NOTES AT ”ISLAMOPHOBIA IN FRANCE/THE WITCH HUNT OF PRESIDENTMACRON AND HIS TEAM ON THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY IN FRANCE”
[1]
WIKIPEDIAMURDER OF SAMUEL PATY
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Samuel_Paty
BBCNICE ATTACK: GRIEF AND ANGER IN FRANCE AFTER CHUCH STABBINGS30 OCTOBER 2020
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54745251
TEXT
President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday’s stabbings were an “Islamist terrorist attack”. Security is being stepped up throughout France.
The 21-year-old Tunisian suspect arrived in the city the night before the attack, his brother told the BBC.
Meanwhile, France’s interior minister said more militant attacks were likely.
“We need to understand that there have been and there will be other events such as these terrible attacks,” said Gerald Darmanin. “We’re at war against an ideology, Islamist ideology.”
Security has been increased at places of worship and schools across France following two similar attacks within two weeks. Earlier this month a teacher was beheaded in a Paris suburb after showing controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to some of his pupils.
Mr Macron’s subsequent defence of the right to publish the cartoons has stoked anger in several Muslim-majority countries.
Following the latest attack, police shot and wounded the suspected knifeman, who had only recently arrived in Europe. He is said to be in a critical condition in hospital.
President Emmanuel Macron has ordered that the number of soldiers being deployed to protect public places – such as churches and schools – rises from 3,000 to 7,000.
Meanwhile, police investigating the attack have made a second arrest.
What do we know about the victims?
The two women and a man were attacked inside the basilica in the morning before the first Mass of the day.
Two died inside the church. One of them, a 60-year-old woman who has not been named, was “virtually beheaded” close to the font, according to the French chief anti-terrorism prosecutor.
- ‘Such friendly faces’: Nice in shock after murders
- In pictures: Scene of the knife attack
- What we know about the Nice attack
French media have named one victim as 55-year-old Vincent Loquès, a devout Catholic who had reportedly worked at the basilica for more than 10 years.
Mr Loquès, a father of two loved by many of the church’s regulars, was opening the building when the attacker slit his throat, police say.
The third victim was named by the Brazilian foreign ministry as Simone Barreto Silva, a 44-year-old mother of three born in Salvador on Brazil’s north-eastern coast. She had lived in France for 30 years.
She fled to a nearby cafe with multiple stab wounds but died shortly afterwards. “Tell my children that I love them,” she told those who tried to help her, according to French media.
On Friday morning, priest Philippe Asso stood on the church steps with other mourners before walking in with a wreath to the victims.
Others gathered outside the church to pay their respects.
Nice resident Frederic Lefèvre, 50, said he knew Mr Loquès.
“This is a tragedy once again,” he said. “We’re a free country, we have demonstrated freedom to all countries of the world. Today, this freedom is closing in on us. Life needs to be lived for everyone.”
Marc Mercier, 71, called the killings a “catastrophe”.
“It’s appalling. It’s been years that we’ve been saying that fear should shift to the other side [attackers] but it is still the same.”
[2]
”Collective punishment is a form of retaliation whereby a suspected perpetrator’s family members, friends, acquaintances, sect, neighbors or entire ethnic group is targeted. The punished group may often have no direct association with the other individuals or groups, or direct control over their actions”
WIKIPEDIA
COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT
”ARTICLE 33 [ Link ]
No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.
Pillage is prohibited.
Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.
ARTICLE 33, 4TH GENEVA CONVENTION’
https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/ihl/WebART/380-600038
[3]
Cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad were projected onto government buildings in France as part of a tribute to history teacher Samuel Paty, who was murdered by an Islamist terrorist last week.
INDEPENDENTCHARLIE HEBDO MUHAMMAD CARTOONS PROJECTEDONTO GOVERNMENT BUILDING IN DEFIANCE OFISLAMIST TERRORISTS
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/charlie-hebdo-cartoons-muhammad-samuel-paty-teacher-france-b1224820.html
TEXT
Cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad were projected onto government buildings in France as part of a tribute to history teacher Samuel Paty, who was murdered by an Islamist terrorist last week.
The controversial depictions from the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdowere displayed onto town halls in Montpellier and Toulouse for several hours on Wednesday evening, following an official memorial attended by Paty’s family and President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
Paty was beheaded while walking home on Friday evening, just days after he showed Charlie Hebdo’s caricatures of Mohammad to pupils in a class about freedom of expression.
