PARIS – France is in theory a non-discriminatory society where the state maintains strict religious neutrality and people are free to believe or not in any God they want. It is a nation in its own image that through education resolves the differences of faith and ethnicity in a shared commitment to the rights and responsibilities of French citizenship.
This model, known as laïcité, often inadequately translated as secularism, is embraced by a majority of French people. They or their ancestors became French in this way. No politician here will utter the words “In God we trust”. The Roman Catholic Church was removed from French public life more than a century ago. The country’s lay model displaces any deity.
But in a country with an awkward relationship with Islam, laïcité is also disputed as the shield against which France discriminates against its large Muslim population and does not confront its prejudices. As a result, the task of Nicolas Cadène, a light-headed messenger with a haircut of brown hair and multiple degrees of law, became the focus of controversy.
Mr. Cadène (39) manages the Laïcité Observatory as his ‘general rapporteur’, a weighty title for a young man – and one unthinkable outside France.
The institution, attached to the office of Prime Minister Jean Castex, began work in 2013. Since then, Mr. Cadene and his small staff led efforts to educate hundreds of thousands of public officials and young people in the sense of secularism, French. -style.
Why then the vitriol about his meticulous efforts? “We are living in a time of extreme tension in France,” he said in an interview. ‘There is an economic, social, health, ecological and identity crisis exacerbated by recent Islamic attacks. And in this context you have a terrible fear of Islam that has developed. ‘
This in turn led to pressure on Mr. Cadene to use his position to combat any expressions of Muslim identity. “We have to be very careful never to install a mind police,” he told me in his small paper-strewn office.
He was born into a Protestant family from the southern city of Nîmes and was raised in an environment deeply connected to the 1905 law that established the secular model of France. Protestants suffered persistent persecution in a predominantly Catholic society; a state that came out of religion was the answer. Mr. Cadène, who still lives with his wife and two children in Nîmes, is nonetheless a critic of the system he embodies. France, he says, has failed to achieve social mixing if laïcité wants to work.
‘Since laïcité is a tool to enable all of us to live together, regardless of our condition, it is also necessary that we be together, ”he said. ‘That we live in the same places. That we interact. And it happens too rarely. “Many schools, neighborhoods and workplaces were very homogeneous,” he said. “This inadequate social mixing arouses fear, because if you do not know the others, you are more afraid.”
Among the victims ‘is a majority of French Muslims, even though the situation is developing’, said Mr. Cadène said. The result, as he sees it, is religious and social discrimination: the inferior schools in ghetto neighborhoods on the outskirts of big cities mean that Muslim children have fewer opportunities.
It is this kind of frankness that has angered some members of the government, especially Marlène Schiappa, the junior minister in charge of citizenship.
At the Ministry of the Interior, where she works, anger has risen over what is seen as Mr. Cadène’s ‘laïcité of appeasement’, one that is more concerned with the ‘fight against stigmatization of Muslims’ than maintaining the Republic against ‘militant Islamists’. Report the weekly Le Point.
“There’s a discussion about the future of the observatory,” Mr Cadène said. He offered a wry smile. “Some members of government want to keep it, others want to suppress it and others want to transform it.”
Transformation would probably mean admission to the Interior Ministry, led by Gérald Darmanin, a hard line that declared war on the Islamic ‘enemy from within’. A decision is likely to be made in April, when Mr. Cadene’s renewable mandate expires.
“It would be very dangerous to make laïcité a political instrument,” he said. “It’s not an ideology. It is absolutely not anti-religious. It has to be a way to bring people together. ”
Hakim El Karoui, a Muslim business consultant and senior fellow at the Montaigne Institute, said the problem is that laïcité has many meanings. It can represent the law of 1905, freedom of conscience and the neutrality of the state. Or it could be philosophical, a form of emancipation against religion, a struggle for enlightenment against religious obscurantism, something close to atheism. Islam, with its lively appeal to young Muslims, then becomes the enemy, especially in the context of terrorist attacks in France.
‘Laïcité could be another name for anti-Islamic xenophobia. “It is not true that the Muslims of France consider it a form of war against them,” he said. El Karoui said. “If you are a Muslim of Algerian origin, you can be very grateful for that, because you know very well what an authoritarian Islam looks like.”
The view of mr. Cadene looks broadly similar to that of Macron. While condemning extremist Islamism behind recent terrorist attacks, including the beheading of a teacher, the president has acknowledged failures. In a speech in October, he said that France had suffered by neglecting ‘its own form of separatism’ by marginalizing some Muslims.
Draft legislation this month seeks to combat radical Islamism by combating the funding and teachings of extremist groups. It was a necessary step, Mr Cadène said, but not enough. “We also need a law of restoration to ensure that everyone has an equal chance.”
A law, in other words, that would help create a France of greater mixing through better distributed social housing, more socially mixed schools, a more varied workplace. The government is preparing a ‘national consultation on discrimination’ in January, a testament to the urgency that Mr. Macron in the run-up to the 2022 presidential election raises the question.
In France, it is not a bad compass to tell someone “Tell me your laïcité and I will tell you who you are”.
So I asked Mr Cadène about his. ‘It’s equality before everyone else, regardless of their beliefs. It is a public administration and public services that is impartial. And that’s brotherhood, because that’s what allows us to work together in respect of others’ beliefs. ”
He continues: ‘In theory, this is a wonderful model. But if the tool is not oiled, it rusts and fails. And the problem today is that equality is not real, freedom is not real, and brotherhood even less. ”
Strong words from an idealist, a dedicated French civil servant, who stands up for a subtle idea in an era of warring certainties. A distant relative, Raoul Allier, was instrumental in the 1905 Act. Cadene does not intend to soften his view, even if it costs him his job.
Laïcité is no panacea. It failed several times. French Jews, no longer citizens, were deported after their deaths during World War II. The idea was never extended to the Muslims of French Algeria under colonial rule.
Yet for many decades, the model made French citizens millions of immigrants, and it remains for many French people with different backgrounds and beliefs and skin color, a noble idea, without which France would lose its essence.
“I have always believed in the common good. “I entered emergency medical services as a young man and joined Amnesty International, where I could, I worked for human rights,” said Cadène.
‘I believe that our Republic is’ laïque ‘- secular -‘ and dedicated to social justice, and that laïcité can only survive on that basis. ‘