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On October 16, Samuel Paty, a teacher in France, was brutally murdered as he was leaving his school. Paty had just finished teaching a nationally required class on “free speech” in connection with the Charlie Hebdo magazine case five years ago. At that time, a terrorist attack on the magazine killed many of those responsible for the Mohammad cartoons. A group of Muslims, accused of collaborating with the Charlie Hebdo attackers, are currently on trial.
Protest against the murder of Samuel Paty used to attack Islam.
Shortly after Paty’s death, the police shot dead her killer, who had stated that he was acting to protect Islam.
Despite his statement, Muslims living in France rejected his act. Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Great Mosque in Paris, called on imams across France to condemn terrorism during his Friday sermons.
Islamic organization groups also participated in large national demonstrations on October 20 to condemn terrorism, support teachers, who say they feel attacked, and honor Paty’s memory. (Europe 1, October 23)
The center-right government of President Emmanuel Macron, which has brutally used the police against yellow vest protesters and striking workers, tried to harness the revulsion against Paty’s murder to make political breakthroughs. The Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, proclaiming that France was at war, launched a series of energetic actions against Muslims and their organizations in France.
In effect, he declared war on France’s six million Muslims and anti-imperialist organizations.
The government claims that it is facing a “terrorist assassination conspiracy” and is therefore justified in carrying out hundreds of raids on individuals and organizations, banning Muslim aid organizations and deporting hundreds of foreigners it considers “suspects”.
Darmanin called the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) “an enemy of the republic.” The CCIF began its fight against anti-Muslim fanaticism in 2004. It has helped thousands of French Muslims fight discrimination and has been able to mobilize large demonstrations.
The regime also banned the pro-Palestinian group Collectif Cheikh Yassine. The anti-communists labeled the headquarters of the French Communist Party with a poster calling the PCF “collaborators in terrorism.” Some prominent French right-wing politicians tweeted the images.
The racist and anti-Muslim crusade that French President Emmanuel Macron and his On the March party are currently pushing is also part of their rivalry with Marine Le Pen’s openly racist and anti-Muslim National Party. Le Pen finished second behind Macron in the last presidential election and is his most likely rival in the 2022 presidential race.
In France, a smaller proportion of the population say they practice religion than in any other European country. French laws and traditions encourage “laïcité”, which means a secular and non-religious approach to politics and most French institutions, such as schools.
But Muslims, from the former colonies of French imperialism in North or West Africa, now represent nearly 10 percent of the people living in France and the largest number of people who practice any religion.
While the workers and farmers in France won secularism as a progressive demand for revolutions and class struggles, in the current situation the Macron government is exercising secularism against a sector of the population that has been systematically oppressed. Interior Minister Darmanin even took to television to denounce that grocery stores had halal food sections, saying that he was surprised by stores selling “community” or Muslim-oriented food.
