Absurd Barriers

By Hall Gardner | June 2021

In many ways, the crisis between the French and its Muslim population has to do with the historical French attitude toward all religions—and not Islam alone.

France’s unique revolutionary history initially sought to de-Christianize France, by establishing a Deistic religion, if not abolish religion altogether, during the Reign of Terror in 1793-94. This helps to explain the deeper reason why French President Macron has defended the “right to blasphemy”—because that right stems from the strong anti-religious stance of the French revolution.

Napoleon’s inability to repress the Catholic religion then led him to try to control Catholicism by weakening the power of Pope Pius VII and by confiscating the wealth and lands of the Church. Yet Napoleon’s defeat in 1814-15 permitted the Church to regain its influence, so that subsequent French governments attempted to reach a new rapprochement with the Catholic Church.

In 1905, the French passed the law that governed the separation of the Church and the State, the exercise of religious freedom and the public powers of religious organizations. This 1905 law established the French concept of Laïcité or secularism—but that law was passed before Islam became a significant force in France.

As long as the subjects of French colonies remained in the colonies, then the question of Islam could be dealt with by France’s repressive “civilizing mission.” Yet once those subjects brought Islam to France, then the question of Islam became a domestic one. The Great Mosque of Paris, for example, was built in 1922 in recognition of those Muslims who contributed to the French colonial wars and World War I at the risk of their lives.

Yet France would not really attempt to fully accommodate Islam until the French Council for the Muslim Faith was established in 2003 under President Sarkozy. This step caused controversy in that it appeared to legitimize what many French denounce as “communitarianism.” The key problem is that many French refuse to admit France’s own social diversity—even though its population is made of peoples of different ethnic groups, nationalities, religions and beliefs (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Orthodox, Agnostics and Atheists, among others).

In many ways, France’s own norms and actions have unfortunately continued to fuel the flames of domestic misunderstanding. Issues such as fines for wearing the burkini are well-known —although French women were also once fined for wearing bikinis! French bathing suit regulations that require men to wear Speedos or tight bathing suits represent a lesser-known absurdity that offends sensitivities (whether one is Muslim or not!) and have caused protest.

Other, more important issues such as racial, and even linguistic discrimination, have nothing to do with Islam — but are often conflated with Islam. Possessing an Arabic name can be a barrier to hiring and promotion. The French are constantly mixing the terms “veil” and “headscarf” as if they were the same thing. French efforts to ban not just the veil, as a security measure to show one’s face, but also the headscarf, in the questionable argument that women might be forced to wear it, appear absurd now that everyone must wear masks against COVID!

These issues of social discrimination have become mixed with popular revulsion to the violent actions of militant groups or psychotic individuals who claim to be acting in the name of Islam. The assassination of the editors of Charlie Hebdo, the Bataclan attacks, and the beheading of the teacher, Samuel Paty, have legitimately outraged French society, both Muslim and non-Muslim. All Muslims should have the right to protest peacefully against the puerile vulgarity of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, but nothing Charlie Hebdo did justified cold-blooded murder.

The deeper problem is that Islam as a religion is being conflated in the minds of the average French person with both “terrorists” who seek to manipulate Islamist ideology in the name of their political causes and with the violence of the French banlieue (deprived suburbs).

Given popular fears of insecurity and violence, from whatever the source, President Macron has now begun to appeal to “law and order” under pressure from rightwing politicians, such as Marine Le Pen. Retired (and active duty) French military leaders have openly criticized the role of Islam in the French banlieue as playing a role in undermining the territorial integrity of the country. In conflating the Taliban and Islamists in Mali with domestic French Muslim groups, these officers have warned of civil war if some form of military action is not taken. Concurrently, the French Police Union has called for tougher police techniques to deal with the violence of the banlieue.

Yet the use of force in the banlieue will only intensify the cycle of violence and augment acts of terrorism. What France needs to do is to look at how other Western countries, such as the US and Britain, address the question of Islam, while working effectively with community leaders, both Muslim and non-Muslim, to deal with the significant socio-economic problems of unemployment, precarity, discrimination, criminality, drug dealing, and indiscriminate violence that now plague the banlieue that, in some cases, have become no man’s lands.

Not an easy task. But better than repression and counter-violence!

The dictionary meaning of Banlieue is ‘suburb’.

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Absurd Barriers

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