Part 1
1. PARIS: France called Tuesday for a UN-led observer mission to evaluate the treatment of China's Uighur population and accused Beijing of "indefensible practices" against the Muslim minority.
The proposal by Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian comes as tensions rise between France and China after Paris intensified its expression of public concern over the treatment of Uighurs in the western Xinjiang region....
Source: https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/W...n-led-mission-on-chinas-uighur-treatment.ashx
2. Since the Middle Ages, when the ancestors of the French were locked in conflict with the Arab invaders, France already had the “Muslim” problem.
As a Chinese saying goes, "Gifts or favours must be reciprocal." Hence, in return for the French "favour", China should also seek a UN-led mission on Muslim treatment in France.
3. The following are excerpts from an article by Adam Bensaid, a deputy producer at TRT World, dated 19 February 2020, under the headline "France’s ‘Muslim’ problem and the unspoken racism at its heart".
(Begin excerpts)
French Muslims continue to struggle with unemployment, social immobility and systemic racism, in spite of the French government’s calls for integration, which runs into deep-founded racism with every turn....
Mohammed Laarbi, whose last name has been changed due to his request for anonymity, has been on the hunt for a job for three years to no avail. The reason?
“Discrimination,” he claims. “When they hear your last name, you can see the interviewer’s face change. Sometimes they’re extra-polite, in an unnatural way. But you can see in their eyes they’re not interested in an Arab,” he adds.
Laarbi’s situation is hardly unique. Muslim immigrants in France, some third- and fourth-generation, have yet to integrate into a country that doesn’t really want them.
One of the most famous Algerian folk songs ‘Ya Rayah’ (Oh departing one), encapsulates the feeling of entire generations of disenchanted Algerians who arrived for France for employment, only to find despair in diaspora.
"Oh departing one, wherever you go, you’ll only tire and return... How many developed countries and barren lands will you see? How much time have you wasted, and how much will you still lose? Oh absent one, in the country of others How tired can you be and still run? Why is your heart so sad? And why is the miserable one like this? Hardship will end, but days don't last, and neither will my youth, just like yours."
Dahmane Harrachi, "Ya Rayah"....
“Modern France and Colonial France haven’t really changed”, says Dr Hamed Benseddik, a professor of Decolonial Studies who spoke to TRT World.
Benseddik believes that modern France “continues to struggle with the failed integration and assimilation of Muslims, largely due to its own internal contradictions”.
“How does a country that allegedly stands for liberty, equality and fraternity reconcile itself with internal racist undercurrents that deny the liberty of religion, generate inequality, and regard Arabs and Muslims as second-class citizens?” asks Benseddik.
“It can’t, because it would have to first acknowledge its white saviour’s complex, the genocide of millions, its nuclear testing in colonies, systemic racism, rape, torture, muder and its industrialisation at the expense of entire nations and peoples in the name of Mother France and all that she stands for. That’s not going to happen anytime soon.”
In France today, the name of the game is integration. French Muslims are often the subject of heated debates and simplifications overlooking religious and cultural diversity. The common cry remains that Muslims in France have not adopted French ways, culture and norms. Instead, the very meaning of what it means to be French is portrayed at risk by pundits, right-wing politicians and patriots alike.
But few question the reason for Muslims’ lack of integration, or the ‘mere history’ of racism, colonialism and social factors, which are often dismissed by the mainstream.
Abdelmalak Sayad, renowned Algerian-French sociologist and author of the The Suffering of Immigrants describes multiple reasons Muslims are marginalised in France, particularly North Africans.
“At the forefront is France’s laissez-faire attitude and unapologetic stance towards its bloody role as a colonial power and brutal subjugator of peoples,” says Sayad. “This included dehumanisation, torture, rape, exploitation and outright genocide, as in the case of over 5,000,000 Algerians killed throughout 132 years of French colonial rule.”
To the present day, France has yet to formally acknowledge its use of widescale torture, population cleansing, nuclear testing or the exploitation of resources in Algeria.
Often lost on many modern pundits and analysts, France’s exploitative colonial history left a bitter legacy for many Muslims....
For many North African Muslims, the ultimate hypocrisy was that France did not adhere to the very principles of the ‘Rights of Man’ it created as far back as 1789....
Muslims paid heavier taxes, had little to no rights, and nearly no legal protection according to the infamous ‘Code of Indigenes’. To acquire French citizenship, one had to give up their ‘Muslim status’ through an intentionally difficult process. Most Algerians were officially legally identified as ‘Muslims’. To this day, immigrant Algerians in France continue to identify as Muslims, rather than give up their faith and adopt a French identity.
“To put it simply,” says Benseddik. “France’s republican ideals were permanently tarnished in the eyes of people who knew its truth.”
Muslims quickly became an undercaste in Algeria itself, in spite of being the largest majority. Algerian Jews were granted speedy citizenship under the Cremieux decree, and given every right a citizen of the French republic enjoyed....
The French Institute for Demographic Studies reports that unemployment only worsened in minorities as discrimination increased. Among the first wave of immigrants, 15 percent of male Algerians, 11 percent of Moroccans and Tunisians, and 10 percent of Turks were unemployed....
Colonial France promoted pacifist religion to minimise resistance, while nearly eradicating the practice and memory of Islam by cracking down on schools and religious instruction. If it weren't for the efforts of reformist scholars such as Abdelhamid bin Badis over more than a century who collectively struggled to keep religion and literacy alive; it's likely Algerians would speak only French today and know nothing of Islam....
For the majority still in the ghettos, there is no path ahead for the taking: just bleak, second-class existence. (End excerpts)
Source: https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/france-s-muslim-problem-and-the-unspoken-racism-at-its-heart-33939
1. PARIS: France called Tuesday for a UN-led observer mission to evaluate the treatment of China's Uighur population and accused Beijing of "indefensible practices" against the Muslim minority.
