Pascal Bruckner is not unfamiliar with disease and death. They have been accompanying him from the moment he was born, in Paris 71 years ago.
He was delivered with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, his little body blue. An hour of resuscitation was necessary – involving moving the baby between tubs of hot and cold water – in order to refute the doctors' diagnosis, according to which the infant had died during the delivery. "I was a miracle," writes Bruckner in his autobiography, "A Dutiful Son," published six years ago. There he bravely tells his painful life story, as the only child of an anti-Semitic, violent, and brutal father and an anti-Semitic mother, the victim of her husband's fits of rage.
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As a child Bruckner suffered from tuberculosis, which was common in his family, and was sent to recuperate in sanatoriums for children in Austria and Switzerland. "Death and disease have been my companions ever since," he writes, adding that when he was 19, his mother warned a female friend of his that, considering his medical condition, having sex on a daily basis would kill him.
Now at beginning of the eighth decade of his turbulent life, Bruckner is an author, philosopher, a member of the "New French Philosophers" (alongside Bernard Henri-Levi, Alain Finkielkraut, and André Glucksman), and is also pro-Israeli and fiercely critical of radical Islam. His age places him in one of the risk groups particularly vulnerable to coronavirus. The risk is compounded by the fact that he lives in France – one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic, with over 25,000 dead. France's "bonne vie" was taken by surprise in this crisis and is on the verge of collapse.
On May 11th France gradually began to ease its restrictions, after two months of a nearly hermetic lockdown. As in the entire European Union (of which Bruckner is not a fan), calls were heard to continue the quarantine of seniors over 65 years old. Bruckner argued that such a decision would be anti-constitutional since it would violate the basic principle of equality. "Old age is receding," he asserts. "Today, 60-, 70-, and 80-year-olds can enjoy an active life and are often healthier than 40-year-olds, who are under constant stress.
"There are many people younger than 50 and even 40 who are hospitalized in severe condition. Teens, however, feel protected because of their age. In the grocery stores you can see young people without masks, with little smiles on their faces when they see older people wearing masks. But this disease can strike down anybody."
The idea of extending the quarantine for France's elderly has in the meantime been scrapped. But in today's uncertain reality, when no one knows when the pandemic's second wave will hit, anything is possible.
'It's not the quarantine that worries me'
These days Bruckner is at home most of the time. "As a writer, I live in isolation in any case," he says. "My wife is stuck in Belgium since she's Belgian and cannot leave Brussels, and my children are not with me. I go jogging every other day. I do a lot of walking in Paris, especially in good weather, and I work.
"It isn't the quarantine that worries me, but rather its relaxation. We're not ready, and the catastrophe will get worse. Soon we'll be facing an economic catastrophe as well, which will be of monstrous proportions. Large parts of the population will become poor. Then the pandemic's second wave will hit – the doctors expect it to arrive in mid-June – and many more people will be infected.
"Also, France was late in acquiring equipment such as masks, ventilators, and test kits. Tests are being done, but they are unreliable."
Q: Some say that the coronavirus pandemic is nature's revenge, showing man his limitations. What do you think?
"Nature has no design. It is neither good nor bad. It is neutral. It doesn't take revenge since that would involve motivation, which is human and does not exist in nature. But if certain rules of basic hygiene are not adhered to, including eating customs, then the danger of epidemics arises.
"The SARS epidemic also originated in China. Prof. Didier Picard (a famous French physician; E.B.) suggested creating an international health tribunal to try Beijing, forcing it to take responsibility for the pandemic. I don't think this proposal is absurd, since China gave us the disease and is selling us the cure. The Silk Road has become the road of death. An appropriate response should be considered after the pandemic subsides."
Q: Do you foresee any change in man's attitude towards nature after the pandemic, or is that an illusion?
"We have been changing our attitude to nature for some time now. Many philosophers have called for a change in our approach to the landscape, to forests and wildlife, as early as the 18th and 19th centuries, in the United States and in Europe. Some protested the destruction of nature and wildlife through forced industrialization, which intensified in the 20th century.
"I think that now many things will change. Above all people will learn that some things should not be eaten – rats, dogs, bats, pangolins, all these animals whose carcasses are sold in Chinese markets, despite the fact that Confucius' Chinese philosophy attributes to these animals important characteristics like diligence, fastidiousness, power. China should also stop importing rare wild animals from Africa and Asia. That's a huge problem.
