Not all civilisations equal - French minister

France: French Interior Minister Claude Gueant, who also holds the immigration portfolio, caused political uproar Saturday by claiming that not all civilisations are equal, with some more advanced than others.

"Contrary to what the left's relativist ideology says, for us all civilisations are not of equal value," Gueant told a conference in the French parliament building, but closed to the media.

"Those which defend humanity seem to us to be more advanced than those that do not," he argued in his speech at a meeting organised by a right-wing students group.

"Those which defend liberty, equality and fraternity, seem to us superior to those which accept tyranny, the subservience of women, social and ethnic hatred," he went on his speech, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

AFP