The proposal by Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian comes as tensions rise between France and China after Paris intensified its expression of public concern over the treatment of Uighurs in the western Xinjiang region....
Source: https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/W...n-led-mission-on-chinas-uighur-treatment.ashx
2. Since the Middle Ages, when the ancestors of the French were locked in conflict with the Arab invaders, France already had the “Muslim” problem.
As a Chinese saying goes, "Gifts or favours must be reciprocal." Hence, in return for the French "favour", China should also seek a UN-led mission on Muslim treatment in France.
3. The following are excerpts from an article by Adam Bensaid, a deputy producer at TRT World, dated 19 February 2020, under the headline "France’s ‘Muslim’ problem and the unspoken racism at its heart".
(Begin excerpts)
French Muslims continue to struggle with unemployment, social immobility and systemic racism, in spite of the French government’s calls for integration, which runs into deep-founded racism with every turn....
Mohammed Laarbi, whose last name has been changed due to his request for anonymity, has been on the hunt for a job for three years to no avail. The reason?
“Discrimination,” he claims. “When they hear your last name, you can see the interviewer’s face change. Sometimes they’re extra-polite, in an unnatural way. But you can see in their eyes they’re not interested in an Arab,” he adds.
Laarbi’s situation is hardly unique. Muslim immigrants in France, some third- and fourth-generation, have yet to integrate into a country that doesn’t really want them.
One of the most famous Algerian folk songs ‘Ya Rayah’ (Oh departing one), encapsulates the feeling of entire generations of disenchanted Algerians who arrived for France for employment, only to find despair in diaspora.
"Oh departing one, wherever you go, you’ll only tire and return... How many developed countries and barren lands will you see? How much time have you wasted, and how much will you still lose? Oh absent one, in the country of others How tired can you be and still run? Why is your heart so sad? And why is the miserable one like this? Hardship will end, but days don't last, and neither will my youth, just like yours."
Dahmane Harrachi, "Ya Rayah"....
“Modern France and Colonial France haven’t really changed”, says Dr Hamed Benseddik, a professor of Decolonial Studies who spoke to TRT World.
Benseddik believes that modern France “continues to struggle with the failed integration and assimilation of Muslims, largely due to its own internal contradictions”.
“How does a country that allegedly stands for liberty, equality and fraternity reconcile itself with internal racist undercurrents that deny the liberty of religion, generate inequality, and regard Arabs and Muslims as second-class citizens?” asks Benseddik.
“It can’t, because it would have to first acknowledge its white saviour’s complex, the genocide of millions, its nuclear testing in colonies, systemic racism, rape, torture, muder and its industrialisation at the expense of entire nations and peoples in the name of Mother France and all that she stands for. That’s not going to happen anytime soon.”
In France today, the name of the game is integration. French Muslims are often the subject of heated debates and simplifications overlooking religious and cultural diversity. The common cry remains that Muslims in France have not adopted French ways, culture and norms. Instead, the very meaning of what it means to be French is portrayed at risk by pundits, right-wing politicians and patriots alike.
But few question the reason for Muslims’ lack of integration, or the ‘mere history’ of racism, colonialism and social factors, which are often dismissed by the mainstream.
Abdelmalak Sayad, renowned Algerian-French sociologist and author of the The Suffering of Immigrants describes multiple reasons Muslims are marginalised in France, particularly North Africans.
“At the forefront is France’s laissez-faire attitude and unapologetic stance towards its bloody role as a colonial power and brutal subjugator of peoples,” says Sayad. “This included dehumanisation, torture, rape, exploitation and outright genocide, as in the case of over 5,000,000 Algerians killed throughout 132 years of French colonial rule.”
To the present day, France has yet to formally acknowledge its use of widescale torture, population cleansing, nuclear testing or the exploitation of resources in Algeria.
Often lost on many modern pundits and analysts, France’s exploitative colonial history left a bitter legacy for many Muslims....
For many North African Muslims, the ultimate hypocrisy was that France did not adhere to the very principles of the ‘Rights of Man’ it created as far back as 1789....
Muslims paid heavier taxes, had little to no rights, and nearly no legal protection according to the infamous ‘Code of Indigenes’. To acquire French citizenship, one had to give up their ‘Muslim status’ through an intentionally difficult process. Most Algerians were officially legally identified as ‘Muslims’. To this day, immigrant Algerians in France continue to identify as Muslims, rather than give up their faith and adopt a French identity.
“To put it simply,” says Benseddik. “France’s republican ideals were permanently tarnished in the eyes of people who knew its truth.”
Muslims quickly became an undercaste in Algeria itself, in spite of being the largest majority. Algerian Jews were granted speedy citizenship under the Cremieux decree, and given every right a citizen of the French republic enjoyed....
The French Institute for Demographic Studies reports that unemployment only worsened in minorities as discrimination increased. Among the first wave of immigrants, 15 percent of male Algerians, 11 percent of Moroccans and Tunisians, and 10 percent of Turks were unemployed....
Colonial France promoted pacifist religion to minimise resistance, while nearly eradicating the practice and memory of Islam by cracking down on schools and religious instruction. If it weren't for the efforts of reformist scholars such as Abdelhamid bin Badis over more than a century who collectively struggled to keep religion and literacy alive; it's likely Algerians would speak only French today and know nothing of Islam....
For the majority still in the ghettos, there is no path ahead for the taking: just bleak, second-class existence. (End excerpts)
Source: https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/france-s-muslim-problem-and-the-unspoken-racism-at-its-heart-33939
