France’s new prime minister, Jean Castex, has promised to be “intransigent” in defending France’s official secularism, vowing to fight “radical Islamism in all its forms” as “an absolute priority”.
In presenting a new government policy in Paris on Wednesday, Castex told the National Assembly that the French republic was being “shaken to its foundations” by “the coalition of its enemies: terrorists, conspiracy theorists, separatists and communitarians.”
Castex, a center-right provincial mayor who graduated from the elite National School of Management, said a new law would be introduced to combat “separatism” after the summer holidays.
It would aim to “prevent certain groups from closing in around ethnic or religious identities,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron also recently warned against anti-racist movements that were taken over by “separatists” after protests against alleged police violence and racism in Paris, although the president did not say what he meant by the term.
Some members of France’s Muslim minority feel that the country’s official secularism is primarily disputed against them, although Macron himself has condemned divisive approaches.
Castex also established a hard line on violence in demonstrations and minor crimes, saying that the police would be given the resources they needed.
Local judges would be appointed to ensure that “daily antisocial behavior” was promptly punished, he said.
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‘Targets Muslims specifically’
Yasser Louati, head of France’s Committee for Justice and Freedoms for All, told Al Jazeera that Castex’s use of the term “separatism” is “heavily charged and specifically targeted at Muslims whose recent mobilizations against racism and Islamophobia irritate the segment dominant and conservative of French society. ” .
“The recent use of the term ‘separatism’ by Emmanuel Macron marks a further escalation in state-sponsored Islamophobia, as it perpetuates the fantasy of an internal enemy, in the same way that France did with Jews in the past,” Louati said.
“There are no calls for secession, at least not by Muslims. But if the government interprets calls for equality as calls for separatism, that further exposes the hypocrisy of French institutions that are wrapped in the flag of the color blind and human rights republic while calling [for] a more violent repression against minorities. “
Human rights groups previously condemned France for carrying out discriminatory raids and house arrests against Muslims after it declared a state of emergency in November 2015.
“The state of emergency targeting more than 5,000 Muslim homes, businesses and places of worship has become permanent, and I fear that the end of the summer will be violent when the government returns to office,” Louati said.
Castex also said he was taking office at “a very special moment” in French history after the COVID-19 epidemic caused France “one of the most serious crises it has ever known.”
He said he would meet with unions and employers on Friday to agree on how to address “all the issues that are on the table for the coming weeks and months, beginning with the plan to restart [the]
economy”.
The assembly approved Castex’s speech by a large majority of 345 votes in favor, 177 and 43 abstentions.
With reports from Mersiha Gadzo in Toronto, Canada.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
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