The Arab countries are associated in the Western imagination in general, and the French in particular, with stereotypes, such as camels, horses, and sand dunes in the vast deserts, then the beautiful, charming women who are captivated by men, customs, and traditions.
Understanding the roots of the French orientalist view is an entry point to understanding Paris's relationship with the region, as this reductive image continued to dominate the French mind, moving from the arena of imagination to the arena of clash and civilized confrontation.
This happened when France occupied a large part of the Arab lands in North Africa and the Middle East, and came into direct contact with its peoples.
The French occupation in particular was the fiercest form of colonialism, and the most eager to usurp consciousness and reason, in a behavior that was not spared from arrogance and racism, and even when colonialism was gone, the orientalist imagination about the region remained present in the French political mind, guiding its policy, and ruling its movements and alliances in the region.
It is remarkable that some of that traditional imaginary view of the East remained inherent to the men of the Elysee, as many of their leaders did not stop traveling from the region for pleasure and tourism. Jacques Chirac, Taroudant, in southern Morocco.
But with the advent of 2011, France faced another image that it refused to recognize, and found itself facing a new version of the Arab world far from the orientalist imagination of this region. Others Paris disliked and quickly denied: terms such as freedom, social justice, and dignity.
Paris.. a friend of repressive regimes
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy (left) and late Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
(Reuters)
The story of the Arab Spring, as it is known, began in Tunisia after the famous Bouazizi incident. The scene was surprising to everyone, even France, which has had diplomatic, governmental and intelligence relations with Tunisia for decades.
Everyone in Paris, journalists, diplomats, and even intelligence officials themselves, was stunned by what happened, although all indications confirmed before that that the explosion of protests in the Arab world was only a matter of time, as indicated by the reports of the United Nations Development Program published between 2002-2009 on development. humanity in the Arab world.
Many reports, whether international or Arab, have shed light on the disastrous situation the region has reached with the complicity of Western regimes that did not pay much attention to tensions and societal mobilization in the early 2000s in several Arab countries.
Although no one expected the magnitude of the explosion, some French officials, along with American officials, tried to warn the "friendly" Arab regimes of the disturbing developments, especially unemployment, which at that time reached large segments of the educated youth.
The surprise was not only in the explosion, but also in the place, Green Tunisia, which experienced a kind of stability imposed on the people by the "Zine El Abidine Ben Ali" regime.
Despite the great corruption that the country suffered from, and was led by the family of "Leila Trabelsi", Ben Ali's wife, a number of Western countries viewed Tunisia as a "good Western student", especially in the economy, despite the lack of significant natural resources, which was praised by the World Bank and the IMF. Both the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.
However, the fall of dominoes started from Tunisia itself in the end, and as was the situation in the Palace of Carthage, confusion prevailed in the Elysee, whose diplomacy appeared floundering with regard to the "Jasmine Revolution", a flounder that soon turned into open hostility with the Arab revolutions.
France did not show flexibility in showing its support for the suppressed opposition forces, especially the Islamic ones.
(Getty Images)
Since its exit from its colonies, France has chosen to favor stability over freedoms, and it has formed strong relations with the heads of authoritarian states, such as "Ben Ali", in whom Paris saw a man who rules Tunisia with iron and fire, and suppresses political Islam at the same time, which is a feature that France preferred in any ruler. I dealt with him, which made Sarkozy, on a visit to Tunisia in April 2008, praise the space of freedom that is expanding in the country, despite the dominance of police repression and the unmistakable violation of human rights at the time.
Similarly, Western countries reconciled with Muammar Gaddafi, the late Libyan leader, and Hosni Mubarak, the late Egyptian president and one of Paris' favorites.
Therefore, France supported Mubarak to obtain the presidency of the Union for the Mediterranean, and even tried to renew its relations before the Arab Spring with "Bashar Al-Assad", who was invited in July 2008 on the occasion of the declaration of the Mediterranean Union.
In view of this French strategy, Paris did not seem enthusiastic about the American point of view, which considered preaching freedoms and democracy its main foreign mission, as the French saw that bringing democracy to repressive countries requires a great and long effort and a series of change in which civil society plays a pivotal role, and therefore France did not want In supporting this experience, it did not show flexibility in showing its support for the oppressed opposition forces, especially the Islamic ones.
