The Camp of the Saints

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A compelling piece ahead of it's time, now more relevant than when first published in 1973? Or still just a steaming pile of racist, xenophobic propaganda?


Decide for yourself:

The Camp of the Saints - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Camp-Saints-Jean-Raspail/dp/1881780074]Amazon.com: The Camp of the Saints (9781881780076): Jean Raspail: Books[/ame]


Perhaps a little of both?

 

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Camp of the Saints Comes to Italy?

With the arrival of more than 5,000 Tunisians on the Italian isle of Lampedusa, the question for Italians is whether French novelist Jean Raspail's apocalyptic novel, Camp of the Saints, is becoming a reality.

Last month, revolutionaries brought down Tunisia's President, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. This week, Tunisians boarded boats en masse and sailed for this small outpost of European civilization. An Italian official, reported the New York Times, called the flight of Tunisians an "unprecedented biblical exodus."

Such is the influx to the small island that its Mayor Bernadino Rubeis declared a state of emergency. So did the Italian government. With a population of just 6,000, the arrival of the Tunisians meant the population doubled in just a few days. The Mayor told the Associated Press that Lampedusa's detention center was unguarded because the island does not have enough police to stand the post.

Italy "put Europe on alert" and asked the European Union for help, and then asked the Tunisian government if it could station border police in the African nation. After Italy pledged 100 million euros to help stop the mass exodus, Tunisia flatly turned down the request.