French government defends controversial bill targeting radical Islamism

France’s government unveiled proposals to clamp down on radical Islamism on Wednesday, advancing plans to stamp out what President Emmanuel Macron has called “separatism” that have also drawn accusations of unduly targeting Muslims. 

French President Emmanuel Macron says new laws are needed to shore up France’s secular system and reinforce French republican values. © REUTERS

Proposals touching on topics ranging from religious education and secularism to polygamy and online harassment were on track to enter parliamentary debate on Wednesday following the approval of cabinet ministers.

Named as a bill for “strengthening republican principles” after dropping a contested “separatism” moniker, the proposals are expected to make for lively debates among lawmakers over some of the most sensitive issues of contemporary France.  

“This bill is not a text aimed against religions or against the Muslim religion in particular,” Prime Minister Jean Castex told reporters after a cabinet meeting in comments also posted on social media.

Ce projet de loi n’est pas un texte contre les religions, ni contre la religion musulmane en particulier.
C’est à l’inverse une loi de liberté, c’est une loi de protection ; c’est une loi d’émancipation face au fondamentalisme religieux.#PourLaRépublique pic.twitter.com/fiy4IAyGwX

— Jean Castex (@JeanCASTEX) December 9, 2020

“It is the reverse: it is a law of freedom, it is a law of protection, it is a law of emancipation against religious fundamentalism.”

Castex said the target of the bill “was the pernicious ideology that goes by the name of Islamist radicalism”.

From ‘separatism’ to ‘strengthening republican values’

The plans have been the object of much debate since early October, when Macron announced his administration would combat what he called “Islamist separatism”, in reference to ultra-conservative Muslims withdrawing from mainstream society.

Shortly after its announcement came the jihadist-inspired beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty, which reopened a debate over freedom of expression, as well as a deadly knife attack at a church in Nice.

France became the target of protests and boycotts in some Muslim countries after Macron defended the right to blaspheme and said Islam was “in crisis”.

Macron also lamented the lack of international support for France in its defence of its secular foundations, which date back to the French Revolution.

Much criticism of the proposals has had to do with consequences for French Muslims, the largest Muslim community in Europe.

In presenting the bill, the government showed its determination to insist it was distinguishing radical Islamism from the Islamic faith.

“The enemy of the Republic is a political ideology called radical Islamism, which aims to divide the French among themselves,” Prime Minister Jean Castex told newspaper Le Monde ahead of the unveiling of the proposals.

Castex argued the text did not target Muslims but aimed to “free Muslims from the growing grip of radical Islamism”.

What is in the draft law?

Macron argues new laws are needed to shore up France’s secular system, and the some 50 articles of the draft law aim to reduce the space that radicals have to deviate from French republican values, including secularism.

The proposal sets out stricter criteria for authorising home schooling of children over the age of three in a bid to prevent parents taking children out of public schools and enrolling them in underground Islamic facilities.

Doctors would be fined or jailed if they performed virginity tests on girls, and city officials would be required to interview couples to meet separately in case of doubt over free consent to marriage.

People practicing polygamy, which is already illegal in France, would be forbidden French residency cards.

Another measures would encourage mosques to register as places of worship, as many of France’s 2,600 mosques currently operate under rules for associations, and oblige mosques to declare foreign funding of more than 10,000 euros.

The bill has been modified since its initial announcement. Following the killing of Paty, who was the target of an online campaign, the bill includes measures against online hate speech and divulging personal information on the Internet.

(with newswires)