Paris does not like jasmine perfume
Former French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie.
(Reuters)
After the outbreak of the movement in Tunisia, and although it was one of the countries that itself warned the Arab regimes of an explosion that might be imminent, France downplayed what happened after 2011, considering it mere "social unrest", which was evident in the speech of "Michel Alliot-Marie." , the former French Minister of Foreign Affairs in front of her country's parliament, when she said that Paris is able to share Tunisia's "French ingenuity" in maintaining security if it wanted to, a speech she made only 3 days before "Ben Ali" fled Tunisia and declared the victory of the revolution.
After the escape of "Ben Ali", and at a time when US President "Barack Obama" came out to salute "the dignity and courage of the Tunisian people", France watched "the process of democratization with caution" without showing any enthusiasm for the changes taking place at the time.
In his interview with "Maidan", the Tunisian researcher, "Khaireddine Pasha", said that the French position was marred by a clear fear that other countries would follow this movement, and then make it take positions hostile to French interests, as France has many interests in Tunisia as is well known. , such as Total contracts, and Paris feared that the deteriorating security situation would cause an increase in the number of immigrants to Europe.
But France soon realized the error of its disastrous policy in the Land of Jasmine, and therefore it was necessary to find a "scapegoat" as described by the French researcher "Dennis Bouchard". The choice fell on the French diplomatic representation in Tunisia, which was said to have not played its role in conveying the reality of the scene to the Elysee. .
This era ended with the dismissal of Foreign Minister Michel Alliot-Marie, and the return of her veteran colleague, Alain Jobe, who was now required to draw French foreign policy features more appropriate to the new Arab situation after 2011.
As soon as he received the Foreign Ministry portfolio in March 2011, Jobe began moving and traveled to Egypt and Tunisia to meet the protesters and understand their demands. On April 16, the man praised the democratic aspirations of the Arab peoples, stressing his country's desire to complete the process of democratic transition, a speech that the French president quickly adopted. At the time, "Sarkozy", who confirmed in a lengthy interview with "L'Express" that the peaceful changes that the Arab world has known is the most beautiful bad news for democracy amidst a lot of negative news.
However, the French enthusiasm for changes in the Arab countries remained limited even with the arrival of the Socialist President "François Hollande" to power.
In his speech to the ambassadors of his country in 2012, Hollande quickly touched on the Arab Spring revolutions, calling on the "Islamic" political currents.
In the same context, Laurent Fabius, Hollande's foreign minister, spoke on June 27, 2012 at the conclusion of the "France and the New Arab World" symposium, in which he affirmed France's optimism about democratic transitions, while being cautious about the difficulty of predicting the course of events in light of revolutions.
Fabius indicated that his country does not intend to interfere in the internal affairs of the Arab countries, but it aspires to the political, economic and social participation of these countries in order to make the democratic transition a success, acknowledging that France missed the date with the clear support at the beginning of the movement, expressing his hope that it "will not fall behind." Islamic parties have a date and are trying to reach agreed-upon solutions from the rest of the political currents,” referring to his country’s fear that the “Islamists” would cut off a one-way ticket to the rotation of power, and then the return of repression that ended with the defunct regimes, according to him.
Bloody revolutions.. They are not the same
We can attribute this confusion in French foreign policy to many reasons, foremost of which is the lack of a clear French strategy in dealing with the Arab world in light of the enlargement of the American role in recent decades.
On the other hand, the French presidents themselves differed somewhat on some issues due to their divergent political priorities, which was evident in the two countries that broke the series of "peaceful" exit of the rulers after "Ben Ali" and "Mubarak", where the brutality of some regimes entered the Arab revolutions stage Inexhaustible Blood: Syria and Libya.
The late Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (center), French President Nicolas Sarkozy (left), and the late Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
(Reuters)
With the beginning of the war in Syria, France showed great reservations in everything, except in criticizing Assad.
