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Reflections on the Attempted Revolution in France

Reflections on the Attempted Revolution in France

Last updated on: October 20, 2026 at 11:58 am by Dan Peterson

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Reflections on the Attempted Revolution in France 2026-10-20T11:58:44-06:00 Dan Peterson

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A view of Sighișoara, Transylvania, Romania (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Last night, flipping through some of the television channels before flipping off the lights — an amazingly complex and initially baffling process in a weirdly designed ultramodern hotel room — I noticed an ad indicating that, a little bit later on, one channel was going to show Hotel Transylvania 2. Since we were staying in precisely such a hotel, that seemed oddly apt.

But Becoming Brigham would still be preferable.

We had an excellent bus guide yesterday and today, and we’ll have him again tomorrow. (I only know his first name, but will try to find out his surname.) He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in theatrical directing and playwriting, and his English is quite sophisticated. Part of today’s driving was through a beautiful forest full of green but also filled with the yellow and orange colors of autumn. He entertained us with descriptions of Transylvanian myths and legends about werewolves, fairies, vampires, and so forth.

Most of our little group had (a very good) lunch in the green hotel-restaurant on the right-hand side of this Wikimedia Commons public domain photo of Sighișoara.

It’s been interesting, since Budapest, to travel through areas that, over roughly the past half-millennium, spent at least a century or two being menaced by the Ottoman Turks or under their suzerainty if not altogether under Ottoman rule. Although I’m somewhat familiar with Ottoman history in southeastern Europe, I generally view the Ottomans from a Middle East vantagepoint. So coming in from this angle has been refreshingly different.

We also drove through territories occupied by Roma or Romani and by Transylvanian Saxons. (What a complex history this area has!) Apparently, if I heard correctly, one of the folk stories about the origin of the latter is that they descend from the children who were led off by the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

And, as on previous days here, we saw lots of depressingly ugly “Commie condos” (as our guide called them) and several rotting Communist factories, enormous eyesores that were unable to compete in a free-market economy.

In Bucharest, one of our guides related a joke that, she said, would have earned her jail time (or worse) under Nicolae Ceaușescu (1918-1989), the second and final dictator of Communist Romania: Every day, people had to wait in long lines for groceries. One day for butter. The next day for bread. The next day for vegetables. Then for one or two pieces of fruit. One man has finally had enough. He’s waited in line for hours. “I’m going to kill Ceaucescu,” he says, and he leaves the line. Two or three hours later, he’s back. “Did you do it?” ask the others in the food queue. “No,” he answers. “The line was too long.”

A Wikimedia Commons public domain photo taken in Bogata Forest (though not in the fall)

The beautiful wood that we crossed through is called Bogata Forest (Pădurea Bogății). Apparently, several years ago the rapper Snoop Dogg posted a note on social media about what a good time he was having in “Bogata,” and the hopeful rumor spread among Romanian fans of his (!) that he was vacationing in their country. They wanted to know whether he was planning to do a concert while in Romania, but it turns out that he had simply misspelled Bogotá. (They’re still hoping for a concert.)

Our object today was to visit the really pretty city of Sighișoara. The weather, which had been gray, turned gorgeous, and I think that all of us really enjoyed walking around the place.

A nighttime view of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, accompanied by a crescent moon. The latter is conclusive proof of a Muslim conspiracy. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

I’m normally something of a news addict, but I haven’t really been following more than the basic headlines over here. So I’m aware of the fact that there has been massive (and increasingly violent) rioting in France, but I’ve seen little analysis of the causes for it.

Well, I should probably restate that. I’ve been seeing online memes blaming the riots on multiculturalism, on open borders, and, in particular, on Islam and Muslims. My problem is that nothing that I have read has suggested anything of the kind. From what little I’ve seen, the grievances fueling the unrest seem to have little or no significant connection with Islam and the Middle East. Rather, they appear to be socio-economic in character, to be linked to rising prices and relatively declining incomes and a lack of opportunities for young people and, specifically, to perceived understaffing and underfunding of dilapidated schools. And the anger of the demonstrators has been further inflamed in some instances by apparent police overreaction, including really rough responses that have left some protestors grievously injured.

I have no doubt that the usual left-wing suspects—including pro-Palestinian movements—have sought to join the festivities and to exploit the discontent for their own ideological and partisan purposes. (Probably some right-wing types, too.) And I realize that, for some (especially in the United States), Islam is now functionally the source of all evil. (I’m reliably informed by numerous online memes that New York, Minnesota, Michigan, and Oregon are already under shari‘a and that, unless Lauren Boebert is returned to the House of Representatives and Ken Paxton is elected to the Senate of the United States, Houston, Jacksonville, and Panguitch will soon have shari‘a imposed upon them.) Still, I’m waiting for evidence that either multiculturalism or open borders or Muslims are among the principal drivers of France’s current woes.

As anybody who has heard of, say, the French Revolution or seen Les Miserables or read about May 1968 protests or the Gilets Jaunes Movement of 2018–2020 already knows full well, the French don’t really need outside tutorials on how to demonstrate, riot, and rebel.

Is there anyone out there who can supply me with specific evidence demonstrating that either Muslims, or immigrants, or multiculturalists are leading the current riots in France? Some folks whose memes I’ve recently seen online appear to be really confident of their position, so I’m asking for specific, substantial, verifiable evidence. Thanks in advance!

Posted from Brașov, Transylvania, Romania

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