Islamophobia and Violent Extremism in France; A Coalescence of Avoidable Crisis -By Kazeem Shamsudeen

The identification of Islam and the Muslim image with terrorism, along with the attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 in the US,increased Islamophobia in France as it did all over the world. Another key event that helped trigger the rise of Islamophobia in France was the 2005 riots, when the accidental death of North African Youths who fled police carrying out ID checks ignited a chain of protests in the country that went on for three weeks (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_French_riots).The January 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris also stoked Islamophobia in the country. These events precipitated an increase in Islamophobic hate crimes in several European countries, especially France where the reactionary attacks on Charlie Hebdo had killed 132 people and was later claimed by ISIS/DAESH terror group in November, 2015 (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo_shooting). 015.

Recently, two Muslim women were stabbed near the Eiffel Tower in France, while a violent woman complained to Police about her husband- who is Catholic- for being a “radical Islamist” (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/22/two-women-stabbed-under-eiffel-tower-in-apparent-racist-attack). A French teacher Samuel Paty was recently beheaded by an 18 year old Chechen who had contact with a terrorist in Syria in front of his school after the teacher allegedly used cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) to teach students in France. Although the culprit was shot and killed for that action, nevertheless, this incidence has heightened the tension in France and around the world.

REACTION

As a response to the attack, France recently launched an extensive witch hunt against the Muslim community following President Emmanuel Macron’s remarks characterizing Islam as a problematic religion that needs to be contained. Many NGOs and Mosques have been shutdown in the last two weeks. The French President had earlier this month, attacked Islam and the Muslim community accusing Muslims of Separatism as he said previously that “Islam is a religion in crisis all over the world”. He further stated that he will present a bill in December to strengthen a law that officially separated Church and State in France. This comment has received widespread criticisms across the globe, with the U.K, Turkey, Saudi Arabia , Jordan, Algeria, Egypt amongst others , all coming out to condemn the French President for making such unguarded comments which may in turn , lead to Islamophobia in the country or other parts of the world. Muslims worldwide have called for the boycott of French products as a way to react to the secular hatred towards Muslims by the French government.

ISLAMOPHOBIC TENSIONS

There have been a surge in Islamophobic trends across France in the wake of the terrorist assassination of Samuel Paty. Marine Le Pen, President of the National Rally in France estimated that “Islamist ideology should be considered as an enemy of France” and demanded exceptional legislation involving, among other things, denouncing certain articles of the European convention on Human Rights. The 2022 Presidential Candidate cited in particular the ban on “organizations that promote this ideology”, the closure of Islamist mosques, the removal of all funding that comes to support Islamism or the expulsion of foreigners defending Islamism.
Secular hatred towards Muslims has become a part of everyday speech for the French government as well as the media. This stigmatization promotes feud and drives a wedge between Muslims and Non-Muslims as it is being witnessed in France now. The normalization of hate speech against Islam has almost legitimized the institutionalized discrimination towards the France’s Muslim community. As unreasonable as it sounds, Charlie Hebdo has resumed the production of cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) in a derogatory manner. Egypt admonishes France that freedom of speech should be curtailed in order to protect the sensibilities of others to promote peaceful coexistence. This admonition appears to be falling on deaf ears as France reaffirms its support for free speech and expression even if it promotes violence and religious disharmony. There is an established practice in Germany and The United Kingdom which distinguishes “radical Islam” from Islam ,the religion practised by billions of people across the world. Clearly, the actions of the French president is a departure from this practice. The reactions of the government justify the accusations by Muslims of trying to repress their religion and legitimize Islamophobia.

WAY FORWARD

here is a global consensus that violent extremism is not part of Islam as it has affected Islamic countries more than others. Countries like Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan and Iraq have had to battle the worst of violent extremism and they have had more troubles dealing with the attacks than others. Among the Islamic scholars, violent extremism is deplored in the strongest of terms. The actions of the French government against Muslims is not justifiable by a single isolated case of terrorism and it sets the country on an unsustainable path of crisis with its neighbours in Europe and with the Arab world at large. This is avoidable by treating each case of violence in isolation and imposing stern consequences on the perpetrators to deter others. This will help in order not to conflate violent extremism with Islam as a religion. What the French government should have done is to address the trend of depicting Prophet Muhammad in a derogatory manner by putting up legislation against it while punishing violent extremism strongly. This would have prevented the hullabaloo from manifestation as it is witnessed now. The threatened boycott of French products if Carried out, would have profound effects on the Economy in a negative way. This will add to the diplomatic row between France and Turkey on the one hand and between France and the Muslim world on the other hand. This crisis is needless at a time like this when the world is yet to fully recover from the pandemic of corona virus that has claimed the lives of over a million people.