Sarkozy, whose country's relationship with Damascus had deteriorated prior to the revolution, did not miss an opportunity to condemn the Syrian regime and its crimes against its people. His foreign minister described the regime's crimes as "barbaric and brutal."
However, all these condemnations were never translated into actions on the ground. France initially refused to talk about any military intervention against the Syrian army, and chose the safe solution represented in pushing the European Union to apply economic sanctions on the Assad regime with political support for the "moderate" Syrian opposition and some "Limited" humanitarian sympathy for the refugees who fled the war towards Turkey and Jordan.
After the departure of "Sarkozy" and the arrival of "Hollande", the matter seemed more complicated.
It is true that the new president showed greater sympathy for Syria and a greater desire to remove the Assad regime, but the political calculations were more complex than he wished.
The revolution turned into a civil war, and soon led to the emergence of jihadist organizations that Paris does not prefer in any way over the Assad army, and the disastrous situation began to spread to Lebanon, the country with which France is historically linked and aims to maintain its independence from its neighbor, Syria.
Hollande did not make any significant additions due to France's inability to move within the Security Council in the presence of Russia, and the fragmentation of the political opposition despite its recognition of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces as the sole and legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
After Hollande's departure and the current president, Emmanuel Macron, the situation did not change much, as Assad remained and even regained control thanks to Russian support, and Macron himself admitted this in a press interview in December 2017, when he said at the time: "Assad will remain Here, we cannot say that we will not talk to him, but he will one day be required to stand before his people and before the judiciary to pay the price for his crimes.
The complex Syrian reality did not give France that opportunity that it dreamed of in order to restore its luster in the Middle East, so for the same purpose it knocked on the doors of another country in which direct intervention was simpler and less complicated, which is Libya Gaddafi.
The late Libyan Colonel "Muammar Gaddafi" and the former French President "Sarkozy".
(REUTERS)
Gaddafi, just like Assad, faced peaceful demonstrations with direct violence, and then "Michel Alliot-Marie" came out in a statement on February 21, 2011 to demand an immediate end to violence in Libya.
A few hours later, François Fillon, then Prime Minister, stated that he was "horrified" that violence in Libya would explode in this way.
France did not waste much time. On February 23, it proposed to the European Union to expedite concrete sanctions targeting the Gaddafi regime, renewing its request two days later at the United Nations, and calling for a speedy investigation into "crimes against humanity committed by the Libyan leader against his people." , Demanding Gaddafi to stop and leave, and expressing the hope that he will be tried before the International Criminal Court.
Paris was able to achieve some of its goals very quickly, as a number of Western countries such as Switzerland, the United States, Austria, Britain and Spain adopted decisions to freeze the bank balances of Gaddafi and his men, and on March 4, French aircraft began flying over Libya on exploratory flights, then he received "Sarkozy". In the Elysee, representatives of the Libyan National Transitional Council, thus becoming the first leader to officially recognize that the Libyan opposition is the sole and legitimate representative of the Libyan people.
On March 17, France managed to convince the Security Council to intervene militarily in Libya through concentrated air strikes to "weaken the regime and protect civilians."
Beginning on March 31, the military campaign launched in Libya, led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the campaign continued until the fall of Tripoli in August and the flight of Gaddafi, who was then killed by the rebels on October 20.
After the fall of "Ben Ali" and "Mubarak", the Elysée realized that the next stage would overthrow more Arab dictatorships, and that the fall of Gaddafi was also a matter of time, according to the speculation of those close to the French presidency, such as Sarkozy's special advisor, "Henry Guéhenno" and the former private secretary to the French presidency. Claude Guyan.
In the beginning, everything went well, and great happiness appeared on Sarkozy's countenance by achieving this military-diplomatic victory, which was evident during his visit to Tripoli and Benghazi in September 2011, when the French president's happiness increased when he heard that famous chant: "One, two." Wealthy, Viva Sarkozy.
But the French honeymoon in Libya was short. What Paris aspired to, behind the intervention in favor of the Libyan opposition, for the new regime to become more generous and to grant it lucrative commercial contracts in the Libyan oil cake, quickly evaporated.
