PARIS (AP) – French lawmakers on Monday debated a bill that hopes to end radical Islam in the country, beliefs that officials hold are infiltrating public services, associations, some schools and online with the aim of undermining national values.
The project is broad and controversial, with about 1,700 proposed amendments, and guarantees a heated debate in the Chamber in the next two weeks.
Opening the debate, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, the project’s sponsor, said the aim was to prevent “a hostile Islamic takeover targeting Muslims”. He emphasized that “we are not fighting a religion”, although some Muslims in France have expressed concern that this will add a new layer of stigmatization to them. Other religions, from Buddhists to Roman Catholics, have complained that they may also suffer negative consequences from the text.
The project reflects a priority for President Emmanuel Macron, who in an October speech painted a bleak picture of what he dubbed “separatism”, a perverse version of Islam, France’s second religion, silently making inroads and creating a “society contrary “.
Darmanin did the same with the president in his opening remarks to lawmakers, saying “Our country is suffering from the disease of separatism, first of all an Islamic separatism that is like gangrene infecting our national unity.”
Darmanin, a right-wing member of Macron’s centrist party, took on his mission to propose a law with zeal, writing a small book to be released in the coming days, “Manifesto for Secularism” – a fundamental value of France that the bill he sponsored is intended to protect.
Several attacks in France by Islamic extremists provide a backdrop for the project, even though the recent violence was committed by strangers.
The text applies to all religions, but some Muslims say the legislation once again points the finger at Islam.
Other critics say the project covers ground already covered by current laws, while far-right leader Marine Le Pen says the project does not go far enough, nor does it even name 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 create a tailor-made “Islam of France”. Separately, the official channel for the government, the French Muslim Faith Council, or CFCM, was pressured to create a “charter of principles for the Islam of France”, completed last month after many disputes between Muslim federations.
Muslim leaders remained discreet when the debate started.
In small and large forms, the bill seeks to monitor the functioning of associations and mosques, including foreign funding, and aims to plug the entry points of Islamic ideology into the lives of Muslims.
Mohammed Moussaoui, the head of the CFCM, said at a parliamentary committee hearing in January that the new inspection of associations in the bill is “useful, necessary to fight against those who want to exploit associations” to counter French values. However, he expressed concern that employees could “use this tool to bother associations, good students”, following the rules.
The head of the Foundation of Islam, a secular organization that represents progressive Islam, called the proposed law “unjust but necessary”.
Although Muslims are not mentioned in the text, he highlights “but a religion, but a category of citizens,” said Ghaleb Bencheikh in a telephone interview. It is necessary because “French society, the French nation is traumatized by the attacks and the reality of radical Islam”. Although radicals are a minority, “it is the minorities that make history,” added Bencheikh.
Among the 51 articles, the bill aims to ensure that public servants respect neutrality and secularism, while protecting them from threats or violence.
In an attempt to protect children from indoctrination and end clandestine schools, the text requires that all children from 3 years of age attend regular school. About 50,000 children were educated at home in 2020, according to French media. But the number of “clandestine schools” where children are indoctrinated in radical ideology is unknown.
Among other key points, the bill aims to keep a close watch on associations, including those that usually run mosques, with measures to ensure that strangers cannot take control of an association.
Another measure requires associations that receive state funds to sign a “republican commitment contract” ensuring that they honor French values. The financing must be repaid if the contract is broken. Although foreign funding for mosques is not prohibited, amounts over 10,000 euros ($ 12,100) must be declared.
If some Muslims feel a new layer of stigma, other religions in France suffer collateral damage. Le Monde newspaper reported that they were unanimous in their criticism of the treatment of religious associations, which the leaders told a parliamentary commission that adds unnecessary layers of work, supervision and suspicion to all religions.
The proposed law also aims to curb the issuance by doctors of virginity certificates, the practice of polygamy and forced marriage. Doctors would be fined and risked arrest for providing virginity certificates.
The law includes an article that Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti called “Paty law” after the beheading of Professor Samuel Paty, who showed students in a civic education class caricatures of the prophet. This creates a new online hate speech crime, in which someone’s personal data is published. A Chechen refugee beheaded Paty after information about the teacher was released online.
The parliamentary debate comes after the French president’s defense of the right to produce or display these cartoons after the professor’s beheading, a posture of free speech that has angered many Muslims abroad. This sparked protests in several countries where Macron’s position was considered anti-Muslim, which his government strongly denies. An international collective of pro-Muslim groups filed a complaint last month to the UN Human Rights Committee, accusing the French government of “Islamophobic attitudes”.