In a tribute to the slain teacher, Macron described him as a “quiet hero” who “embodied” the values of the French Republic. The president posthumously awarded Paty the Légion d’Honneur, France’s highest civilian honour.
He was killed precisely because he incarnated the Republic. He was killed because the Islamists want our future,” Macron said.
“Samuel Paty on Friday became the face of the Republic, of our desire to break the will of the terrorists… and to live as a community of free citizens in our country.”
The attack on Paty is the second terror incident in the capital since a trial began last month against the alleged accomplices of the 2015 killings that took place at Charlie Hebdo’s Paris offices.
The trial sees 14 people accused of providing weapons and logistical support to the gunmen, who were killed by police after three days of attacks that left 17 people dead and dozens injured.
The perpetrator of last Friday’s attack was also shot dead by police, and more than a dozen individuals have since been arrested as part of the investigation.
The front page of latest issue of Charlie Hebdo did not feature an image of the Prophet Mohammad – as it did following the 2015 attack – instead displaying decapitated cartoons of various professions with the headline: “Who’s turn next?”
END OF ARTICLE
[4]
ARTICLE 1, FRENCH CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE PREMIER.
La France est une République indivisible, laïque, démocratique et sociale. Elle assure l’égalité devant la loi de tous les citoyens sans distinction d’origine, de race ou de religion. Elle respecte toutes les croyances”
Texte intégral de la Constitution du 4 octobre 1958 en vigueur
[5]
”France will not give up cartoons, President Emmanuel Macron vowed Wednesday in a homage to teacher Samuel Paty, beheaded for having shown caricatures of the Prophet Mohamed to pupils in a lesson on free speech.
“We will not give up cartoons,” Macron told a solemn ceremony at the Sorbonne university attended by the family of the murdered teacher”
FRANCE 24.COM
WE WILL NOT GIVE UP CARTOONS:
MACRON IN HOMAGE TO MURDERED TEACHER
21 OCTOBER 2020
TEXT
France will not give up cartoons, President Emmanuel Macron vowed Wednesday in a homage to teacher Samuel Paty, beheaded for having shown caricatures of the Prophet Mohamed to pupils in a lesson on free speech.
“We will not give up cartoons,” Macron told a solemn ceremony at the Sorbonne university attended by the family of the murdered teacher.
The president said Paty was slain by “cowards” for representing the secular, democratic values of the French Republic.
Paty’s coffin stood in the centre of the university courtyard, adorned with French flags, as pupils, a friend, and a fellow history teacher paid moving tributes to the 47-year-old father of one.
The ceremony started with the song “One” by Irish rock band U2 played over loudspeakers at the Paty family’s request, and ended with applause.
Paty was killed on his way home from work after school last Friday by 18-year-old Chechnya-born Abdullakh Anzorov, who published an image of the teacher’s severed head on Twitter before he was himself shot dead by police.
Paty became the subject of an online hate campaign after he showed cartoons of the Prophet to pupils in a civics class to elicit debate on freedom of expression.
The same images had unleashed a bloody assault by Islamist gunmen on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo five years ago in which 12 people, including cartoonists, were killed.
Macron said Paty was killed “because he incarnated the Republic.”
Added the president: “He was killed because Islamists want our future,” while vowing “they will never have it.”
[6]
MUSLIM NATIONS CALL FOR BOYCOTT OF FRENCH PRODUCTS28 OCTOBER 2020
https://abcnews.go.com/International/muslim-nations-call-boycott-french-products/story?id=73858014
TEXT
PARIS — Several Arab countries are condemning French President Emmanuel Macron after he said he would propose legislation to tackle Islamist separatism and paid tribute to history teacher Samuel Paty, who was murdered after showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class. Macron has previously called Islam a “religion in crisis.”
Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Bangladesh and the Gaza Strip this week after Macron’s comments led to social media channels to be flooded with the hashtags #BoycottFrenchProducts and #NeverTheProphet.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan publicly called for the boycott of French products on Tuesday, decrying “rising Islamophobia in Europe.” Some shops have already removed dozens of French brands from their shelves. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Monday the French ambassador to Turkey would be called back to Paris for consultation amid rising diplomatic tensions.
Leaders and officials in Iran, Pakistan and Qatar have also come out to denounce Macron’s support of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons, which many Muslims find disrespectful. Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, even called on Facebook to place a ban on Islamophobia and hate speech against Islam “given the rampant abuse and vilification of Muslims on social media platforms.”
