Pak Sahafat – The Muslim minority of France, who have always faced difficulties in enforcing the secular laws of this country, these days, on the eve of the second round of the presidential election, are faced with the question of whether they are going to experience more difficult conditions and times with the victory of the extremist candidate.
According to Pak Sahafat News agency on Sunday, the candidacy of the two candidates for the presidency of the current French President Emmanuel Macron and the candidate of the “National Assembly” party of both the center-right and far-right parties, respectively, the Muslim community of this country and the future that awaits them.
The French people will go to the polls again next week (Sunday, April 24). The approach of the deadline has led to an increase in the propaganda programs of the two candidates, and this has raised the issue of Muslims, especially the hijab, which is less covered in the official media space, than ever before.
News background
There are no exact figures for the number of Muslims in France, but the population of this religious minority is estimated at more than 5.7 million. Thus, Muslims, who are the second most populous religion in France after Christians, make up at least eight percent of the country’s population.
The Muslims of France, as the largest Islamic community in Europe, have clearly faced strict laws regarding the Islamic hijab since the early 2000s. A law passed by parliament in France on March 15, 2004, barred women from wearing the Islamic headscarf in public schools.
The law, which violates individual freedoms, was criticized by the UN Human Rights Council at the time, calling it “hostile to the issue of hijab and religious intolerance of veiled women outside of schools, universities or the workplace.” However, in 2010 a ban on wearing a headscarf in public places was passed in France.
These restrictions were not limited to the hijab, and Muslims have repeatedly protested against the French authorities for playing the call to prayer or holding congregational prayers in the streets.
In a controversial speech in Lyon in December 2010, Marine Le Pen called Muslims praying in the street praying “occupiers” occupying the country “without tanks or soldiers.”
For years, French Muslims have faced all kinds of restrictions that are legalized under the pretext of enforcing secular laws, but will these restrictions be even greater?
The importance of the subject
These days, French Muslims are more involved in the candidates’ election debates. Each candidate has his own excuse to oppose the hijab. Macron emphasizes the need to implement the spirit of the 1905 Law of Laicism, while promising religious freedom, while Le Pen emphasizes the “need to fight extremist Islamism.”
Last Tuesday, Macron stood in front of a veiled woman in Strasbourg in front of a fan who asked her if she was a supporter of women’s rights and asked her: Do you work for equal rights for women and men?
In response to the veiled woman, Macron asked if he was forced to wear the hijab or by choice. In response to the woman, who said that her hijab was completely optional, he called the conversation “beautiful” and said: This is the best answer to the nonsense we hear these days, like Ms. Lou Pen’s decision.
The far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, has repeatedly stated that he will impose fines for wearing the hijab in public if he wins the election.
Read more:
France’s attack on the most important issue of Arabs and Islam
On Wednesday, an elderly woman at a Le Pen campaign in southern France asked why the hijab should be banned. Le Pen responded: Hijab is the same kind of cover imposed by extremist Islamism.
The veiled woman replied that she had chosen the hijab at an advanced age and noted that her father had served in the French army for 15 years.
National Assembly party leader Jordan Bardella also sees the hijab as a challenge to gender equality.
In response, Macron defended the ban on hijab in schools in accordance with French law, saying he had no plans to change the current law in the sense that it would extend it to all public places.
During a recent visit to the Avar region, Macron also jokingly told Le Pen: “Wearing hijab in public places is not forbidden in any country. Do you want us to be the first country?”
In recent years, terrorist acts of violence and the activities of some members of the ISIS terrorist group have also opened the door to anti-Islamic government actions under the pretext of countering extremism and terrorism by increasing “labeling” of Muslims.
On December 9, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers of Macron submitted to Parliament a draft law called the Law on the Recognition of the Principles of Democracy, also known as the Anti-Separatism Act. The law effectively imposed more restrictions on Muslims, extending the ban on Islamic headscarves in schools to universities, as well as veiled mothers who accompany their children on student trips.
The Macron government also approved and implemented a document called the “Charter of Islamic Principles” to further oversee the activities of Islamic groups, during which the French Muslim Council was dissolved as the national organization of the country’s Islamic associations. According to this document, all Islamic groups must accept and join this document in order to continue their activities.
Assessment
Everything that was approved and implemented in the Macron government under the pretext of fighting extremist Islamism, from the dissolution of religious groups and increased surveillance to the closure of mosque chains, was more like what was expected of an extreme right-wing government.
French Muslims will have to make a tough choice between Macron and Le Pen next week, with nearly 70 percent of the population of this large religious minority voting in the first round of the French presidential election for Jean-Luc Melenchon, the candidate of the “Invincible France” party.
French Muslims, who backed the current French president in the 2017 election and Macron and Le Pen’s previous confrontation, voted for only 14 percent of Macron in the first round this year. By showing the frustration of Muslims with Macron’s policies, this revealed the tendency of this religious minority to take a more non-hostile and rational position.
By showing the frustration of Muslims with Macron’s policies, this revealed the tendency of this religious minority to take a more non-hostile and rational position.
Today, the issue of absentees in the second round of elections and white votes is a serious threat to the rise to power of Marine Le Pen, and even though he does not back down from his position even in the election gesture, publicly banning the hijab is one of the “fundamental” issues. Melancholy, meanwhile, with its significant turnout and decisive role in the run-up to the election, has only emphasized the need for Le Pen not to come to power and has not explicitly supported Macron. This could make the results of opinion polls a reality, which predicts that most of their Melanesian supporters will not run in the second round of the election, or will cast their ballots if a white ballot is cast, an issue that will end in Le Pen’s favor.