Macron declares war on Islamism
French President Macron wants to crack down on radical Islamism in his country. "What we need to fight is Islamist separatism," said Macron during a visit to the Paris suburb of Les Mureaux. He spoke out in favor of banning fundamentalist associations that disregard French values and laws. He also wants to take action against "ghetto formation" and "recapture" problem areas. Can it work?
You can't fight violence with more violence
Macron's measures are also to include a homeschooling ban. This is the wrong approach entirely, a collective of educators stress in Libération:
“We would like to draw attention to the security policy mistakes of a political class that does not know how to deal with violence other than by exerting more control, in other words more violence. ... School is the main cause of the drastic reduction in children's leisure time. ... It exercises total control over their personal development and causes emotional breakdowns in families. ... And all of this in the name of a mistaken idea - perhaps a lie - about security. Security has always been the pretext for those who want to establish more control and dismantle the last bastions of diversity and autonomy, instead of thinking about sustainable and above all collective ways of coping with violence.”
The real divides lie elsewhere
Macron has failed to recognise the true dividing lines in his country, L'Opinion criticises:
“For too long, French society has lived with divisions that undermine and weaken it precisely when cohesion is needed to overcome the challenges at hand. ... Many of our top politicians have turned the French against one another on economic, social, political and societal issues. Like sorcerers' apprentices, they ran the risk of causing irreparable damage. It is time the president realised how deep the rifts in society are, and how necessary it is to create the conditions for the reconciliation to which all French people aspire.”
A balancing act
El País wishes tact and sensitivity for those responsible for implementing the project:
“The legal offensive against Islamist extremism launched by President Emmanuel Macron in France is an important initiative with laudable objectives, but not without risks. On the one hand, it aims to enforce the rule of law throughout the country and offer all citizens the protection of its values and instruments. But at the same time it is important to ensure that its formulation does not stigmatise or encourage Islamophobic attitudes. In different ways, the question of the integration of Muslim communities concerns many European societies, so the French initiative is of interest beyond its national borders.”
Islam with broken wings
Macron's drive to tighten control over mosques and Islamic associations in France provokes outrage in the Islamic-conservative daily Yeni Şafak:
“Macron believes he is consolidating France with 19th century secularism and an etatist republic. He wants to see French state power in the bodies, food and drink, clothing, language and system of values of Muslims. ... The Muslim existence is to be observed, controlled, disciplined and steered in every detail. ... Thus the Muslim is condemned to bow to classical Western preferences: either baptism or exile or, as a new postmodern option, a Protestant Islam. This is an Islam with broken wings and a castrated soul. An Islam left without a consciousness, will or personality.”
The negation of France
The French nation is being sold out lock, stock and barrel, MEP Nicolas Bay of the far-right Rassemblement National fumes in Causeur:
“Emmanuel Macron's announcements against 'separatism' - in reality exclusively against 'Islamist separatism', as he himself admitted at his press conference - are not insignificant. It would be wrong to treat them with contempt and only discuss the details of their implementation. Unfortunately, what they mainly strive for is the acceptance and promotion of a multicultural society that has nothing in common with France but the name. ... This negation of France can only intensify the Islamist offensive. ... This republic proposed by Emmanuel Macron is not France, and it is not a protective wall against separatism, but a highway leading straight towards it.”