France and terror: curing the country’s Peter Pan syndrome
The dust has barely settled after the horrendous events of January 7, 8 and 9, 2015, and France is now faced with the difficult question of how to move forward. After the unacceptable murders of policemen, journalists and civilians by bigots born and bred on home soil, the French people have sent a message to the world: we will not budge and nothing in our values and our way of life will ever change because of terrorism.
Although the marches that took place throughout the country were both moving and necessary, something was slightly off in the way people unilaterally proclaimed their attachment to freedom of speech and so-called Western values. The uniformity of the slogans expressed both the resolve of a people to face adversity together, but also showed signs of an illness that has taken hold of the country for the past few decades. “We are the country of human rights” they would silently cry through their signs. “We stand for unhampered freedom of speech” some would go on, with “secularity is not negotiable” following closely behind. But through the noise came the disturbing whispers of a French Muslim: “Today, I am afraid for my children, my wife and my parents. France will be a difficult place for us to live in.”
Chanting one’s loyalty to principles is a good thing. However, it’s been some time since France actually took a good look in the mirror to check if these principles still defined her. Like a child refusing to leave Neverland, the country is in danger of choosing to live a dream over reality. In this dream, France is a country where communities don’t exist, and citizens forget their differences through a magical incantation of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. One is not born black, white or yellow; one is born or becomes French first and foremost. In this dream, people have no personal beliefs apart from the one in the republican ideal of secularity. One is not a Christian, a Muslim nor a Jew. One is a French man or woman above all things.
But then comes knocking lady Reality. And what does she uncover? A country where people have multiple identities, where it is possible to be French with a Vietnamese of Algerian background. A country where private and public life are not so easily separated and religion cannot stay hidden under the mattress. And while France’s dream used to be a strength anchored in reality, it has now become a fantasy only a few can afford. Throughout the country, some communities feel ostracized both by the lack of economic opportunity, absence of acknowledgement of most people and the xenophobia of an angry few. Republican dogma would want us to believe that turning a blind eye on their second identity is the solution. But this hypocrisy has lasted long enough.
And what should we do about it? The country needs to set a new course based on transparency and intelligent debate.
Transparency. Today, France’s ignorance is leading it in the wrong direction. The Economist recently published a study showing that while France’s Muslim population represented 8% of its population, people actually believed that number to be 31%. It is also an undisputable fact that very few people know anything about Islam, which drives numerous misconceptions, and the idea that this religion is incompatible with democracy. As a result, the Muslim community is seen as unwilling to comply with the basic principles of the French Republic, while a supposedly massive immigration feeds the ranks of these rebels as well as the myth of national decline. This does not make for a healthy public debate. To solve this issue requires the French to bend two golden rules: absolute equality and blind secularity. One of the big problems in France is that national statistics based on religious or ethnic background are illegal, because of the spirit of the Republican principles but also due to the trauma dating back to the persecution of Jews during World War II. However, this lack of transparency favors far-right extreme parties which can claim regardless of facts that Muslim hordes are invading the country and endangering our Christian heritage. Clinging to its past like Peter Pan to his lost boys, France fails to face reality. Revising the Constitution to make ethnic and religious statistics legal would force its people to deal with the facts. Yes, France is now populated with almost 10% of Muslims, whose religion may constitute a big part of their identity. Yes, there is a correlation between this identity and some disturbing facts like high unemployment rates and imprisonment, a situation very similar to what the United States are experiencing with their African American communities. This is now part of our reality. There no turning back. Only one question remains: how can we make the most of this and build a culturally diverse country?
But this sort of transparency will not suffice. Changing the way we think will also require that we understand each other. And instead of pretending that nobody has any religious beliefs, it might actually be worth studying what the main ones are to avoid any misconceptions. This already exists in the French educational system. However, the way it is addressed is still way too theoretical. The official objective is to enable students to understand historical facts but no true conclusions are drawn on how this impacts everyday life. And how can one be expected to understand his or her neighbor without truly grasping one of the more fundamental parts of his or her approach to life?
Teaching the implications of religious beliefs requires a different approach to French secularity, one that does not negate the existence of religions, but acknowledges them as an unavoidable fact of human societies.
Intelligent debate. One of the big arguments around the massacre revolves around the question of the limits of freedom of speech. On one side, the people who deem it should be absolute, and on the other, those who consider some topics to be taboo. For both, there is no room for debate. But what they have failed to underline, is that freedom of speech is not an end. It is a tool destined to liberate men and make free societies possible. Through contradictory debate, people are able to reach the consensus necessary to the functioning of truly democratic societies, where decisions are taken based on the expression of everbody’s views. In other words, freedom of speech should be absolute, but it should also serve constructive and intelligent debates to fuel free and peaceful nations.
However, in its fight for the preservation of an everlasting revolutionary dream, France has chosen inconsistency.
On one side, morality has taken a hold of the way we think about freedom of speech. In France, it is forbidden to revisit certain parts of History that have been set in stone by the law. Orwell’s “he who controls the past controls the future” is not the kind of phrases we like to remember. But it is staring us right in the face. It is also not allowed to “provoke hatred”, a notion so vague that it forces individual judges to interpret it. Some could very well argue that I am provoking your hatred right now and my fate in a French court would depend on one person’s good or bad will, not the law. This vagueness of the law is definitely not favorable to a comprehensive and contradictory debate, and it should therefore be reformed.
On the other side, our own dogma has prevented us from conducting intelligent debate. Yes freedom of speech is a right worth fighting for. Yes getting killed over it is despicable. But with this freedom comes also the ability to choose what we want to express. In certain French public schools, children of Muslim fate have often asked why this tragedy seems to supersede others that have happened recently. They do not understand why it is possible to mock their religious idols while comedians like Dieudonné are sued for insulting Jewish people. Did Charlie Hebdo’s pictures ridiculing people’s beliefs really fuel intelligent debate? Regardless of what anybody thinks, this should always be a question in the back of our minds when we choose to express ourselves.
France is at a crucial moment of its History. One where it has a choice between reinventing itself as a hands-on democracy and a true land of freedom, or continuing to lose itself in a blurred reflection is has fallen in love with. After two hundred years of living with its head in the stars, one might say that it is about time the country grew up.