"On the other hand, we see that everywhere in the world, the isolation efforts have brought back many animals to the urban landscape. In the streets of Paris you can see foxes and a multitude of rats. When I go for a walk in the early morning hours I see rats everywhere. I also once saw a wolf at close range. In the places where prostitutes used to stand there are now foxes and wolves. Deer, bears, and wild boars have appeared in different places thanks to the quarantine. We must reconsider our relation to nature. The coronavirus is just another sign of this need."
Long before the pandemic hit, France had already been plagued by a series of major political and economic crises, including the violent demonstrations of the "Yellow Vests" and the numerous strikes of workers' unions protest the cost of living and President Macron's proposed pension reforms. These conflicts have yet to be resolved, although the government has backed down from some of the reforms, which were meant to restore France's very sick economy.
This explosive situation will now be exacerbated by the corona crisis and its consequences. France's Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire has compared the pandemic to the global financial crisis in 1929, which accelerated Europe's descent into World War II. What future does Bruckner foresee for France, faced with these challenges?
"This country is a disaster," he asserts without hesitation. "God knows how much I love France. But if I were 20 today, I'd leave. My daughter, who also has an American passport, already lives in the U.S.
"How did we reach this condition? It is because of misguided political steps taken over the past 30 years. The decline began during the presidency of Francois Mitterand, whose policies were shameful. The first two years of his rule were destructive – he adopted a Communist program, which was a total failure.
"In 1983 he ignored a very important event – the march of second-generation immigrants from North African countries (especially from Algeria), who sought to become part of France's republican culture. This was a missed opportunity to turn this group into normal French citizens. In order to weaken the conservative right he also encouraged the growth of the National Front. In the name of 'respect for diversity' France became a collection of tribes living side by side yet alienated from each other.
"Furthermore, Mitterand did not implement economic reforms, and unemployment peaked. This was almost a political choice, made in order to keep the worker unions, workers, and employers in their place. It was then that France's paralysis began. In addition his government dismantled French industry, destroyed the metal and coal industries, moved large factories abroad. Among other things, this process placed our pharmaceutical industry largely in the hands of China, and to a limited extent, in the hands of India. From its status as the world's third or fourth superpower France became its sixth.
"Mitterand's successor, Jacques Chirac, did nothing to remedy the situation. This is also true of Francois Holland. Emmanuel Macron began to implement reforms and then abandoned them. He has no authority. France has been 'the sick man of Europe' for many years now. To this we should add the terrorist attacks, the spread of radical Islam in the large Muslim community, the riots in the Paris suburbs, and the revolt of all against all."
Q: Macron was elected three years ago amid hopes for a change, expected, among other things, due to his young age. What is left of this promise?
"I voted for him and I like him very much. He's an intelligent man. But the Yellow Vests, the endless strikes, the pension reforms which he recently renounced – all these have significantly undermined his position. It seems as if fate has it in for him. He's too young, his shoulders are too narrow, he can't be trusted. His speeches are too long and he sounds like a technocrat. He failed to understand that a leader must speak to the heart of the people in simple terms, in order to explain the dangers of the present situation. He speaks in complex sentences and sometimes his declarations are overblown. He said we're in a war with corona. He's lost. His entire government is lost. I'm not at all sure he'll run for reelection in 2022."
Q: Do you see a possible heir?
"No. On neither the left nor the right. The conservative Republicans have no candidate who can offer an alternative, the left is in total collapse. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of La France insoumise ("Unsubmissive France") is a mentally ill leftist Fascist. He can't say a word without smearing half the world and he can't control his anger. The Socialist Party has become no more than a skeleton. Maybe Macron will finally wake up to reality."
Q: Could Marine Le Pen become the president of France?
"She's an idiot. I don't mean to be nasty, but she's incapable and dumb. Former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius once said that the National Front raises the right questions but gives them the wrong answers. It is impossible for Le Pen to be elected president.
"She does have a lot of supporters, though, because she pinpoints all of France's problems – the violence in the suburbs, immigration. She has a classic nationalist message which she doesn't even try to disguise. But she's not a leader, she's a provocation."
Q: Do you think the European Union will survive the present crisis?
"I'm really not sure. It is not impossible that Germany, Holland, and some of the northern countries will leave the Union, saying that they no longer want to pay for the Club Med countries – France, Spain, and Italy, which are deep in debt. This crisis has exposed an interesting contrast between the successful Protestant countries of Northern Europe and Catholic Southern Europe.