The Qatari State has condemned an escalation of “populist rhetoric inciting the abuse of religions.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif said insulting 1.9 billion Muslims for “the abhorrent crimes of such extremists is an opportunistic abuse of freedom of speech.”
The Oct. 16 killing of Paty has led to protests across France. The French Council for the Muslim Faith denounced the history teacher’s murder as “a betrayal of the message of the prophet” but said “forcing [the cartoons] on everyone by projecting them on public buildings or showing them to children in a compulsory education setting is another thing.”
On Sunday, Macron pleaded for unity.
“We are united,” he tweeted, adding, “We will not give in, ever” in both English and Arabic.
Debate around Islam is raging as the French government seeks to implement strong measures against radical Islamism.
Meanwhile, European leaders are standing behind France. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called Erdogan’s comments “completely unacceptable” and European Union High Representative Josep Borelles said Turkey needs to “stop this dangerous spiral of confrontation.
[7]
”The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said on Monday that the swoops on Islamists – including individuals who expressed support for the attack – should send the message that “enemies of the republic cannot expect a minute’s respite” and more police operations would follow.”
…………”Darmanin said about 80 investigations were under way into radical preachers and suspected extremists accused of spreading online hate, and authorities were urgently assessing about 50 associations in the Muslim community, “some of which will certainly be dissolved”.
THE GUARDIANSAMUEL PATY MURDER: FRENCH POLICE RAID DOZENS OF ISLAMIST GROUPS
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/19/samuel-paty-french-police-raid-dozens-of-islamist-groups
TEXT:
French police have raided dozens of Islamist groups and suspected extremists amid growing pressure on the government to clamp down on religious fundamentalism three days after a teacher was beheaded outside his school.
The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said on Monday that the swoops on Islamists – including individuals who expressed support for the attack – should send the message that “enemies of the republic cannot expect a minute’s respite” and more police operations would follow.
Darmanin said about 80 investigations were under way into radical preachers and suspected extremists accused of spreading online hate, and authorities were urgently assessing about 50 associations in the Muslim community, “some of which will certainly be dissolved”
Police sources told French media that authorities were preparing to deport 213 foreigners who were on a government watchlist and suspected of holding extreme religious beliefs, including about 150 serving jail sentences.
Darmanin said a fatwa appeared to have been issued against Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old teacher of history and geography who was decapitated on Friday outside his secondary school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, about 20 miles north-west of Paris.
As part of a class discussion on freedom of expression this month, Paty had shown pupils a series of cartoons and caricatures including two of the prophet Muhammad published by Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine that was the target of a 2015 attack in which Islamist gunmen killed 12 people.
Police shot dead Paty’s attacker, an 18-year-old of Chechen origin named as Abdullakh Anzorov. A photo of the teacher’s decapitated head was posted to Twitter from Anzorov’s mobile phone, along with the message: “I have executed one of the dogs from hell who dared to put Muhammad down.”
Among the organisations being investigated by authorities is the high-profile Anti-Islamophobia Collective, which Darmanin said appeared to be “clearly implicated” in the attack because the father of a child at the school had repeated its name in a video posted online calling for Paty’s dismissal.
The pupil’s father and Abdelhakim Sefrioui, a well-known Islamist radical with links to the organisation who routinely uses social media and local campaigns to pressure the government over alleged Islamophobia, are among 11 people who have so far been arrested in connection with the murder.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has announced a national tribute for the dead teacher to be held on Wednesday, and on Monday he received the teacher’s family at the Élysée Palace, expressing his condolences and assuring them of his support.
At an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday, Macron announced a series of anti-Islamist measures including concerted steps against “the structures, associations and people close to radical groups … who spread hate and can encourage attacks”. Macron reportedly told ministers: “Fear is about to change sides. Islamists must not be allowed sleep soundly in our country.”
France’s chief public prosecutors were summoned on Monday to an urgent meeting with the justice minister, Éric Dupond-Moretti, to discuss “additional measures necessitated by the situation”, while security at France’s schools is to be increased when classes return after the half-term break.
Marlène Schiappa, a junior interior minister, summoned social media bosses for an urgent discussion of the role social networks played in the attack in Conflans and in previous atrocities. Gabriel Attal, a government spokesman, said: “Those who participated in the public lynching of this teacher on social media are in some way also responsible for what happened.”
