PARIS (AP) – French lawmakers on Monday discussed a bill they hope will uproot radical Islam in the country. The belief that the authorities maintain is creeping up on public services, associations, some schools and online to undermine national values.
The bill is broad and controversial, with about 1,700 proposed amendments, and it guarantees a heated debate for the next two weeks in the lower house.
At the start of the debate, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, the sponsor of the bill, said the aim was to stop an Islamic hostile takeover aimed at Muslims. “He stressed that ‘we are not fighting a religion’, although some Muslims in France have expressed concern that it adds a new layer of stigma to them. Other religions, from Buddhists to Roman Catholics, have complained that they can fall out of the text as well.
The bill reflects a priority for President Emmanuel Macron, who in a speech in October paints a bleak picture of what he calls ‘separatism’, a distorted version of Islam, France’s no. 2-religion, which is quietly creating a ‘counter-society’.
Darmanin reiterated the president in his inaugural address to lawmakers, saying: “Our country is suffering from a disease of separatism, primarily an Islamic separatism that is like gangrene infecting our national unity.”
Darmanin, a right-wing member of Macron’s centrist party, embarked on his mission to zealously propose a law and wrote a short book, which will be released in the next few days, “Manifesto for Secularism” – a fundamental value of France that the bill he sponsored was intended to protect.
Multiple attacks in France by Islamic extremists provide a backdrop for the bill, even though recent violence has been perpetrated by outsiders.
The text applies to all religions, but some Muslims believe the legislation points the finger at Islam again.
Other critics say the bill covers land already covered by current laws, while far-right leader Marine Le Pen says the bill does not go far enough and does not even mention the enemy: radical Islam.
The proposed law is one aspect of the French president’s attempt to do what his predecessors tried and failed to do: to create a social ‘Islam of France’. Separately, official guidance was urged by the government, the French Council of the Muslim Faith, or CFCM, to create a “Charter of Principles for the Islam of France”, which was completed last month after many wrestling among Muslim federations.
Muslim leaders maintained a low profile when debate began.
In small and large ways, the bill seeks to oversee the functioning of associations and mosques, including foreign funding, and aims to supplement access points for Islamic ideology in the lives of Muslims.
Mohammed Moussaoui, head of the CFCM, said at a parliamentary commission hearing in January that the new oversight of associations in the bill was “useful, necessary to fight those who want to instrument associations” to oppose French values. However, he expressed concern that officials “could use this tool to harass associations, the good students” according to the rules.
The head of the Foundation of Islam, a secular organization representing a progressive Islam, calls the proposed law ‘unfair but necessary’.
Although Muslims are not mentioned in the text, it excludes “only one religion but one category of citizens”, Ghaleb Bencheikh said in a telephone interview. This is necessary because ‘French society, the French nation is traumatized by attacks and the reality of radical Islam.’ While radicals are a minority, it is minorities that make up history, Bencheikh added.
Among the 51 articles, the bill aims to ensure that civil servants respect neutrality and secularism while being protected from threats or violence.
In an effort to protect children from indoctrination and to eliminate underground schools, children from 3 years of age must attend a regular school. According to French media, by 2020 about 50,000 children will be homeschooled. But the number of “clandestine schools” where children are allegedly indoctrinated into radical ideology is unknown.
Among other things, the bill aims to keep a close eye on associations, including those that regularly run mosques, with measures aimed at ensuring that outsiders cannot take control of an association.
Another measure requires associations that receive state funds to sign a “Republican commitment contract” to ensure that they respect French values. Funding must be repaid if the contract is broken. Although foreign funding for mosques is not prohibited, amounts of more than 10,000 euros ($ 12,100) must be declared.
When some Muslims experience a new layer of stigma, France’s other religions feel collateral damage. According to the newspaper Le Monde, they are unanimous in their criticism of the treatment of religious associations, which according to leaders said that a parliamentary commission adds unnecessary layers of work, supervision and suspicion to all faiths.
The proposed law also seeks to stop the issuance of virginity certificates, the practice of polygamy and forced marriages. Doctors will be fined and face imprisonment for providing virginity certificates.
The law contains an article that Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti called the ‘Paty Act’ after the beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty, which showed students in a civil caricature of the Prophet. This creates a new crime for hate speech online in which someone’s personal details are posted. A Chechen refugee beheaded Paty after information about the teacher was spread online.
The parliamentary debate comes after the defense of the French president against the right to produce or display such caricatures after the beheading of the school teacher. This has sparked protests in several countries where Macron’s position has been seen as anti-Muslim, which his government strongly denies. An international collective of pro-Muslim groups lodged a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee last month, accusing the French government of ‘Islamophobic attitudes’.