Muslims comprise a considerable percentage of the French polity. Islam is the nations second biggest religion, and figures place the Muslim population at 5 percent to 10 percent of Frances 66 million citizens. Islams size, and demographical rise, has spurred some of the most draconian policies against Muslims in modern times. The headscarf ban in 2004, followed by illegalisation of the niqab, or face covering, in 2010, codified core Islamophobic ideas. This legislation also functioned as a firm and fervent declaration by the state that Muslim and French identities were at odds and irreconcilable. The French laicite model provided the structural underpinnings to carry forward Islamophobic legislation. But more nefariously, guise it under the banner of state-sponsored secularism. Expectedly, the religious expression bans disparately impacted French Muslims. In addition, they chilled bodily and verbal expressions of Muslim identity. The state aim of compelling secularisation upon its Muslim citizenry was based upon the civilisational binary, and ultimatum, to choose between Islam and the West, Muslim lands or France. Despite this ultimatum handed down from the state, the overwhelming majority of French Muslims exercised their faith amid pervasive bigotry. And simultaneously, embraced their national identities as Frenchmen and women. Extreme voices from within the state, and French civil society, looked to the three terrorists as representatives of the nations 3 to 6 million Frenchmen and women. Collateral indictment of French Muslims, by politicians and media alike, infused with an already fervent culture of Islamophobia on the ground, will surely incite violent backlash against Muslims and Muslim communities in the country.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 21:22:05 +0000
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