PARIS – The French government on Wednesday unveiled a draft law to combat radical Islamism in a commitment to fight ideology as an “enemy of the republic”, calling the move for peaceful coexistence in French society a “law of liberty”.
The law, which has been attacked by Turkey and other Muslim countries, and criticized by US envoys as a “heavy hand” on international religious freedom, reflects President Emanuel Macron’s resolve to address a series of terrorist attacks. Which has left more than 260 people. He has died in France since 201. Three such attacks in recent months have tightened conditions around the law, including the beheading of history teacher Samuel Petty, who demonstrated the Prophet Muhammad’s strategy in his class.
“This bill is not written against religions, or especially against Muslims,” Prime Minister Jean-Claude Stacks said after the cabinet approved the draft law. “It’s a verse – it’s a law of freedom, it’s a law of defense, it’s a law of liberation against religious fundamentalism.”
Earlier, Mr Castex told the French daily Le Monde that “the enemy of the republic is an ideology that calls itself radical Islamism, aimed at dividing the French people.”
This law will prevent y online hate speech, which led to the assassination of Mr. Patti; Punish doctors who provide so-called “virginity certificates” for traditional religious marriages; Clamp on home-schooling for children over three; And forces community organizations to impose stricter restrictions on their funding as well as sign declarations of allegiance to the “values of the republic.”
The word “Islamic” or “Islamist” does not appear in the law, but the government’s intention is clear: to go to the roots of a different culture of extremist groups that consider Islamic laws better than the laws of the republic.
For its opponents, the draft law risks defeating itself. The danger of the union of Islam, religion and Islam, a political movement, is clear. The bill may sharpen the sense of climax felt by some, but far from all, French Muslims, who make up about 8 percent of the population. The temporaryisation of Muslim immigrants of North African descent, mainly in desperate projects outside the big cities, is a long-standing social problem that successive governments have promised to tackle with limited success.
The bill is amended in three names, reflecting its sensitivity, beginning life as “anti-opposition” legislation and ending as law, “strengthening Republican principles.” It will be presented to the National Assembly or the lower house of parliament in January.
It originated in a speech by Mr. MacCrone two months ago in which he vowed to defeat “Islamist separatism” and support French secularism. From his strict point of view, religion is an affair of a man who has no place in politics. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the speech “provocative” and was rejected by many French people, who have faced a series of attacks.
U.S. Ambassador to International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback said this week that he was concerned about France’s programs. Referring to the draft law, he said, “When you get into heavy hands, the situation can get worse.”
France is unlikely to be too worried by the vote of a representative of the outgoing Trump administration. President Trump’s so-called “Muslim ban”, which barred entry to foreign nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries, was widely condemned in France and around the world.
Mr. Mac Krone, now facing an 18-month election, is leaning to the political right, where, on the left, the center of gravity in French politics appears to lie. His tough line on Islamism and the introduction of a very competitive security bill are part of this strategic evolution.
In his October speech, Mr MacCarron acknowledged that the French state had suffered from “its own forms of separatism” for failing to address the marginalization of some Muslims in France. He vowed to correct this mistake, but there has been very little follow-up.
Mr Castex, the prime minister, told reporters that France would “create more social housing, better distributed across the region to break the logic of sheep.” It promises to be a long process with an uncertain outcome as far as trying to legislate the seeds of extremist Islamism.