A day after tens of thousands of people took part in dozens of rallies in towns and cities across to France to support free speech and honour Paty, Macron is under pressure to come up with an effective response to the latest in a series of Islamist terror attacks that have rocked France since the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
More than 240 people have died from Islamist violence since that attack, prompting opposition politicians – particularly on the right – to accuse the government of waging a battle of words rather than taking decisive action.
Bruno Retailleau, the parliamentary leader of the centre-right Les Républicains party, said Macron was “fighting a battle of vocabulary, even while a part of the country is defying the fundamental values of the French republic”.
The leader of the far-right National Rally, Marine Le Pen, laid a wreath outside Paty’s school on Monday. She called for “wartime legislation” to combat the terror threat and demanded an “immediate” moratorium on immigration and the expulsion of all foreigners on terror watchlists.
END OF ARTICLE
THE ISLAMOPHOBIC WITCH HUNT OF ISLAMO LEFTISTS IN FRANCE
t’s true that France is hardly unaccustomed to Islamist terrorist attacks, having had to endure more than most western countries in recent years. The Toulouse and Montauban shootings in 2012, the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket and on the Bataclan nightclub and other restaurants and cafés in 2015, and the truck attack in Nice in 2016, being just the most deadly and high-profile. There have also been many smaller-scale incidents, with a spike in such attacks recently in the context of the ongoing trial of the presumed accomplices of the perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo attack, and two weeks ago the murder of school teacher Samuel Paty on the last day of term, decapitated ostensibly for having shown examples of Charlie Hebdo’s Muhammad cartoons in a class on free speech and laïcité (even though Paty warned that some of his pupils may find the pictures offensive and invited them to turn away or leave the room).
That such incidents provoke a reactionary backlash among rightwing politicians and media outlets insensitive to distinctions between Muslims and Islamists is unfortunately to be expected, but it doesn’t take much to provoke such reductionism in France these days – a veil-wearing woman who dares to express an opinion, participate in a song contest or go jogging or to the beach is enough to warrant as much “debate” on the “Muslim problem” as mass murder. Nor is it confined to the right: a member of Macron’s centrist party recently asked a veiled woman to leave the room, in an echo of a far-right politician doing the same earlier last year.
Upping the stakes
But that which has followed Paty’s murder is taking things to a new level, with the government at the forefront of Islamophobic polemics, and with changes to the law, to the constitution, and to the very definition of laïcité, being proposed to combat the terrorist threat, as well as restrictions on free speech being suggested as a necessary step to defending… free speech! Instead of healthy debate into what the state could have done better to prevent the killing, the mainstream political and media consensus has been to scapegoat those they say are simply in denial about the threat posed by veils and people not eating pork, and in particular those who critique Islamophobia and Charlie Hebdo – a wide range of people they refer to under the umbrella-term of “Islamo-leftists”. Journalist Rokhaya Diallo (black, Muslim and left-wing!) was recently accused by “new philosopher” Pascal Bruckner, for instance, of having blood on her hands for having used the “privilege” afforded her by being a black, Muslim woman to incite hatred against Charlie Hebdo.
n the aftermath of Paty’s murder, the police raided the homes and offices of numerous individuals and over 50 associations that, in the words of the interior minister Gérald Darmanin, admittedly “had no link to the Paty murder”; instead the aim was to “send a message”. Far from being Islamists or suspected terrorists (as suggested in The Guardian), these were in most cases simply Muslims and associations that provide legal advice to Muslims or that protest against anti-Muslim discrimination: the charity Barakacity, a faith-based charity providing clean water in Africa and help to the homeless and refugees in France, was banned a few days ago because of its Muslim affiliation (Catholic charities such as the Secours Catholique pose no such threat to laïcité however); and the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), a small organization with a UN consultant status which organizes mediation and helps provide lawyers for those defending themselves against Islamophobic discrimination, has been declared an “enemy of the Republic” and also threatened with dissolution – it has since taken steps to extend its activities internationally because it no longer feels safe in France.
Darmanin also went on a media offensive to put the blame on: the existence of Halal (and Kosher) food sections in supermarkets; journalists, left-wing politicians and charities such as Amnesty International and La Ligue des Droits de l’Homme for their denunciation of supposedly non-existent Islamophobia or police violence; and academics for teaching “Anglo-Saxon” courses on racism (as well as gender, sexuality and intersectionality) – all of which apparently contribute to “communitarianism”, “separatism” and ultimately Islamist terror. This weekend he also announced plans to impose a fine up to 75,000 euros and to send to prison for up to 5 years anyone who refuses to see a doctor of the opposite sex.
