PARIS (AP) – French lawmakers debated a bill on Monday that hopes it will eradicate radical Islam in the country, beliefs that authorities claim are creeping into public services, associations, some schools and online, in order to undermine values national.
The bill is broad and controversial, with about 1,700 proposed amendments and guarantees heated debates for the next two weeks in the lower house.
The opening of the debate, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, the sponsor of the bill, said the goal was to stop “a hostile Islamist takeover targeting Muslims.” He stressed that “we are not fighting against a religion”, although some Muslims in France have expressed concern that they are adding a new layer of stigma. Other religions, from Buddhists to Roman Catholics, have complained that they could also suffer consequences from the text.
The bill reflects a priority for President Emmanuel Macron, who in a speech in October painted a bleak picture of what he called “separatism,” a perverse version of Islam, religion no.
Darmanin echoed the president in his opening remarks to parliamentarians, saying that “our country suffers from a disease of separatism, primarily an Islamist separatism that is like the gangrene that infects our national unity.”
Darmanin, a right-wing member of Macron’s centrist party, set out to zealously propose a law, writing a short book to be released in the coming days, “The Manifesto for Secularism” – a fundamental value of France. he sponsored is meant to protect.
Multiple attacks in France by Islamist extremists provide a backdrop for the bill, even though recent violence has been committed by foreigners.
The text applies to all religions, but some Muslims say the legislation points the finger at Islam once again.
Other critics say the bill covers land already under current law, while far-right leader Marine Le Pen says the bill does not go far enough or even calls it the enemy: radical Islam.
The proposed law is an aspect of the French president’s attempt to do what his predecessors tried and failed to do: the creation of a tailor-made “Islam of France”. Separately, the official pipeline to the government, the French Council of the Muslim Faith or CFCM, was pushed to create a “charter of principles for Islam in France”, finalized last month after many struggles between Muslim federations.
Muslim leaders kept a low profile as the debate began.
Small and large, the bill seeks to oversee the functioning of associations and mosques, including foreign funding, and aims to connect entry points for Islamist ideology into Muslim life.
Mohammed Moussaoui, head of the CFCM, said at a January parliamentary committee meeting that the new oversight of associations in the bill is “useful, necessary to fight those who want to exploit associations” to counter French values. However, he expressed concern that officials could “use this tool to disturb associations, good students”, following the rules.
The head of the Islam Foundation, a secular organization that represents a progressive Islam, called the proposed law “unjust but necessary.”
While Muslims are not mentioned in the text, it highlights “one religion, but one category of citizens,” Ghaleb Bencheikh said in a telephone interview. It is necessary because “French society, the French nation is traumatized by attacks and the reality of radical Islam.” While radicals are a minority, “minorities are the ones who make up history,” Bencheikh added.
Among the 51 articles, the bill aims to ensure that public service employees respect neutrality and secularism, while protecting them from threats or violence.
In an attempt to protect children from indoctrination and eliminate underground schools, the text requires all children from the age of 3 to attend regular school. About 50,000 children were educated at home in 2020, according to French media. The number of “clandestine schools” in which children are indoctrinated in radical ideology is unknown.
Among other key points, the bill aims to closely monitor associations, including those that often run the mosque, 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 the honoring of French values. Funding must be reimbursed if the contract is breached. While external funding for mosques is not banned, more than 10,000 euros ($ 12,100) must be declared.
If some Muslims feel a new layer of stigma, the other religions of France feel collateral damage. The newspaper Le Monde reported that it was unanimous in its criticism of the treatment of religious associations, about which the leaders said that a parliamentary commission adds unnecessary layers of work, supervision and suspicion to all faiths.
The proposed law also seeks to stop doctors from issuing certificates of virginity, practicing polygamy and forced marriage. Doctors are fined and risk jail for providing virginity certificates.
The law includes an article that Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti called the “Paty law” after the beheading of school teacher Samuel Paty, who showed students in a civic class caricatures of the prophet. A new crime is being created for online hate speech, in which someone’s personal data is posted. A Chechen refugee beheaded Paty after information about the teacher was released online.
The parliamentary debate comes after the French president defended the right to produce or show such caricatures after the beheading of the school teacher, an attitude for free speech that angered many Muslims abroad. He launched protests in several countries where Macron’s position was perceived as anti-Muslim, which his government strongly denies. An international group of pro-Muslim groups filed a complaint last month with the UN Human Rights Committee, accusing the French government of “Islamophobic attitudes”.