Exactly what is a representative of the neo-fascist French National Front doing at the so-called "World Congress of Families" conference in Tbilisi? And no less that the niece of Marine Le Pen and a granddaughter of its founder, Marion Marechal-Le Pen? And why has Family First decided to give it a miss this time? More to the point, why haven't some of the other international Christian Right figures who will be attending? To answer that question, let's turn back to the violent, acrimonious French campaign against marriage equality in 2013. However much US religious social conservatives want to whitewash it, the fact remains that on that occassion, they crossed a political line- they knowingly backed anti-immigrant racist political parties with neo-fascist past credentials. That might be semi-legitimate in Europe due to anti-Muslim paranoia caused by exploitation of the Syrian refugee crisis, but it won't be so well received in North America or Australasia. As to who did so, the culprit was the Witherspoon Institute, publisher of Public Discourse. To recap about Marion Marechal Le Pen: She is the French National Assembly representative for Vaucluse 3, having succeeded her grandfather Jean-Marie Le Pen to that role. She is primarily a religious social conservative. She opposed marriage equality and even marched alongside former British National Front leader Nick Griffin while organising a "Manif Pour Tous' march. Predictably, she opposes Muslim immigration into France and is a Eurosceptic. Despite her membership of a neo-fascist political party, right-wing religious social conservative Sarah Palin has praised her. She has questioned the presence of Romani (Gypsies) within France, as well as opposing social welfare benefit fraud. What is she doing at an ostensibly religious social conservative gathering and why haven't the other speakers disavowed her presence? Interestingly enough, Family First isn't the only 'regular offender' not listed as a speaker at the conference- neither is Canada's REAL Women. Of course, that may still mean they're attending, unless they confirm otherwise. And they're still listed as 'supporters' of the World Congress of Families. So, who is involved? The only notable non-American religious social conservative activist listed as a speaker is elderly Anglo-Indian Australian Babette Francis of Australian anti-feminist organisation Endeavour Forum. This particular little liaison may have something to do with the attendance of Alliance Defending Freedom US Christian Right activists at the recent "Cultivating Courage" April 2016 conference of the Australian Christian Lobby. Otherwise, the speakers list is dominated by Russian religious and political figures, as well as US Christian Right pressure group leaders from the Alliance Defending Freedom, National Organisation for Marriage, Human Life International, Christian Broadcasting Network, National Association of Evangelicals and various puppets or front groups from Eastern Europe or Africa. In fact, the US Christian Right appears to be funding the conference, judging from their acknowledgement as sponsors. And equally predictably, among the subjects raised will be "Gender Theory and Sexuality Education" and "Anti-Family Indoctrination in Education." In other words, the same old hype and mendacities about feminism, abortion rights, marriage equality and same-sex parenting, LGBT anti-bullying programmes, transgender child protection and safety policies and so on will no doubt be dutifully regurgitated and the propaganda, tactics and strategies fed to their satellites, as usual. Recommended: Angelique Christafis: "Marion Marechal Le Pen: The Young Face of France's Far Right"Guardian: 14.04.2015:http://www. theguardian.com/world/2015/ apr/16/marion-marechal-le-pen- young-face-france-far-right- front-national Not Recommended: World Congress of Families X (Tbilisi, Georgia):http://www.worldcongress.ge Alliance Defending Freedom:http://www.adflegal.org Australian Christian Lobby:http://www.acl.org.au Endeavour Forum:http://www.endeavourforum.org. au Christian Broadcasting Network:http://www.cbn.com National Association of Evangelicals:http://www.nae.net National Organisation for Marriage:http://www.nationformarriage. org Craig Young - 12th May 2016