Jean-Michel Blanquer, the minister for education, has also spoken out against veils, which, although technically legal, are “not desirable” nor “compatible with republican values”, as well as the corrupting influence of Anglo-Saxon academic concepts such as intersectionality. For Blanquer (and, even more embarrassingly, many academics in France), such work essentialises minorities (and is thus racist and sexist itself) and inevitably fragments society, in contrast to the French republican tradition in which everyone is equal and everyone gets along just fine.
Tolerant France
Yesterday, on the anniversary of the first day of the Algerian war, Jean Castex, the Prime Minister, spoke about the need for the French public to no longer critique France’s colonial history (something France has never really started doing), and to instead be proud of France’s “roots”, identity and freedom. Meanwhile, and in the face of boycotts of French products in some Muslim-dominant countries, Macron tells the international media how tolerant France actually is of Muslims, offering a very different discourse to the one aimed at French Muslims.
The recurring theme in such debates is the supposed conflict between free speech and laïcité on the one hand (whereby Muslims seem to be little more than convenient objects of ridicule), and Muslims and anti-racists on the other (who inconveniently insist on Muslims having the right to have a voice). This manufactured conflict is dependent upon a curious, neoconservative redefinition of laïcité and a libertarian fetishisation of absolutist free speech.
From this perspective, nothing could symbolise the beauty of republican freedom more than anti-religious satire such as Charlie Hebdo’s depictions of Muhammad as a terrorist or of a veil-wearing student union representative or other Muslims as animals. To suggest that such pictures are more Islamophobic and racist than they are representative of free speech (as indeed the European Court of Justice has done, arguing that depictions of Muhammad are not covered by Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights), is not just seen as an affront to free speech and the French tradition of anti-religious satire, but contrary to the very principles of laïcité.
While the Observatoire de la Laïcité has sought to calm tensions in recent years by explaining that laïcité means simply that the state should be neutral and that the public should be free to practise whatever religion they want, figures from the (so-called) intellectual (so-called) left, such as the Printemps Républicain and former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, have sought to push an alternative conception of laïcité whereby it is the public that is expected to be neutral (so, no more veils, no getting offended, no being too Muslim). In recent years they have been waging a war with the Observatoire (a neutral organisation whose task is to basically explain neutrality) which they regard as ideologically-influenced, partisan and unhelpful in the combat against the Islamist threat. In contrast, Laurent Bouvet, the leader of the perfectly neutral Printemps Républicain, recently posted on Twitter pictures of bacon masks, sent to him as a gift in the fight against the twin pandemics of Covid and Islam. This version of free speech and laïcité is the one that is winning the war, with the government now turning its attention to the Observatoire and threatening to “renew” its staff and role next year.
Free speech provocateurs
But it is almost as if the fearless defenders of free speech think that it is only speech that stigmatises Muslims that should be free. The government ministers who are so adamant about the need to celebrate the content of Charlie Hebdo as an exemplar of free speech have no problem in filing complaints for defamation against Mediapart, an independent online newspaper, for user-generated blog content they’ve hosted criticising police violence. A hundred academics have also just signed a letter siding with the reactionary comments of the minister for education against intersectional studies, asking for the state to intervene to prevent students from wearing headscarves and to put a stop to lecturers teaching such subjects. A few days ago, the Sénat passed an amendment to oblige academics to conduct their research “within the framework of Republican values”, which could be a perfectly banal and vague formulation, but which could also be the end of academic freedom, at least for those that do “critique” and “studies” (i.e. cultural, postcolonial, queer etc.).
I myself had problems organising a conference on Islamophobia, racialization and the “Muslim problem” when I was (very inconveniently) banned from using the words Islamophobia, racialization and the “Muslim problem” because they were too “provocative” (a favourite word of the free speech fetishists whenever they try to limit someone else’s free speech) and my university was too scared of offending the Printemps Républicain (Bouvet is a professor at the same university). I was also banned for the same reason from using an image of a woman wearing a tricolore veil to illustrate the event, and was instead asked to use orientalist images of Muslims as people from another continent and another century – I declined, but one person’s offence is clearly another person’s freedom.
