As the debate on Islam and Islamism rages on in France, so do occasional acts of violence directed at the country’s Muslim minority such as two incidents on 4 and 24 April. There have also been letters from retired and active military officers, threatening – or warning about – an impending civil war. Then there is the anxiety caused by the growing popularity of Marine Le Pen ahead of the 2022 presidential election, which President Macron hopes to counter with policies to curb what he calls “Islamist separatism”.
Alongside these events, the critique of secularism (laïcité) rages on in academic circles. Having been thrashed in recent decades by postmodernist and multiculturalist thinking, exemplified in Michel Foucault’s praising of the Iranian Revolution, secularism is often portrayed as restricting the freedom of religion, particularly of Muslim minorities in Europe. It is accused of contributing to the rise of radical Islamism – even though recent empirical research on the possible connection between government interference in religious institutions and terrorism finds no conclusive evidence.
Regardless, the view that blames secularism has many followers, such as the French sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar, who argued after the beheading of a teacher in Paris in October 2020 that “France’s extreme form of secularism and its embrace of blasphemy [...] has fueled radicalism among a marginalised minority.” The controversial piece, initially published in Politico Europe, was subsequently withdrawn by its editor, leading to a condemnation by the author.
