Prof Francois Burgat

Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques, France

Being a Muslim in France : can he be « des nôtres » (one of us)… he who does not drink « comme les autres » (like the others) ?

Abstract

From a political science point of view, this paper investigates some of the obstacles which European and French Muslims face with regard to their social and political inclusion. The rather negative perception of Islam and Muslims in France is historically inherited from colonial confrontation. More recently, it is also the result of very conscious policies intended either to make illegitimate any resistance or opposition and, by mobilizing fears, to create, at different levels, political resources.

This paper does not ignore or minimize the contributions indeed expected from Muslim minorities themselves to lower these obstacles. However, it starts by tackling the role of policies of wider societies before investigating some of the reactive attitudes of  Muslims to these policies.

 1 - A global process of “overideologisation”   

The process of overideologising (or over theologizing) resistances and oppositions is part of a plain disfunctionning of the system of representation. This leaning to explain and illegitimate political attitudes, especially when they are oppositional, by merely connecting them to the primary belonging (ethnical, or, in this case, religious) of political actors is at work in politics at all of the national, regional  (the Israeli-Arab conflict), or global level (Iraq conflict, “Global war on terror”).

In France, especially during the last presidential campaign. “Islam” has been increasingly referred to as both “a menace against the national identity” and a foil for denouncing women’s rights abuses. Together with an official refusal to acknowledge the darker side of national history towards the Muslim world (“Colonisation has been civilisation”, declared the newly elected French Head of State) and even denouncing any effort of self-criticism as “dangerous for the nation”, this main stream discourse tends to fuel a reactive attitude among Muslim citizens.

2- A wide range of reactions

These attitudes towards such a severe disfunctionning of the system of political representation are extremely diverse. They range from silent efforts of  “assimilation”  (which see Muslims lowering the visibility of their Islamic belonging or even denying it) to communautarist mobilisations which may evolve into some kind of “religious confinement”. At a time when a movement like “Les Indigènes de la République” (these are French citizens, not necessarily Muslims,  whose ancestors came for former colonies) choose to act in the public sphere to bridge the divide, in deep contrast to this, members of the Salafi trend may be tempted by strategies of withdrawal from this very public sphere (or even, for a tiny fringe, by a religious  “hijra” out of the country itself), and recreating  structures and codes of socialisation different from those of a Republic which they feel did not allow them enough space and recognition.

Bio

François BURGAT, a political scientist and arabist, is Senior Research Fellow (Directeur de recherches) at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), IREMAM (Institut de Recherches et d’Etudes sur le Monde Arabe et Musulman) in Aix-en-Provence.

He has been the director of the French Centre for Archaeology and Social Sciences in Sanaa (1997-2003), Research Fellow at CEDEJ, Cairo (1989-1993) and he also taught at the University of Constantine, Algeria (1973-1980). His last publications include The Islamic Movement in North Africa (U of Texas Press, 1997), Face to Face with Political Islam (IB Tauris, 2002), L’Islamisme à l’heure d’Al Qaïda, Paris, La Découverte 2005, (U of Texas Press and Pluto Press 2008).