By Olivia Pierson
[First published on Incite 17/4/19]

In the year of our Lord 2019, a whole slew of vandalism and disgusting desecrations have been taking place in Christian churches throughout France: twelve in one week, to be precise. 

Today, to our absolute horror, we are watching Notre Dame Cathedral burn. The sadness at seeing a magnificent 850-year-old monument to Christian civilisation ruined is palpable around the entire Western world.

In the midst of this terrible fire, while watching large tongues of flame lick up into the night sky, mainstream media commentators are putting forth the view that this is ‘probably accidental’ due to the renovations taking place in the tinder-dry roof of the wooden cathedral. 

In the ubiquitous commentaries, there is no mention of this year’s now commonplace vandalism on other French churches, including Paris’s second largest church, St Sulpice, which burst into flames on March 17th and was ruled as an arson attack.

The month of February saw the Church of Notre Dame des Enfants in Nimes desecrated after “intruders” smeared faeces on the wall in the form of a cross and then stuck hosts on it. 

In Lavaur, the altar cloth was set on fire in Saint Alain Cathedral and beautiful old statues of saints were smashed and scattered across the floor. 

The St Nicholas Catholic Church in Houilles, Yvelines had its Virgin Mary toppled and smashed. 

Though an investigation into the fire of Notre Dame is about to be launched, it would almost be an exercise in naivety at this stage to not see a connection to these other unholy desecrations.  But will the French media be truthful? The commonplace vandalism so far has given us no clue as to who the perpetrators are or why they commit such desecrations against landmarks of Christian culture.

The greatest romantic novelist of the 19th Century, Victor Hugo, felt so strong a love for Notre Dame Cathedral that he wrote his famous book, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, to save it from wanton neglect. For Hugo, the Cathedral was a sentient character which, throughout the tragic story, lived and breathed as a representation of humanity itself.  At the story’s climax, Notre Dame burns:

"All eyes were raised to the top of the church. They beheld there an extraordinary sight. On the crest of the highest gallery, higher than the central rose window, there was a great flame rising between the two towers with whirlwinds of sparks, a vast, disordered, and furious flame, a tongue of which was borne into the smoke by the wind, from time to time. Below that fire, below the gloomy balustrade with its trefoils showing darkly against its glare, two spouts with monster throats were vomiting forth unceasingly that burning rain, whose silvery stream stood out against the shadows of the lower façade."
Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Whether it be accident or arson, today this great symbol of the heart of Paris is on life support after Hugo took such pains to resurrect the glory of Notre Dame Cathedral by writing his powerful novel. Were he alive today, he would be weeping with his fellow Parisians at its tragic demise.

If you enjoyed this article, please buy my book "Western Values Defended: A Primer" ​ ​​

​By Olivia Pierson 
​[First published on Incite 10/4/19]

Chris Trotter’s latest piece for Incite, Fixing What’s been Broken, raised an important point which has also been occupying my own mind in the last few weeks.  Chris wrote: 

An effective defence of liberal democratic values requires at least one of two crucial qualities. The first is gravitas. A leader able to project wisdom and serious intent is an invaluable asset to any conservative party. If that same leader is also able to convey a sense of hidden strength – menace even – then so much the better. Is National’s current leader in possession of either of these qualities? Does Simon Bridges possess gravitas and/or menace? Not really, but then, does anyone in the present National caucus possess them?

Obviously, the answer is a resounding “no.” The entire National caucus is devoid of any members possessing gravitas and/or menace. Another word for menace might be ‘aggressiveness’. Defending a democracy from the insidious freedom-crushers, who are currently seeking to restrict freedom of expression in a frankly totalitarian way, requires an opposition leader to fight back with full-throated, aggressive conviction. Alas, there is no such opposition leader, not even among the minor right-wing parties, such as ACT or even the New Conservatives. The elusive One New Zealand Party doesn’t even have an operational website. 

In his article, Trotter goes on to pose an important question in light of an Islamic blessing being included in the Anzac Day commemorations at the Titahi Bay service, a day that Trotter points out is our “secular nation’s sole remaining ‘holy’ day”:

...has the official reaction to the Christchurch mosque shootings caused something to break in the political fidelity of those New Zealanders not invited to signal their virtue on Wallace Chapman’s ‘The Panel’, or Jessie Mulligan’s ‘The Project’?

Something broke alright. The rage and backlash against the Anzac debacle on social media shows that Kiwis recognise when a government is using a monstrous tragedy for the purpose of normalising Islam in our country.  

Our ANZACS answered the call to go and fight in the name of God, King and Country, not Allah, Caliph and Ummah. For a secular nation to offer up prayers to a Christian God is entirely fitting with our Christian heritage. To be offering them up to the god of Islam on Anzac Day is nothing short of weird and, when one also factors in the modern context of commonplace jihadist attacks on old Christendom that have now become a major problem in Europe, it is nothing short of bloody sinister. 

I’ve been saying for some time now that the minor right-wing parties need to consolidate amongst themselves on the single policy platform of freedom of speech being inviolate, and thus offer a real voting alternative to conservatives who are now hopelessly underwhelmed by National’s lack of “gravitas and menace”. 

However, a brave leader of such a coalition must be entirely comfortable with having highly weaponised terms such as racist, xenophobe and most assuredly Islamophobe being slung at him/her every minute of every day, because that is the mind-numbingly vicious reality of how the Left fights. Such terms are used only to short-circuit any discussion of ideas which pertain to 'one law for all', immigration, increased refugee quotas and Islam making its presence felt where it is neither wanted (by most Kiwis), nor warranted – like Anzac Day.

The most important virtue in this fight is courage; it also happens to be the most rare.
​

If you enjoyed this article, please buy my book "Western Values Defended: A Primer" ​ ​​