“Islam is a religion that is in crisis throughout the world today,” says Macron, as he reveals a plan to defend secularism.
President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled a plan to defend France’s secular values against what he called “Islamist radicalism”, saying that religion was “in crisis” around the world, prompting a backlash from Muslim activists.
In a long-awaited speech on Friday, Macron insisted that “no concessions will be made” in a new push to remove religion from education and the public sector in France.
“Islam is a religion that is in crisis around the world today, we are not only seeing this in our country,” he said.
He announced that the government would introduce a bill in December to strengthen a 1905 law officially separating church and state in France.
Macron no longer hides his feelings about Islam. It is no longer radical Islam, now it is only Islam that is the problem https://t.co/ljRK3LuNMM
– Bruno Maçães (@MacaesBruno) October 2, 2020
The measures, Macron said, were aimed at addressing the problem of increasing “radicalization” in France and improving “our ability to live together.”
“Secularism is the foundation of a united France,” he insisted, but added that it made no sense to stigmatize all Muslim believers.
The law allows people to belong to any religion of their choice, Macron said, but outward displays of religious affiliation would be prohibited in schools and public service.
Wearing the hijab is already prohibited in French schools and for public officials in their workplace.
The willingness to use Islam and minority Muslim communities to rally supporters promoting a divisive culture war against minorities, amid the coronavirus pandemic, shows more about those who promote such a division than anyone else … https: // t.co/qJxShTIleJ
– Miqdaad Versi (@miqdaad) October 2, 2020
Macron’s speech led to a debate on social media.
Yasser Louati, a French Muslim activist, tweeted: “The repression of Muslims has been a threat, now it is a promise. In an hour-long speech, #Macron buried #laicita, emboldened far-right anti-Muslim leftists and threatened the lives of Muslim students by calling for drastic limits on homeschooling despite a global pandemic.
Rim-Sarah Alaoune, a French academic, tweeted: “President Macron described Islam as ‘a religion that is in crisis throughout the world today.’ I don’t even know what to say. This observation is so silly (sorry) that it needs no further analysis … I will not hide that I am concerned. White supremacy is not mentioned even though we are the country that exported the racist and white supremacist theory of the ‘great replacement’, used by the terrorist who committed the horrible massacre in #Christchurch. “
Iyad el-Baghdadi, Norwegian writer and activist, simply wrote on Twitter; “Fuck you, @EmmanuelMacron.”
In his speech, Macron also claimed that he seeks to “liberate” Islam in France from foreign influences by improving oversight of mosque funding.
There would also be a more careful examination of schools and associations that exclusively serve religious communities.
France is once again evaluating its relationship with its Muslim minority, the largest in Europe.
Just last month, a French MP from Macron’s La Republique En Marche party went on strike over the presence of a hijab-clad student union leader in a parliamentary inquiry.
That incident was preceded a week earlier by another controversy, involving a French journalist who retweeted an influential young Muslim’s post about cooking on a low budget with the caption “September 11,” in reference to the 2001 attacks on the World. Trade Center in New York.
Macron spoke on Friday a week after a man attacked two people with a butcher knife outside the former Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, an assault condemned by the government as an act of “Islamist terrorism.”
Charlie Hebdo staff were murdered in January 2015 by gunmen seeking to avenge the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
Members of the Muslim community in France have constantly denounced the acts, describing them as contrary to the precepts of their religion.