"That isn't an absolute split since there are Catholic countries that are functioning well, such as Austria and Poland. But the gap between the south and the north is constantly growing. The southern countries are unable to cope with today's needs, they are unable to maintain a healthy financial system and a balanced public budget. That's worrisome."
"I'm not sure that the French-German friendship will survive these tensions, unless France is able to achieve substantial economic growth. France is burdened by a curse called workers' unions, which strike for the sake of striking. All of its troubles and problems will get worse following the corona crisis, which exposes all of our weaknesses and vulnerability."
Q: Do you agree with the assessment that one of the results of the crisis will be a stronger national sentiment?
"Nationalism has been on the rise for quite a while in European countries, in opposition to the European Union, which is a kind of huge, powerless bureaucracy that lacks authority. The pandemic may strengthen national sentiment, you can see that each country managed the crisis in its own way. Some managed it very well – for example Germany, Austria, Denmark. This is also true for countries such as Portugal and Greece, which have much fewer deaths than France.
"But in order to deal with the major issues, for example in economy or scientific research, we need a supra-national structure. The European Bank will invest billions in coping with the economic consequences of the crisis. This will require an input of funds from the Union's member states, headed by Germany. Germany still takes the lead. People have said that it is in decline, that Merkel is ill, but now Germany will fulfill a central role, for better or worse. The European Union can indeed disappear. In any case it has no international significance. There is no European army, no foreign policy beyond the continent's borders."
Many in the French leftist camp consider Bruckner a troublemaker. As a member of the left, he criticizes the fascination of the Western left with the Third World, which is based, in his view, on obsessive self-hatred. He has expressed unambiguous public support for Israel, for NATO's war against Serbia in Kosovo, and for the American attack on Iraq, which led to its liberation from Saddam Hussein's tyrannical rule.
His book on Islamophobia, published three years ago, met with severe criticism in leftist circles. In it he shatters the view that the hatred of Muslims is racist, calling Islamophobia a case of "imaginary racism." His childhood, spent in a home filled with hatred, tension, and violence, formed his opinions, which have led some to believe he is Jewish.
"When I say that I'm not Jewish," laughs Bruckner, "people say to me, 'it's okay if you don't want to admit it, we understand you.' Since the publication of the book on Islamophobia people yell at me in the street 'dirty Zionist' and ask me how much the Jews paid me. It's very ironic. My father would have fallen into deep despair if he was here to see it."
Bruckner says he had a "German upbringing." "At the age of one-and-a-half, I was sent to an Austrian children's home, where I learned my first language, German. Later I had a German nanny, who translated what I said to my mother and vice versa. The nanny's brother had been a victim of the Nazi euthanasia program for the disabled and mentally ill. He was killed in a gas chamber. She spoke about it a lot. Since my father was very anti-Semitic and deeply nostalgic for the Third Reich, I delved into the Jewish question from a young age. His anti-Semitic rage developed my reflex to identify with whatever he hated."
Q: What was your mother's worldview?
"For a long time, she shared his opinions. With her, it was a Catholic kind of anti-Semitism. He was Protestant, coming from a Huguenot family. Historically, the Huguenots went to live in Germany and Austria and later came back to France. At first, he was close to the French radical right, later he had a liberal period. He even voted for the left, took an interest in the Jewish issue, read Hannah Arendt and other Jewish writers. At the end of his life, he returned to his classic anti-Semitism.
"The main characteristics of French anti-Semitism are envy and hatred. Today you can find young French authors who, on the one hand, want to kill the Jews, and on the other hand, want to be more Jewish than the Jews – they study Talmud, they take pride in their friendship with Israel. I experienced that contrast with my dad."
Q: Is your assertion that Islamophobia is not racism gaining popularity?
"To some extent. The problem is that the left and the media are very conformist. From the moment an idea becomes part of the global vocabulary, it is very difficult to change its meaning. The term 'Islamophobia' has a very strong Anglo-Saxon element. The Americans and English coined it in 1989 during the Salman Rushdie affair, and for them, it has become the parallel of anti-Semitism and racism. In Britain there was a publishing house that refused to publish my book, violating a written agreement. That shows you the power of certain lobby groups."
Q: Did the terrorist attacks and the immigration crisis change this approach in any way?
