Category Archives: France

Veil ban ‘increased hostility towards Muslim women’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

France veilNew research shows that that there is a link between the banning of the veil in France and increased levels of hostility towards veiled Muslim women.

The Research from the Department of Criminology at the University of Leicester suggests that the veil ban stigmatises veiled Muslim women as “criminals” and fosters Muslim “otherness”. Even if not explicitly inciting hate-motivated violence, the law in its application contributes to a climate of intolerance of Islam in the West.

Irene Zempi, who led the study, will present her research on Islamophobia at a Departmental Research Seminar at the University of Leicester tommorrow.

Continue reading →

French presidential election: 93% of Muslims voted for Hollande

Posted on by Bob Pitt

According to a poll of 10,000 voters carried out by OpinionWay-Fiducial for Le Figaro, 93% of Muslims voted for Socialist Party candidate François Hollande in the second round of the French presidential election and only 7% for Nicolas Sarkozy, La Vie reports.

In the first round 59% of Muslims voted for Hollande, while 23% voted for the Left Front candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon. 7% voted for the centrist François Bayrou and only 4% for Sarkozy.

Via Islam in Europe

French Muslims treated to condescending lecture on integration from Haaretz

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“France’s Muslims must embrace the responsibilities of French citizenship if they want to enjoy the rights of that citizenship. But many in France’s Muslim leadership are ambivalent at best, and at worst hostile, to the idea of becoming French, even though community support is essential to success. The historical experience of Jews in France could have profound relevance for French Muslims if they are willing to listen.”

Toni Kamins in Haaretz, 7 May 2012

Amiens: two elderly Muslims attacked by far right thugs on way to mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Two elderly people from the Muslim community were assaulted on Friday-Saturday night in Amiens. The two attackers claimed to be from the far right, it was learned on Sunday from the Regional Council of the Muslim Faith in Picardy and the Somme prefecture.

The victims, two men aged 70 and 71, were attacked around five o’clock in the morning while they were on their way to the mosque in North Amiens for Fajr prayer, which takes place at dawn. After being violently abused by two men “with very short hair and claiming to belong to the extreme right” the two men were beaten up.

Continue reading →

Populism consuming Europe

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“From one end of Europe to the other, in the ultra-liberal democracy of the Netherlands, as in France, Switzerland, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, and Belgium – from North to South and West to East – the picture is the same: populism rides roughshod, fears are deepening, mistrust is spreading, and racism is increasingly exemplified by the demeaning treatment inflicted upon criminalised migrants, nomads, foreigners: anyone, in short, who is ‘not like us’.”

Tariq Ramadan writes in the Gulf News, 1 May 2012

France: Muslim cemetery desecrated with swastikas and racist slogans

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Carros cemetery desecration

The French press is reporting that a Muslim cemetery in Carros near Nice has been desecrated. Swastikas were sprayed on nine graves and the slogans “Arabs out” and “Long live Le Pen” on the cemetery wall.

In the first round of the presidential election the Front National candidate Marine Le Pen topped the poll in this Socialist-run commune with 27.12% of the vote, ahead of Sarkozy on 26.97% and Hollande on 22.27%.

A press release by the UOIF condemns the desecration, pointing out that this is not an isolated case but a manifestation of the rising tide of Islamophobia in France.

Meanwhile a Front National spokesperson has claimed that the graffiti could well be the work of Muslim youth acting at the behest of politicians who want to discredit the FN.

Unease grows in Sarkozy party over rightward lurch

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nicolas Sarkozy, France's President and UMP party candidate for the 2012 French presidential election arrives at a campaign rally in MontpellierUnease is growing in French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s centre-right UMP party a week before a presidential election over his lurch to the right in pursuit of supporters of anti-immigration candidate Marine Le Pen.

Some mainstream conservatives have voiced public dismay at his embrace of the campaign themes, language and even some proposals of Le Pen’s National Front. In private conversations, doubts are widespread about the morality and effectiveness of the strategy.

In the last week, Sarkozy has repeatedly declared that there are too many foreigners in France and vowed to reduce legal immigration. Echoing a Le Pen proposal, he has called for police to be given greater license to shoot fleeing crime suspects. He has accused his Socialist rival Francois Hollande of being backed by Islamists and said Le Pen’s voters are respectable and her party compatible with the French Republic.

Continue reading →

UMP accuses mosques of instructing faithful to back Hollande

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The rightwing UMP party has accused Socialists of courting the Muslim vote and alleges that mosques are calling for the faithful to vote for leftwing candidate Francois Hollande.

“I want to condemn the conniving and irresponsible attitude of the Socialist Party and its candidate after religious leaders belonging to a network of 700 mosques called on followers to vote for Francois Hollande,” writes UMP lawmaker Eric Ciotti in a press release on Wednesday.Ciotti said the move was “serious and inacceptable” and said he “firmly condemned such practices”.

Continue reading →

Amnesty International finds bias against European Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Amnesty InternationalA new report from Amnesty International has found that some European Muslims are regularly denied employment and educational opportunities because of widespread cultural and religious stereotypes that lead to discrimination against them.

The report, titled “Choice and Prejudice: Discrimination Against Muslims in Europe“, examines the lives of Muslims in Switzerland, France, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands. It found that individuals who wear specific forms of dress, like a head scarf, or other symbols associated with Islam, do worse with jobs and schooling because of prejudicial attitudes and legal impunity in these European states.

Continue reading →