One person’s offence is clearly another person’s freedom.
What seems worryingly clear, however, is that the free speech of academics, journalists, politicians, Muslims, anti-racist organisations, and law and order organisations is currently under threat, and that limits are being placed on the free speech of those who try to hold power to account simply to protect the free speech of those who feel it’s important to ridicule and stigmatise the powerless. And this is going to be done in the name of free speech.
French neutrality
Also, that in the name of neutrality (and even tolerance, of all words – where that now seems to mean the tolerance of offensiveness), the state is going to crack down even harder on the “proselytising” veil and proselytise Republican values instead. The extent to which school teachers and university lecturers go along with this remains to be seen. Further, the blanket approach to blaming both the left and Muslims for Islamist terror attacks, to side-lining critical scholarship and anti-racism activists, and to undermining anyone who tries to be neutral and balanced in their approach to debating such issues rather than reactionary and stigmatising, is going to be a prevailing feature of such polemics.
The extent to which critical scholars of race and intersectionality have taken over academia in France is rather unconvincing, however, seeing as it’s so hard to organise academic events on such topics (and when they are organised, they’re cancelled because of pressure from the very people claiming they’re rampant).
Similarly, the extent to which the organised left are in any way active in combatting Islamophobia is also dubious. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the founder of La France Insoumise, has always been explicitly anti-religious and guilty of Islamophobia himself (emphasising at one point that it simply isn’t French to wear a veil); it was only last year that he became convinced that there was a problem, agreeing to participate in a march against Islamophobia that is still being used against him as proof that he’s an Islamo-leftist. Despite several people from his party denouncing the current climate, there is still little prospect of a left-wing protest rally in front of the offices of the CCIF or Barakacity.
Macron’s move to the right on these issues (a far cry from his balanced tone during his presidential campaign) is perhaps politically-motivated. Le Pen and the far-right will probably be the force to beat in the next election. But the influence of the Printemps Républicain shouldn’t be discounted as well – this movement of the republican left is seeking to transform itself into a political party, with Valls and other big name politicians on both the left and right likely to be tempted to join what could become an attractive (not too obviously racist) alternative for many voters.
The focus for the immediate short-term, though, will be on the teachers and pupils returning to school today for the first time since Paty’s murder. Much is being made of the need for teachers to address what happened and for urgent classes on free speech and laïcité, in which many teachers will force racist cartoons upon the children in their class and encourage “debate”, whilst being simultaneously alert to any sign of radicalisation (presumably anyone looking away or debating too much).
In a further ironic twist, the text that teachers are to read out to their pupils today just before a minute’s silence – a text from Jean Jaurès on the role of the teacher, free speech and laïcité – appears to have been amended to emphasise the “fermeté” (determination, assertiveness) of teachers instead of their tenderness, while the passage on the autonomy of teachers has been completely removed. So, no autonomy for teachers or lecturers, and discouragement of critical thinking and debate among pupils and students, and all in the name of free speech, tolerance and neutrality.
Meanwhile, the much-mediated acts of Islamist terrorism continue unabated by the crackdown on Islamo-leftists, while the relatively unmediated acts and threats of violence against mosques, Muslim veil-wearing women and anti-racist academics seem to be occurring ever more frequently.
[8]
”and the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), a small organization with a UN consultant status which organizes mediation and helps provide lawyers for those defending themselves against Islamophobic discrimination, has been declared an “enemy of the Republic” and also threatened with dissolution – it has since taken steps to extend its activities internationally because it no longer feels safe in France.”
THE ISLAMOPHOBIC WITCH HUNT OF ISLAMO LEFTISTS IN FRANCE
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/islamophobic-witch-hunt-islamo-leftists-france/[9]
”Police sources told French media that authorities were preparing to deport 213 foreigners who were on a government watchlist and suspected of holding extreme religious beliefs, including about 150 serving jail sentences.”
THE GUARDIANSAMUEL PATY MURDER: FRENCH POLICE RAID DOZENS OF ISLAMIST GROUPS
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/19/samuel-paty-french-police-raid-dozens-of-islamist-groups
[10]
ARTICLE 1, FRENCH CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE PREMIER.
La France est une République indivisible, laïque, démocratique et sociale. Elle assure l’égalité devant la loi de tous les citoyens sans distinction d’origine, de race ou de religion. Elle respecte toutes les croyances”