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Paris:
France’s Muslim community is mobilizing voters to reject President
Nicolas Sarkozy in Sunday’s election to punish the conservative
leader for his anti-immigrant and anti-Islam rhetoric.
“[French] Muslims can’t stand it anymore. They are fed up with
these debates about national identity, halal meat, the veil or
fundamentalism all over the place,” said Francoise Lorcerie, a
sociologist with the Institute of Studies on the Arab and Muslim
World near Marseille.
“The terms [Islam, immigration and fundamentalism] are being used
interchangeably, without care, with people being targeted,
denigrated and used for [votes].”
The debates and rhetoric aren’t new and have been at the heart of
French political campaigns for the past decade.
Muslims – especially those living in the “banlieues,” France’s
poor immigrant suburbs – sometimes have been courted by candidates
with promises of jobs and better living conditions, but they
mostly have been stigmatized as threats to the French identity,
analysts say.
The rhetoric escalated last month after Mohammed Merah, a
French-born Muslim who claimed to be inspired by al Qaeda, killed
seven people in a shooting spree.
Sarkozy, of the conservative Union for a Popular Movement
(UMP) party, called for tightening immigration because there are
“too many foreigners” in France.
Marine Le Pen, the presidential candidate of the far-right
National Front party, talked about “green fascism” (a reference to
the color of Islam) and wondered “how many Mohammed Merahs are
arriving on boats and planes each day, filling France with
immigrants.”
The speeches infuriated French Muslims and reignited the debate
over origins and identity. As Europe’s largest Islamic community,
French Muslims account for as much as 10 percent of the country’s
65 million people.
“Merah was born in France. He did not come by boat or plane, but
everyone talks about his origins, despite his being French,” said
Mohamed Mechmache, president of AC Le Feu, a community association
working to improve conditions in the banlieues. “The French
Republic has not been fair: She has forgotten some of her
children.”
Mechmache says what residents of the banlieues really need are
education and jobs, not a fight over Islam: The youth unemployment
rate is above 45 percent in some of the neighbourhoods.
In November, AC Le Feu launched an initiative to warn candidates
about addressing the situation in these districts. It is working
with Muslim community groups to get out the “Muslim vote” in the
banlieues, which have had nonparticipation rates as high as 50
percent in some elections.
“There has been so much disillusion, deception and unfulfilled
promises that there is a general climate of mistrust in our
neighborhoods,” Mr. Mechmache said. “People say, ‘There is no
point voting.’ We tell them they have the opportunity to change
things.”
In a notice to its members, the Union of Muslim Families of
Bouches du Rhone (UFM13), an apolitical association, asked voters
to “punish arsonists … who by calculation and political maneuvers
have thrown Muslims, inner-city youths, the unemployed and
foreigners to the mob.”
Without mentioning any candidate’s name, the association accused
some politicians of dividing the nation and “betraying the
republican pact” and warned against “those hoping to win or retain
power by stoking fear, xenophobia, the rejection of others.”
Muslims have no voting bloc, and political preferences apparently
have been based on socioeconomic factors. But activists and
researchers say there is an increasing tendency for the community
to lean left in support of immigration.
“I prefer the left; I think when you’re born Lamia Messaoui, it
can’t be any other way,” said Lamia Messaoui, a French business
executive of Algerian descent. “Besides, for me, Sarkozy is not an
option. His politics, even when he was the interior minister, his
use of borderline expressions such as ‘of Muslim appearance,’ it’s
just too much for me.”
In April 2007, polls found that French Muslims voted mainly for
the Socialist presidential candidate: Segolene Royal won 64
percent of their vote, while Mr. Sarkozy got just one percent in
the first round and 5 percent in the second.
“People who would have originally voted for the center or the
right-wing are now determined to vote against Nicolas Sarkozy,”
Ms. Lorcerie said.
“However, this is a short-term response to the current anti-Muslim
craze. In the long run, votes of Muslims and citizens of North
African and African decent will eventually blend into the overall
trends of the French society.”
For now, French Muslims, like a slim majority of their
compatriots, seem to prefer Socialist Francois Hollande: He is the
clear front-runner in the runoff on May 6, according to polls.
“Hollande said he will lower rents and bills. That’s what
everybody cares about because our salaries aren’t enough to make
ends meet,” said Chaker Alain, 28, a Parisian born to French
parents of North African descent. “Besides, when you listen to the
right-wing speeches, the way they call immigrants and their
religion every name, automatically you lean toward the left.”
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