{"id":5677,"date":"2026-06-10T17:40:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:40:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/?p=5677"},"modified":"2026-06-10T17:40:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:40:26","slug":"france-has-become-expansion-zone-for-global-south","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/france-has-become-expansion-zone-for-global-south\/","title":{"rendered":"France Has Become Expansion Zone for Global South"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quebec’s leading conservative intellectual has delivered a stark warning about France’s demographic future, while reflecting on the enduring ties between his homeland and the mother country that abandoned it over two centuries ago.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mathieu Bock-C\u00f4t\u00e9<\/strong>, the prominent essayist who relocated to France five years ago, offered his assessment in an extensive interview with Causeur<\/em>, touching on everything from Quebec’s colonial heritage to what he describes as the looming transformation of France itself.<\/p>\n

The conversation began with a pointed observation about far-left politician Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon<\/strong> appropriating the term “Nouvelle France” for his presidential campaign project. According to Causeur<\/em>, Bock-C\u00f4t\u00e9 noted the irony with characteristic wit, claiming to be a victim of cultural appropriation himself. The term historically designated Quebec during its colonial period, when it formed part of the French empire in North America.<\/p>\n

The Memory of New France Lives On<\/h2>\n

Bock-C\u00f4t\u00e9 explained that the memory of New France remains central to Quebec identity, visible throughout the province. In Montreal, one of the most celebrated monuments is the Samuel-De Champlain Bridge, named for the envoy of King Henri IV<\/strong> who founded Quebec City in 1608. When authorities considered renaming it in 2013 after hockey legend Maurice Richard<\/strong>, public emotion forced them to abandon the plan despite the athlete’s immense popularity.<\/p>\n

While Quebecers have not been French for over two hundred and sixty years, they have never ceased speaking the language of Moli\u00e8re, albeit with their own distinct accent. The original New France represented a project of French expansion through colonization, Bock-C\u00f4t\u00e9 observed. M\u00e9lenchon’s version, by contrast, represents a project of French erasure through counter-colonization.<\/p>\n

No Regrets About Colonial Past<\/h2>\n

Asked about Quebec’s relationship with its colonial history, Bock-C\u00f4t\u00e9 explained that Quebecers long harbored resentment toward France, but not for colonizing Quebec. That would be absurd, he noted, since Quebecers descend from that colonization. Rather, the bitterness stemmed from France abandoning them at the end of the Seven Years’ War, choosing to retain the Caribbean islands instead.<\/p>\n

The Treaty of Paris signed in 1763 prompted historian Michelet<\/strong> to write that France had lost nothing except the world itself. However, since Charles de Gaulle<\/strong> proclaimed his famous declaration from the balcony of Montreal’s city hall in 1967, Quebec has reconciled with the former mother country. During that visit, de Gaulle traveled to Trois-Rivi\u00e8res and declared his support for the city, for Quebec, for New France, and for France.<\/p>\n

A Different Colonial Model<\/h3>\n

Regarding indigenous peoples, Bock-C\u00f4t\u00e9 recounted a lesser-known history. From the beginning, French colonists chose not to behave as dominators. Rather than imitating the English approach of pushing indigenous peoples back and confining them to reservations, the French allied with several tribes. After the French defeat, indigenous chiefs were among the last to fight for maintaining French sovereignty in America.<\/p>\n

The M\u00e9tis people in western Canada emerged from alliances between French fur traders and indigenous women. Their leader, Louis Riel<\/strong>, rebelled against the English starting in 1869 with support from Quebec Premier Honor\u00e9 Mercier<\/strong>. When Riel was hanged by the Canadian regime, Mercier proclaimed that they had killed their brother. Bock-C\u00f4t\u00e9 noted how few nationalist leaders of European-descended peoples could have made such a statement at that time.<\/p>\n

France’s Fate Sealed Within Decades<\/h2>\n

Turning to France’s current trajectory, Bock-C\u00f4t\u00e9 predicted the matter will be settled within a few decades. France will no longer be described as a country of immigration, but rather as a site of territorial expansion from the global South into the North. This story began when the United States started de-Westernizing from the 1960s onward, he argued, with Canada, New Zealand, and Australia following suit by progressively renouncing their European anchoring to become laboratories of multiculturalism.<\/p>\n

Europe will be the last bastion of the West, according to Bock-C\u00f4t\u00e9, where a few independent principalities will eventually remain where historic European peoples form majorities, resembling the situation during the period of Muslim Spain. He described France as facing a creeping partition of its territory and called on the right to overcome personal quarrels in what he characterized as a life-or-death question.<\/p>\n

Despite this grim assessment, the Quebec intellectual chose to settle in France five years ago, drawn by what he describes as the country’s elegance, sense of friendship, and resistance to American puritanism in matters of personal liberty.<\/p>\n

With information from Causeur<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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