"They changed the popular view. But in France, as in other places in Europe, there is a clear separation between popular sentiment, which finds refuge in the right and the extreme right, and the views of the elite, which is controlled by the left and adheres to its principles rather than to reality. This is the tragedy of the National Front – a rightist and nationalist party that absorbed the workers who formerly voted for the Communist Party.
"People are hostile toward radical Islam, but don't dare to speak out for fear of being punished by the media. There is a divide between the intelligent social class, which speaks in the language of tolerance and openness – Macron is an excellent example of this – and popular sentiment, which is its opposite. It was only following the terrorist attacks that Macron began to speak about Islamic terrorism. He tries to deal with this problem using other, very moderate means."
Why is it so difficult for Europe to admit the danger posed by contemporary anti-Semitism?
"The answer is very simple: in all of the large cities in Western Europe, the mayors and elected officials must choose between large Muslim communities and small Jewish ones. In fact, this was the theory espoused by [Socialist French scholar] Pascal Boniface. In the early 2000s, Boniface said that in France there are half a million Jews, compared with 5 to 7 million Muslims. The political interests of the Socialist Party are thus to enter Muslim communities, rather than continuing in the struggle against anti-Semitism.
"Of course he denies having said that, but everybody internalized his logic: electorally it makes more sense to support the suburbs, with their Muslim communities, than the small Jewish communities. In France, there is a relatively large Jewish community, but in other places – such as Sweden – it's an extremely small minority, which finds itself compelled to leave. The Swedish city of Malmö has become almost 'Judenfrei' (a Nazi term meaning 'free of Jews').
"To this, we should add the fact that Jews have remained the ultimate scapegoats, as they have always been. When all the other scapegoats have been used up, there's always the Jew. In November 2019 Jean-Luc Melenchon, a purely secular radical leftist, participated in a demonstration against Islamophobia organized by a group close to the Paris Muslim Brotherhood. Later he blamed the leadership of the Jewish community for contributing to Jeremy Corbin's loss in the British elections.
"Today we are witnessing the resurgence of a strange atmosphere, similar to the late 1930s, in which the extreme left became Fascist. We are very close to that situation in France. We see a fusion of the radical right and left, which is very concerning. I call it 'Doriotization' – after Jacques Doriot, a French politician who began his career in the Communist Party, became a Fascist in the 1930s, then collaborated with the Nazis and was a member of the Legion of French Volunteers who fought on the Eastern front, together with the Germans and against Bolshevism. Today everything is possible. Everything is so rotten. People's souls are lost."
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Q: In the past, you signed the Geneva Initiative for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Would you do that again?
"I'm not an expert on Israeli affairs, but today's situation is very different. I still don't see a solution other than a two-state agreement, because two peoples in one state is a situation that can very quickly deteriorate into a conflict or a Bantustan – the protectorates created by the apartheid regime in South Africa.
"However I do think that since then the Palestinian leadership has missed every possible opportunity – the Oslo Accords, the Camp David Summit. They began a tragic tug-of-war, in which their territory keeps shrinking. They didn't see the evacuation of the Gaza Strip as an opportunity for growth, but rather as an opportunity for strengthening the extremists. The Israelis left behind a blooming stretch of land, which Hamas turned into a chaotic and miserable desert. Trump's Deal of the Century could also have benefited the Palestinians, even if it is a plan proposed by the winners. Limited sovereignty is better that no sovereignty at all.
"The Palestinian leadership, which is maximalist in its declarations, leaves the Palestinian people empty-handed, while in any case the Palestinian people was created out of thin air in response to the establishment of Israel. They have no leadership, no breathing space, and none of the conditions enjoyed by the Israeli Arabs, who are citizens of Israel.
"Israel can be said to have won the war for security. All of its neighbors, excluding Jordan, are in total political and military chaos. Everybody is fighting each other. The only country in the area that is prosperous and peaceful is Israel.
"But the Palestinian issue has yet to be solved, and therefore this is a triumph that creates problems. All those who said, 20 years ago, that Israel is a cancer that will disappear into the surrounding Arab and Muslim world have been proven wrong. The opposite occurred. Now Israel has also developed friendly relations with the Emirates against Iran. Nevertheless, the Palestinian issue has not been resolved.
Q: Perhaps the two-state solution is not the only one?
"That's possible. But other solutions must be proposed, and strong partners must be found to implement them. Today there are no such partners in Gaza and Ramallah. There, as in France, a lack of leadership is the true problem."
