in fines. This is for various breaches of broadcasting standards. They were accused of promoting fake news and not respecting pluralism, not hosting all sides of the debate. What do you say to that?

They

were accused by the same regulator.

What

do you mean?

It

is the same regulator that accused them for what you say and the same one just canceled the channel. So, there is a circle. It's the same people. Firstly, the chairman of the French broadcast regulator is appointed by the president. So, you can imagine how independent it is. Some in the current government in France have called for the cancellation of C8 license.

The

regulator is supposed to be independent. But, these people are part of the same group. They went to the same school. I know them. I went to the same school as them. They don't even need to coordinate. They share the same ideology and they see channels like C8 as a threat. Like you, I think.

It's

fascinating because C8, as I'm told, hosted one of the most popular evening talk shows in France, which we can see on our screen right now. And now, it's being taken off air.

It

does seem quite extraordinary. Should we, on this side of the channel, be worried about that?

Yeah,

I think that this problem goes well beyond France's borders. All across Europe, the system feels threatened and is reacting in a more and more restrictive, illiberal way. It is sick to see

the

state and regulators being involved in judging what is politically right and wrong. who are they?

Who

elected them?

We

have a new holy inquisition that is killing freedom of speech. And yes, I've heard that GB News is also targeted. For me, it would be unacceptable if you are being stopped to broadcast for political reasons.

The

United Kingdom is the worst place of democracy in Parliament. It would be ironic if it's also the place where it dies.

Well,

let's hope that doesn't happen. Sarah, thank you so much for joining us and talking through those issues. Really appreciate your time. Sarah Knaffo there, Member of the European Parliament in France.

Now,

still ahead, will Britain bring back gold?