Last week’s killing of an instructor who used photographs of the Prophet Muhammad in free speech classes, by a Muslim refugee teenager, sparked a motion of solidarity in France and reignited debate about the role of Islam in the country.
Samuel Paty, 47, a professor of history and geography, did a thorough examination this month when he showed his academics over 12 to 14 two Cartoons of Muhammad published through the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the same photographs that in 2015 led jihadists to kill. 11 members, magazine members and six others in Paris, parents and teachers at the school, just 20 miles from the capital, said Paty had given his Muslim scholars the opportunity to leave the classroom or look the other way so as not to anger them.
Idolatry is forbidden in Islam, and many pious Muslims believe that any representation of Muhammad, or any respected prophet, is taboo. But many also discovered that Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons are offensive not only because they represent the prophet, but because they do so in some way. that critics say perpetuated racist and sectarian stereotypes of Muslims.
There was a tumult of several weeks. A student’s father called for a “mobilization” against Paty, adding his dismissal, and posted on social media the school’s response and the teacher’s call. An Islamist militant even accompanied disappointed parents to the school to push for the dismissal of the instructor.
But the stage became fatal last Friday when Abdoullakh Abouyezidovich, an 18-year-old Chechen refugee, beheaded Paty with a butcher’s knife as the instructor returned home. asked academics to identify Paty moments before killing him. The teenager was shot dead after trying to stab and shoot the government attacking him.
Police have a Twitter account suspected of belonging to the attacker since posting a photo of his head cut off with a message: “I executed one of the dogs from hell who dared to shoot Muhammad. “
French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited the murder site on Saturday, said the beheading gave the impression that it was an “Islamist terrorist attack” committed because Paty “was training freedom of expression. “He added that the terrorist seeks to “attack the republic and its values,” adding that “this is our war and it is existential. They [the terrorists] will not make it . . . They won’t divide us.
On Monday, police raided many houses in France as part of their investigation into Paty’s murder. Another 15 people have been arrested and 51 Islamic organizations are under investigation, Home Minister Gerald Darmanin said Monday. Have “a minute’s respite,” he told Radio Europe 1.
Unsurprisingly, France takes the alleged terrorist attack very seriously. Since Charlie Hebdo’s attack in 2015, recent years have noticed high-profile knife attacks, police movements on the Champs-Elysies and a coordinated attack in Paris that has killed 130 more people and many more wounded.
But Friday’s murders struck the center of two of France’s most turbulent debates, which have since merged: whether they deserve limits on freedom of expression and how Muslims deserve to integrate into French society.
And it’s a verbal exchange that can continue to shake up the country’s politics in the coming years.
For more than a year, Macron has pledged to detail his perspectives on the role of Islam in the lay culture of France and on 2 October, however, he delivered this speech.
“What we want to attack is Islamist separatism,” he told the nation, claiming that extremists were attacking desperate Muslims in desolate neighborhoods, necessarily creating anti-French enclaves by spreading their radical Islamic “ideology” and “project. “
“We have built our own separatism ourselves,” he continued, claiming that the French government had made that scenario imaginable by regrouping immigrants into spaces other than well-paid jobs or French public schools. To solve the problem, he proposed reforms, such as the four-year ban on magnets (devout Muslim leaders) trained abroad to preach in France. Instead, all magnets must be qualified in the country in order to lead a congregation.
It was transparent that Macron, who has long called for an “Islam of France” that integrates Muslims into the country’s society, aimed to distinguish between extremists and all Muslims. However, his speech and reflected image have gained mixed criticism.
Some said their statements, namely “Islam is a faith in crisis today, all over the world,” were incendiary and unrepressible. They also accuse Macron, who will be re-elected in 18 months, of seeking to gather an intelligent faith on the right by taking a more difficult stance against Islamic extremism. “The repression of Muslims has been a threat, now it is a promise,” tweeted Yasser Louati, a French Muslim activist.
Macron no longer hides his emotions about Islam. It is no longer radical Islam, now it is only Islam https://t. co/ljRK3LuNMM
– Bruno Ma’aes (@MacaesBruno) October 2, 2020
Others, such as Benjamin Haddad of the Atlantic Council tank, said Macron’s speech and perspectives on the factor had set the right tone.
“This underscored the urgency of fighting separatism,” said Haddad, who has been protecting Macron’s policies in Washington, D. C. , since 2017. “These are more neighborhoods and safe spaces that aren’t necessarily violent. . . but they will radically socialize ideology because French Republican ideals can no longer pass. It’s more than an ideological struggle,” he added. ” We’re talking about a waste of territory. “
“If you move to Paris, everyone will tell you there’s a problem. This is one of the most intimate in today’s France,” he concluded.
But what the war of words about Macron’s speech raises is that France has struggled to settle for muslims who come, for example, the country has banned the veil in public schools and for government workers at work. help Muslims integrate into French secular culture, while critics say Islamic clothing comes from sectarianism.
The factor became mild after the terrorist attack that followed Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons. The local debate has revolved around whether the media deserves a chorus to generate photographs of Muhammad, as Islamic training forbids, or whether this is a birthday party in French history. of the complaint of all religions. After all, the magazine blames devoted leaders like the Pope.
Thousands more took to the streets of France to protect this story, which on Sunday accumulated in primary cities such as Paris, Lyon and Marseille defying the attack, reminiscent of Paty and the concept that freedom of expression in France has no limits, even if it leads to photographs of the Islamic Prophet.
“We are the result of our history: those values of freedom, secularism and democracy can remain words,” one protester in Paris told the French media. “We have to keep them alive and being here helps make it happen. “
The politicians who attended the rallies made similar comments: “I need teachers to know that after this despicable act, the total country is them,” French Prime Minister Jean Castex said Sunday. “This tragedy affects us all because, through this teacher, it is the republic that has been attacked.
Above all, the number of racist attacks in France, coupled with those of Muslims, has declined in recent years. These statistics recommend that the possible scapegoat of Muslims in the coming weeks and months will lead to an increase in hate crimes.
But Macron’s policies and the aftermath of the attack mean Muslims are once again under the national microscope and, at the very least, they will not solve the assimilation disorders the country seeks to solve.
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A horrific homicide in France rekindle the country’s debate on freedom of expression and Islam Wire Services/Vox.