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The French government is pushing plans to set up a formal body that would represent the country’s Muslim minority, which comprises nearly 10 percent of the population.
But Muslims are divided on numerous issues, and establishing a unified body remains difficult. The move would elevate the position of French Muslims in national politics, but it also might increase the natural fractures within the community, forcing radical members underground.
In the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks against the United States, the French government is stepping up efforts to create a French Council for the Muslim Religion. This would be a democratically elected body that would have the authority to represent the nation’s nearly 5 million Muslims, Agence France-Presse reported Oct. 21. The organization would be patterned after groups that speak to the French government on behalf of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish political interests.
Paris is hoping the organization could serve as a unifying body for the broad-based Muslim community and control perceived radical elements. Most important, it would raise the historically marginalized group’s political influence, placing it in a position to participate in national politics. However, France’s efforts may also further alienate fringe Muslim groups unable to participate in the larger political process, driving them underground and fueling political dissent.
France’s Muslim community accounts for nearly 10 percent of the country’s 59 million people. Despite the common bonds of religion, immigration and rampant poverty, the population is strongly divided and influenced by external players, including other Muslim countries.
About 3 million French Muslims are of North African descent, with 1.5 million coming from Algeria, another 1 million from Morocco and 350,000 from Tunisia, the Economist reports. The rest are a mix of immigrants from all over the Muslim world, including Turkey, the Gulf Arab states and even sub-Saharan Africa.
A wave of terror attacks by Algerian militants in 1995, including the infamous bombings of Paris subways, forced the government to begin establishing ties with key Muslim leaders. Since then Paris has been trying to identify one organization that could speak for the country’s various Muslim groups.
The government would prefer that the Grand Mosque of Paris serve in such a role, Foreign Affairs reported. But although it is the oldest and most deeply entrenched mosque in the country, the Grand Mosque still receives aid from Algeria and is perceived as being controlled by the government in Algiers.
Whichever group is eventually chosen as the main representative, fostering a cohesive Muslim bloc could in the long term transform the French political landscape. Although French law strictly adheres to a separation of church and state, a formal Muslim organization could lead to the creation of Muslim-based political parties.
These parties could not legally have formal religious platforms, but they would be viewed as being, in effect, Muslim parties. This could open up the possibility of Muslim groups building parliamentary blocs and anchoring future coalition governments. But for the short term, divisions within the Muslim community would limit any impact on national politics.
At the same time, these divisions also complicate the government’s ability to negotiate with Muslim leaders. This is especially troublesome during times of heightened tensions, such as during the 1995 bombing campaign, when relations between Muslim and non-Muslim French citizens reached an all-time low. The sense of alienation, especially among France’s Muslim youth, has returned following the Sept. 11 terror strikes, the London daily The Guardian reports.
A fracture in French society could have definite political ramifications. Concerned about a rise in Islamist activity all across Europe, not to mention the threat of sleeper cells of Islamic terrorists, Paris is keen to prevent social alienation from transforming into political discontent. But instead of creating an organization capable of governing the Muslim community, the government’s efforts could actually increase natural fractures within the population.
For instance, in its haste to set up the council, Paris may move to accept the more broad-based, mainstream groups that do not necessarily speak for all Muslims in the country. The government’s co-opting of the mainstream Muslim community, by offering it a role within national politics, could alienate more radical fringe elements and force them underground, making them even more difficult to identify and control.