France considered itself concerned with everything that might happen after the departure of Gaddafi and the entry of Libya into a new transitional phase, especially as France is the second importer in the world of Libyan oil after Italy, in addition to Libyan natural gas, which provided it with about 15% of its needs in 2010. In addition to that Paris aspired to strengthen its presence inside Libya through an oil production line. Total produced only 2.6% of Libyan oil, while the Italian National Oil Agency, Eni, got 14%.
The era of new allies
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (right) and retired General Khalifa Haftar.
(Reuters)
In an article on the "Liberation" website, "Pierre Vermieran", the French writer and historian specializing in the Maghreb region, described to us the characteristics of the ruler that France loves, and he is that bureaucratic politician who began his career in the sixties or seventies, and plays the role of the firm guardian of his people, and perhaps he He previously worked as a police officer, intelligence investigator, or even a member of the ruling party.
This strong man does not have any ideological affiliation. He does not understand, but he does not even care about slogans, struggle, or culture. He hates everyone alike, the bearded at the beginning and the intellectuals as well. France has always been looking for a person with these characteristics in the countries that it considers an arena of influence for it, a person who can He played the role of a "deterrence stick" for anyone who tempted himself to fight stability, which would be imposed by force, not voluntarily.
In Libya, France was looking for a person with exactly these characteristics, especially after Paris began to suffer with the armed attacks that targeted its lands in the middle of the last decade.
These attacks, according to an article by "Roland Lombardi", a historian and writer specializing in international relations, were considered by the French authorities in their internal corridors as a punishment for their positions on the Libyan issue.
As a result, change began to find its way into French foreign policy again, which became more pragmatic or more schizophrenic, if we are to be precise, at a time when Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, was confirming his country's support for the internationally recognized Tripoli government, which is led by Fayez. Al-Sarraj, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister of Defense at the time, was getting closer and closer to the “Libyan National Army in Tobruk,” which was led by retired general Khalifa Haftar.
Haftar fought everyone, the Islamists first and the Tripoli government with them, and he was able to polish himself after his victory over the "jihadists" in Benghazi in 2014, where he was able to weave a network of internal interests consisting of anti-Islamists and former symbols of the Gaddafi regime, but externally, the man was gathering an elite behind him Among the countries that found a common interest in opposing the new regimes brought about by the revolutions, on top of which was Paris, which began to feel dismayed by the rise of the Islamists.
At this time, the new French President Macron sought the help of Jean-Yves Le Drian, the former Minister of Defense who became Minister of Foreign Affairs, a pragmatic man who was originally opposed to the choices of former President Hollande regarding the Libyan file.
Le Drian watched the rapid rise of Haftar beginning in 2014, using the information he received from French intelligence, so the choice for the new foreign minister was very clear. France should stand with Haftar, not al-Sarraj, alongside both Egypt and the Emirates, which share France's hostility to "political Islam" projects. in the area.
Macron, who did not know much about the Arab region, preferred to trust the skill of his foreign minister. He did not throw all his cards behind the internationally recognized Al-Sarraj government, but tried to hold the stick in the middle.
While Macron tried to appear supportive of the Skhirat Agreement that was held in December 2015 and stipulated the need to grant power to a legitimate, internationally recognized government that works to run the country’s affairs, and hosted a meeting in July 2017 between the two parties to the conflict that ended with the signing of a cease-fire agreement and work on The holding of democratic elections, many indicators confirmed that France actually stood by "Khalifa Haftar", one of which was the crash of a helicopter carrying 3 French soldiers in July 2016 during an intelligence operation near Benghazi.
French President Emmanuel Macron (centre), former Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj (right), and retired Major General Khalifa Haftar (left).
(Reuters)
And from Libya to Egypt, where Paris chose to support the new regime that came to power in 2014. Meanwhile, Paris ignored the human rights accusations that pursued the Egyptian government, so that Macron was forced to make a statement during one of the official visits between Paris and Cairo in December 2020 He will remain the lawyer defending the project of democratic openness in Egypt, and the demands for an effective civil society, however, by saying that the complaints over the human rights file will not affect the strategic partnership between the two countries.
