PARIS -

In his book issued in 2021 entitled "France Didn't Say Its Last Word," the far-right presidential candidate, Eric Zemmour, says that "the policy of assimilation of foreigners inside France requires every foreigner to strip himself of any previous religious, cultural or social affiliation in order to live Just the French way.

This statement by Zemmour is part of a general electoral political discourse that makes attacking Islam, Muslims and immigrants a ride to attract the votes of the electorate, in order to reach the Elysee Palace.

Candidates of the French right and the French far-right are competing in adopting this discourse in the upcoming presidential elections next April.

French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour in one of his election speeches (Reuters)

dissolving theory

Not far from the "dissolution" theory adopted by Zemmour, the center-right candidate for the presidential elections, Valerie Pecres, spoke in her first popular meeting in days, about building a new France immune to immigrants, and promised to help European countries find long-term solutions to reduce immigration migration waves.

Attacking immigrants and Muslims is also a basic behavior in the policies of the leader of the "National Rally" party, Marine Le Pen, who often links in her speeches between immigration to France and the "rising of Islamic extremism," as she puts it.

But why do French right-wing candidates focus on the issue of immigration, identity and Muslims at the expense of other issues that are closer to the citizen?

Like unemployment, purchasing power and high energy prices?

Sawsan Ben Cheikh, a political analyst and expert in the field of rights, freedoms and media at Inter News, says that the populist far-right wave is no longer a French phenomenon only, "but has become European and global, with models such as Donald Trump, Indian President Narendra Modi, and of course Zemmour and Luban." ".

Bin Sheikh added to Al Jazeera Net, "Instead of the candidates talking about people's real problems such as unemployment, declining purchasing power and health and offering solutions to them, they focus on their political project and invent side issues that do not mean anything to the simple citizen."

Ben Sheikh concluded that the populist extreme right's play on these issues is a true translation of the absence of a clear vision and a real political project, programs and solutions to society's problems.

For his part, François de Roche, political analyst, human rights activist and president of Justice and Rights Without Borders, views with concern the far-right debate on Muslim and immigration issues;

Because it is a disturbing ideological debate, in which there is daily trapping and accusations against immigrants and Muslims in the media space and on social media.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, de Roche believes that these discourses are very dangerous to social peace, because they seek to sow division, fear and intimidation within French society.

He says that "the extremist political class is trying to promote that the French identity is threatened by these Muslims and immigrants, and this is a big fallacy."


The exodus of centrist parties

In this “tense and ideological” political climate, in which centrist parties migrate and most parties roll to the extreme right and compete in adopting its positions, the boundaries between currents and political parties in France are blurred, in order to win the votes of the far-right voters.

This also applies to President Emmanuel Macron, who left the front and the cloak of former Socialist President, François Hollande, in 2016, and is accelerating to the extreme right even before announcing his official candidacy for the upcoming elections.

Macron has taken advantage of every opportunity to fight Islam and clamp down on Muslims since his famous speech in 2020, in which he declared that "Islam is a religion that suffers from a crisis in all parts of the world, not only in France."

His speech was quickly translated by the adoption of the Islamic isolationism law, which created a crisis and sparked controversy in France.

Concerning this shift and the migration of French centrist parties to the extreme right, Bencheikh says that this “slip state” is a general political phenomenon, and is not linked to Macron only. It is clear that there is a current of the extreme right that has swept away Macron and others, and we must pay attention to its danger.”

For his part, de Roches explained the migration of parties and their transformation by emptying the political arena of real constructive ideas.

Therefore, some segments of society joined the extreme right camp, not out of conviction, but because of the political vacuum and the unilateral polarization of the media.

In his opinion, this also applies to politicians who were in the center and joined the extreme right, or who were on the right and turned to the extreme right.

Women carry slogans "Stop Islamophobia" during a demonstration against Islamophobia in Paris (French)

hereditary sexuality

French official figures indicate that 61,371 people obtained French citizenship in 2020, a decrease of 20% from 2019. While more than 200,000 foreign immigrants enjoyed residence permits in France in 2021.

In light of this, the candidate of the "Republicans" party, Valerie Pecres, told the weekly newspaper "Le Journal du Dimanche", that the number of residence permits granted to foreigners in France in 2021 is exaggerated, and "a record number" that she will seek to reduce "by working on the Restore control of the borders, because unregulated immigration is a danger to the French nation.”

As for the leader of the far-right National Rally, Marine Le Pen, she stressed that French citizenship must be "either hereditary or deserving."


The Great Substitution Theory

Both Zemmour and Le Pen espouse the "Great Replacement" theory, which promotes the idea that a small elite will plot against the French and white Europeans, with the aim of replacing them with non-Europeans from Africa and the Middle East, most of whom are Muslims.

The two candidates exploit this theory to stir up sedition, hatred and discrimination against the second largest religion in France, with the aim of gaining more votes and more popularity.

In this context, Zemmour, who was twice convicted of inciting hatred, called in more than one election rally to liberate France from what he called "the Islamic occupation", referring to the Paris suburbs inhabited by a majority of immigrants, Arabs and Muslims.

The head of Justice and Rights Without Borders believes that this extremist political discourse is trying to promote that Islam is a religion of violence and fanaticism, and that Muslims cannot integrate into French society, and this, he says, "is a great ignorance of this religion that falls within the framework of Islamophobia."