France passes anti-radicalism bill that worries
Muslims
By ELAINE
GANLEY
February
16, 2021
PARIS (AP)
— Lawmakers in the French parliament’s lower house on Tuesday overwhelmingly
approved a bill that would strengthen oversight of mosques, schools and sports
clubs to safeguard France from radical Islamists and to promote respect for
French values - one of President Emmanuel Macron’s landmark projects.
After two
weeks of intense debate, the vote in the National Assembly house was the first
critical hurdle for the legislation that has been long in the making. The bill
passed 347-151, with 65 abstentions.
With France
bloodied by terror attacks, having hundreds of citizens who went to Syria in
years past and thousands of French troops now fighting extremists in Mali, few
disagree that radicalization is a danger. But critics also see the proposed law
as a political ploy to lure the right wing to Macron’s centrist party ahead of
next year’s presidential election.
The
wide-ranging bill, titled “Supporting respect for the principles of the
Republic,” covers most aspects of French life. It has been hotly contested by
some Muslims, lawmakers and others who fear the state is intruding on essential
freedoms and pointing a finger at Islam, the nation’s No. 2 religion.
But the
legislation breezed through a chamber in which Macron’s party has a majority.
It is not set to go to the conservative-controlled Senate until March 30, but
final passage is seen as all but assured.
The bill
gained added urgency after a teacher was beheaded outside Paris in October and
three people were killed during a knife attack at a Nice basilica the same
month.
A section
that makes it a crime to knowingly endanger the life of a person by providing
details of their private life and location is known as the ’’Paty law.” It was
named for Samuel Paty, the teacher who was killed outside his school after
information about where he taught was posted online in a video.
The bill
bolsters other French efforts to fight extremism, mainly security-based.
Detractors
say the measures are already covered in current laws. Some voice suspicions
about a hidden political agenda.
Days before
Tuesday’s vote, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin - the bill’s main sponsor -
accused far-right leader Marine Le Pen during a nationally televised debate of
being “soft” on radical Islam, saying she needs to take vitamins.
The remark
was intended to portray the government as tougher than the far-right in
tackling Islamic extremists. But Le Pen criticized the bill as too weak and
offered what she called her own, tougher counter-proposal. Le Pen, who has
declared her presidential candidacy for the 2022 election, lost in the 2017
runoff against Macron.
Jordan
Bardella, vice president of Le Pen’s National Rally party. said on BFM TV that
the legislation approved Tuesday “misses its target” because it doesn’t attack
radical Islamist ideology head-on, .
The bill
mentions neither Muslims nor Islam by name. Supporters say it is aimed at
snuffing out what the government describes as an encroaching fundamentalism
that is subverting French values, notably the nation’s foundational value of
secularism and gender equality.
The measure
has been dubbed the “separatism” bill, a term used by Macron to refer to
radicals who would create a “counter society” in France.
Top
representatives of all religions were consulted as the text was drafted. The
government’s leading Muslim conduit, the French Council for the Muslim Faith,
gave its backing.
Ghaleb
Bencheikh, head of the Foundation for Islam of France, a secular body seeking a
progressive Islam, said in a recent interview that the planned law was “unjust
but necessary” to fight radicalization.
Among other
provisions, the bill would ban virginity certificates and crack down on polygamy
and forced marriage, practices not formally attached to a religion. Critics say
those and other provisions are already covered in existing laws.
It would
also ensure that children attend regular school starting at age 3, a way to
target home schools where ideology is taught, and provide for training all
public employees in secularism. Anyone who threatens a public employee risks a
prison sentence. In another reference to Paty, the slain teacher, the bill
obligates the bosses of a public employee who has been threatened to take
action, if the employee agrees.
The bill
introduces mechanisms to guarantee that mosques and associations that run them
are not under the sway of foreign interests or homegrown Salafists with a
rigorous interpretation of Islam.
Associations
must sign a contract of respect for French values and pay back state funds, if
they cross a line. Police officers and prison employees must take an oath
swearing to respect the nation’s values and the constitution,
To
accommodate changes, the bill adjusts France’s 1905 law guaranteeing separation
of church and state.
Some
Muslims said they sensed a climate of suspicion.
“There’s
confusion... A Muslim is a Muslim and that’s all,” taxi driver Bahri Ayari said
after worshipping at midday prayers at the Grand Mosque of Paris.
“We talk
about radicals, about I don’t know what,” he said. “There is a book. There is a
prophet. The prophet has taught us.”
As for
convicted radicals, he said, their crimes “get put on the back of Islam. That’s
not what a Muslim is.”
___
Jeffrey
Schaeffer in Paris contributed to this report.
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