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PARIS, KOMPAS.com – The controversy over the cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, produced by the weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, has thrown France into widespread conflict as Muslim groups take offense at the policies of the French government.
In September, when Charlie Hebdo republished the Prophet Muhammad cartoon, it triggered a series of incidents of terrorism by the extremist group.
The latest is the attack by a knife gunman at the Notre Dame church in the city of Nice, France, which killed 3 people.
Previously, a high school teacher was beheaded after showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad as a matter of freedom of expression.
In response to the attacks, French officials defending the right to republish cartoons in the name of freedom of expression announced the distribution of cartoon magazines to high school students as a commitment “to uphold republican values.”
On Friday (10/29/2020) after the attack on the Nice church, dozens of people gathered to pay their respects to the victims and it became a moment of solidarity.
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However, the moment was interrupted by a couple of local residents who spoke out blaming Islam for the attack.
Then a veiled woman asked people not to equate Muslims with terrorists.
Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said the constitution must be changed so that France can adequately “fight” Islamic extremists.
France’s hard-line Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin set the tone by saying: “We are at war, against the enemy within and without.”
Launching New York Times On Friday (10/30/2020), the martial language delivered by various French officials reflected the hardening of the French general view of radical Islam.
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France’s fierce defense of the cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad places France in a difficult position, where no compromise is applied because it is seen to undermine the value of France’s strict, secular secularism.
Pierre-Henri Tavoillot, a philosopher and secularist expert at the Sorbonne University, said the conflict over the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad had led France into a “trap.”
“Despite the fact that the cartoon has become a symbol (of differences of belief) and has turned the situation into a conflict,” said Tavoillot.
“But this is a conflict that I think is inevitable, if the French secularist gives up on this, they will have to give up something else,” he continued.
He added: “If we leave the cartoon, for the French, we are leaving the freedom of expression, which is possibly a criticism of religion.”
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What a pity
The editors of Charlie Hebdo republished the same cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad to mark the start of the long-awaited trial of alleged accomplices in the magazine’s deadly attacks in 2015, saying they affirmed French democracy.
The post was immediately followed by a speech from the country’s highest figure. President Emmanuel Macron detailed his plans to combat Islamism and a widespread government crackdown on what he describes as Islamic individuals and organizations, movements that are helping to change perspectives abroad.
“Publication and reissue are not the same,” said Anne Giudicelli, a French expert on the Arab world who has worked for the French Foreign Ministry.
“The reissue of Charlie Hebdo is seen as a strong desire to continue to embarrass him. That is what is different from the (conflict) of 2015. Now there is the impression that France has a problem with Islam, while in 2015 France was a victim of terrorists, “Giudicelli explained.
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Its roots are in a law established in 1905, at which time there were very few Muslims in France.
French secularism separates the Church from the State and is based on the idea that faith is a private matter and therefore must be limited enough to the private sphere, says the philosopher Pierre-Henri Tavoillot.
Jean Baubérot, the leading historian of French secularism, said his idea was to put the state first. “Modern France considers it appropriate to establish itself against religion,” he said.
France’s strict secularism is also indirectly reinforced by the increasing secularization of French society.
Based on cited reports from New York Times, Only 8 percent of French people today regularly practice their faith, according to a 2016 report by the Paris-based Montaigne Institute.
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However, at the same time the number of Muslims in France is increasing. About 10 percent of the population of France is Muslim, and they are much more religious than the Christians or Jews there.
The report found that 31 percent of Muslims visit a mosque or a prayer hall once a week.
Therefore, according to Baubérot, the full application of the secular principle will create strong opposition.
French secularism defends the right to criticize all religions, but France has restricted some freedoms, namely attacking people because of their religion or color and prohibiting Holocaust denial.
Mohammed Moussaoui, president of the French Muslim Trust Council, said there should be limits to offensive innuendo when it comes to religious beliefs.
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Limiting the publication of Muhammad cartoons is to avoid inciting extremism, he said.
“I don’t think this is the correct way to explain freedom of expression to children,” Moussaoui said of the cartoon in an interview with France Info.
“The obligation of brotherhood requires that all people renounce some rights,” he added.
Clementine Autain, a left-wing lawmaker for the France Unbowed party, said the debate on terrorism and secularism was “dominated by emotion and no longer rational.”
Some politicians use secularism as a way to “isolate all Muslims,” Autain said.
“My concern is that by doing this (secular), some Muslims will be encouraged to return to the embrace of extremism,” he concluded.
