Hatred against Islam and Muslims Is Becoming a Mainstream Practice in Islamophobic France
By
Makhan Saikia
20 December
2020
The New
Security Bill (NSB) proposed and passed by the Lower House of the French
Parliament is creating a big controversy across the country. In totality the
Bill has 32 articles dealing with a broad range of issues such as road security
to drones to how municipal police are to be organised. Out of all, the Article
24 which is included in Chapter 4 of the NSB is drawing maximum controversy
from across the world starting from rights groups to UN Human Rights agencies.
Article 24 of the new Bill would now prevent people to publish images of police
officers in action.
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This has
moved thousands to the street demanding its immediate repeal. And people say
this violates basic freedoms guaranteed under the French Constitution. The NSB
has started a long debate on secularism or what in French language called
“laicite”.
The UN
Human Rights head, Michelle Bachelet, called on the French Government to
withdraw the new law, particularly Article 24 which may curb freedom to share
images identifying police. She says the law should be discussed by the French
people and the Article 24 should be withdrawn.
In response
to this, the Emmanuel Macron administration stated that it would rewrite that
article that curbs rights to circulate images of police officers.
If we unearth
the background to the NSB, we can easily say it has emerged after the brutal
murder of French schoolteacher Samuel Paty on October 16, 2020, in a suburb of
Paris city.
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Also Read: In the Wake of Killings in France,
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He was
beheaded by Islamic terrorist named Abdoullakh Abouyedovich Anzorov, an ethnic
Chechen refugee staying in France. According to the terrorist-murderer, Paty
committed the crime of showing his students the Charlie Hebdo’s 2012 cartoons
depicting Prophet Muhammad. And it was done in a class to impart the students
the very sense of freedom of expression. This gruesome murder of the teacher
had forced thousands to descend on the roads demanding immediate action from
the Government against the growing incidents of Islamic terror across the
country.
France
remains traumatised by a series of Islamic terror strikes that killed many in
2015. As much as the Charlie Hebdo killings, the brutal beheading of Paty has
demonstrated a direct assault on one of the main pillars of the French Republic
i.e. the secular public school system and the very right to freedom of speech.
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Also Read:
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Meanwhile,
the far-right leader and tipped to be the principal challenger for Macron in
2022 presidential poll, Marine le Pen has said, “This situation calls for a
strategy of reconquest. Islamism is a bellicose ideology whose means of
conquest is terrorism.” In fact her party has been targeting the Muslims and
migrants for the last nearly half a century.
President
Macron has already started a campaign against what he calls Islamic separatism.
Besides, by vowing to fight the Islamic terror and recognising Paty’s act as a
freedom of expression, Macron is highlighting the importance of national
security and the very importance of the basic values established by the
Constitution of France. But many say Macron is eyeing a large vote base
belonging to the right-wing which could help him win the presidency again in
2022. Therefore his speech after the murder of Paty clearly reinforced the idea
to the French people that a large group of violent Muslim contingent is there
in the suburbs, waiting for an opportunity to tear down the basic ethos of
French society.
He also
describes Islamic separatism as a deviation of Islam which is “a conscious,
theorised, politico-religious project which is materialised by repeated
discrepancies with the values of the republic, which often results in the
creation of a counter society and whose manifestations are the dropping out of
schoolchildren, development of sports, cultural and communal practices which
are the pretext for the teaching of the principles which do not conform to the
laws of the republic’’.
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This was
more than sufficient for Macron to invite the ire of the Muslim nations,
including Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has described Macron
as mentally ill.
The French
Constitution of 1958 clearly says “all citizens regardless of their origin,
race or religion are treated as equals before the law and respecting all
religious beliefs”. And now it seems the NSB is violating the principles laid
down by the Constitution of 1958.
That’s why
the critics say the way the French President is using the state security
apparatus to pound on civic and human rights organisations indicate entirely a
unique behaviour of the state under Macron. Besides, his attitude towards the
minority exposes the underlying malaise that delves deep into the French
political institutions of today.
The French
constitutional principle “liacite’’ imposes strict religious neutrality on both
the state and all types of public services. This principle indeed symbolises a
pillar of the very secular identity of the French Republic. The NSB is all set
to change this foundation in the name of protecting the state from terror. But
many say it is new form of political coercion launched by the Macron
administration just in the name of national security.
The people
who oppose the NSB say it is a unilateral assault on Muslims and Islam. They
all accuse him of not showing wisdom and moral leadership at this moment of
crisis in French society. But They say Macron has put forward an agenda to
malign Islam by closing down major mosques, banning Muslim and human rights
organisations. These latest measures to tighten the security around the country
have simply stirred hatred against the Muslims across France.
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Further
this has emboldened the far rights groups and violent extremists to mobilise
the French to counter and prevent refugee movements around the country.
However, a group of 23 organisations that mobilise young Europeans has called
out to President Macron to stop the raging hatred. They all urged Macron to
embrace France’s revered principles of “egalite, liberte and fraternite’’. In
their open letter to him they highlighted that “it is within your capacity to
nurture understanding between people and to counter dangerous forms of
polarisation within France and globally’’.
To them he
must pander to the bigots and aptly demonstrate his moral leadership so as to
survive France’s long-held ethos of multiculturalism.
France has
already launched a massive campaign against “the enemy within’’ as its hardline
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has directly pointed the finger at the
country’s radicalised Muslims.
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Also Read:
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Now the
moot question is whether France is going to compromise with its national
security. It’s a clear choice between security and liberty. It’s the utmost
responsibility of the freedom loving French citizens to decide over it. But
precisely, its people, it seems, are offering a helping hand to Macron to
counter the fast-growing Islamic Jehad in the country.
Original
Headline: France at the crossroads of
liberty vs Islamphobia
Source: The Daily Pioneer
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-west/hatred-islam-muslims-becoming-mainstream/d/123825
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