Hisham Abu Mariam-Paris
The media and political campaign in France on the headscarf and the integration of Muslims continues in a language characterized by racism and anti-Islam.
The level of Islamophobia in this country has reached an unprecedented level a month ago, according to observers, reached a few days ago after an armed attack carried out by an elderly man from the far right on a mosque in the southern city of Bayon, injuring two people who tried to prevent him from setting the mosque on fire.
The Muslim community in France with its various elites expressed its condemnation of what it described as the "hysterical campaign" directed against Muslims, and its refusal to turn this campaign into fuel for local elections campaigns scheduled for next spring.
According to Anouar Kebbish, vice president of the French Council of the Islamic Religion, what happened in Bayonne is the result of a systematic media and political campaign that explicitly adopts racist rhetoric against Muslims.
| Right-wing extremist Claude Cinque, who attacked a mosque in the southern French city of Bayonne a few days ago. |
Fears
Kebbish explained that the French Council for Islamic Religion expressed to President Emmanuel Macron his concerns about the growing discourse of Islamophobia, and the attempt of political parties to use secularism to harass the Muslims and branding them extremism.
He added that the French president acknowledged that the debate on the veil has turned into a campaign that crossed all borders, denouncing the political discourse that confuses Islam with terrorism.
On the other hand, observers believe that the ruling party and the French president contributed to their role in fueling hatred against Islam and Muslims, especially after Macron called on the French to unite against what he called "evil Islamic evil" and "reporting Muslims who suspect their extremism", after a police attack accused With Islamic extremism on the Paris police headquarters a few weeks ago, investigations showed that he had nothing to do with extremism and that he was suffering from mental disorders.
The head of the Center for Justice and Freedom for All in France, Yasser Lawati, that the French government tightened the screws with the imminent municipal elections, which depend on President Macron to stay in power, noting that the absence of any electoral program or good government outcome, has made the issues of hijab and Islam in France To woo the extreme right and right voices.
He explained that opinion polls indicate that Macron will face the extreme right in the upcoming presidential elections, especially in the face of the fragmentation of the traditional left and right.
He pointed out that for the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic, the President of the Republic singled out the magazine "Valor Actial" calculated on the far right with a special dialogue, a magazine condemned by the elimination of racism and incitement to hatred towards Muslims.
The Macron Dialogue has raised eyebrows against many political and intellectual figures who are opposed to the ideas of the extreme right, especially as it sought through the dialogue to address the voters of the right and the extreme right and tried to reassure them by adopting a hard line towards Islam and immigration and undermining the values of secularism.
According to the MP of the Social Democratic Party Majid al-Ghurab that the use of the file of Islam and Muslims has become a seasonal phenomenon in France with the approach of any electoral entitlements.
| Official statistics indicate rising violence and hatred against Muslims in France (Al Jazeera) |
Intentional mixing
The crow denounced what he called "the intentional confusion" between Islam and terrorism, immigration, insecurity and social problems of the suburban population, with the aim of demonizing the Muslims of France who respect the values of the French Republic.
He stressed that the armed attack on the Bayon mosque in the south of the country was "an inevitable result" of racist media and political discourse against Muslims.
It is noteworthy that the report of the Coalition Against Islamophobia in Paris, published in March 2018, revealed that Muslims across France last year suffered 675 attacks - including verbal or physical - by individuals and institutions.
The report revealed that 77% of all attacks targeted veiled women, and that violence against Muslims increased by 52% compared to 2017.
The anti-Islamophobic coalition said that these figures do not reflect the whole truth and the reality of violence and racism against Muslims, because many victims do not sue when they are subjected to racist acts because of their beliefs.