"Arms for All" Campaign
Meanwhile, France was strengthening its security and military relations with the new authority in Egypt, and the most prominent sign of this cooperation was the presentation by Paris of "the pride of French military products", the Rafale plane to Cairo in a deal valued at 5.2 billion euros.
Matters were not limited to the Rafale, as Egyptian imports of French weapons increased by 69% during the period between 2012-2016 compared to the period between 2007-2011, making Egypt the third largest buyer of French weapons and equipment during this period.
In numerical terms, Egyptian spending on French arms increased from 9.8 million euros in 2011 to 1.3 billion euros in 2016.
Returning to Libya, the war was still raging between the political parties, and while France was not enthusiastic about announcing the presence of its weapons in Libya that support one party at the expense of another, the news came out to the public after the discovery of American-made "Javelin" guns in a weapons store belonging to the "Gharyan" base. Located 80 kilometers from the Libyan capital, Tripoli, in June 2019. Journalists from the New York Times newspaper were able to confirm the origin of these guns thanks to their serial number, and it turned out that they were weapons that France bought from the United States in 2010 to arm its soldiers in Afghanistan. This was the first material evidence of the French government's support for the Libyan general, Khalifa Haftar.
The government admitted that the weapons found were owned by the French army, but denied that these weapons were intended for sale, purchase, or support to any foreign military party, confirming that they belong to the French forces active in the field of combating terrorism, and after confirming that these weapons were damaged, they were left in the armory, where they are located. have found.
France denied arming Haftar, but this did not prevent it from recognizing his importance in its strategy to combat "terrorism", along with its strategic partners, the most prominent of which, of course, is the United Arab Emirates.
Islamophobia.. the cherry on top of the French cake
France's bewilderment in the face of the Arab Spring was not limited to governments, but it also colored the positions of intellectuals, which prompted the newspaper "Le Monde", for example, to question the terrible silence of the country's intellectuals in the face of developments in the Arab region at a time when they were eager to struggle in "other noble causes."
The French writer and journalist "Daniel Leidenberg" answers this question by saying that a number of French intellectuals believe in the depths of their souls that the Arab peoples "are nothing but backward peoples, who are driven only by sticks."
In the same context, Pascal Boniface, the strategic analyst, confirms that some French intellectuals found themselves very worried that democracy would reach the Arab countries, which they never wished for, commenting: "The mask has fallen."
France suffers from a real problem with Islam internally, as it targets the Muslim community with discriminatory laws, the latest of which was the notorious "Islamic isolationism" law.
As for externally, Paris has shown great fear that the Arab Spring will turn into a favorable opportunity for Islamists, especially in Egypt, where French journalists and writers raced to condemn the regime of "fundamentalist dictatorship" - as they said - of former President "Mohamed Morsi", describing "Mohamed ElBaradei". He himself, one of the most prominent faces of liberalism in the country, is the Trojan horse that the Muslim Brotherhood uses to achieve their goals.
The same thing happened before in Tunisia after the fall of "Ben Ali". Influential French media figures raced to assert that it is better for everyone to have "Ben Ali" than to be replaced by "Bin Laden".
In this context, journalist Sarah Qureirah says that Islamophobia is one of the most important pillars of France's foreign policy, adding: "I was in Tunisia during the parliamentary elections that followed the revolution, and after my return to France I found newspapers and media talking about Islamists in an exaggerated way, even though they They did not sweep the elections in the first place, but I thought for a moment that I was reading about Afghanistan, not Tunisia, which I was in a few days ago.
In her interview with Maidan, "Qarira" considered that the matter sometimes went beyond even the Islamists themselves and went beyond France's consideration that the Arab peoples do not deserve democracy, and that these peoples are immature and immature, and it is better for them to be ruled by dictators, provided that they are not "
France played an important role in the course of the Arab Spring revolutions, as it questioned them at first, then officially supported them at another stage, but in the end they came back and stood against them in a crooked way, raising the slogan of fighting terrorism.
In the end, Paris preferred that the situation remain as it is, that dictatorships continue to seize control of the Arab region, and that the image of the Arab region remain as the orientalists have always imagined it: sun and deserts, and tough men (military if possible), who control the rhythm of unimaginable societies. Living it in a free and democratic framework.