Islamist Fascism, Samuel Paty and Jewish Voice for Labour.

“Agir contre le terrorisme islamiste, pas contre les musulmans”

It is important to act against Islamist fascism, which threatens democratic freedoms, secularism, and community relations.” Ensemble.

The statement by the radical left alliance, Ensemble (which has 3 Deputies in the National Assembly, including Clémentine Autain)  is one of  many serious and dignified reactions to the murder of Samuel Paty.

And there is this, from Jewish Voice for Labour.

We are all shocked by the horrific murder of French teacher, Samuel Paty and send our condolences to his family, friends and pupils.

We are also appalled by the way it is being used by many in France, including leading elements of the French state, to incite hatred against Muslims.

The potential horrific consequences of demonising a whole community for the actions of an individual is something that we, as Jews, are all too aware of.

Here the French, Jewish, antiracist campaigning organisation UJFP, Union juive française pour la paix, raises the alarm.

How to use religious fanaticism to justify state racism

This Blog  shares the concerns that have led to the protests of the French civil liberties campaigns against the suggestion that the Collective against Islamophobia in France, the CCIF should be dissolved. Like many French anti-racist campaigners we do not share the view that the body cannot be criticised. Amongst many issues (beginning with the claims about combating  ‘Islamophobia’, a religion, rather than fighting discrimination against Muslim people there is  its stand accusing Charlie Hebdo of racism. This is a transparent attempt to sap left wing support for the satirical Weekly’s freedom of speech. Yet it is clear that attempts to deal with political groups in this way are anti-democratic. (1)

JVL publishes Declaration of the Union juive française pour la paix (French Jewish Peace Union), 19 October 2020

But the statement notably declares, “Now these same authorities want to ban any fight back against islamophobia, by attacking Muslim organisations like the Collective against Islamophobia in France, the CCIF. This organisation is being libelled, smeared and insulted because it aims at having the rights of Muslim citizens respected and at fighting discrimination.”

They continue,

There is something totalitarian in this new stage in the racist and islamophobic  discourse of the French State. T

The organisation Baraka City, an antiracist grouping like the CCIF, is threatened with being banned”

“The generalised denouncing of Muslims every time a lost young man carries out such a crime is in a sense a victory for the perpetrators of these acts against democracy.”

There are many problems with the JVL statement.

To begin there is nothing in defence of freedom of thought, of open education, of the right to teach critical thinking through debate,

Then how ‘lost’ and alone was the killer?

Libération reported yesterday, that he was closely tied to jihadist groups:

Assassinat de Samuel Paty à Conflans : un assaillant bien connecté au jihad

The use of data from Abdullakh Anzorov’s phone reveals exchanges with the Iraqi-Syrian zone. According to our information, one of his contacts in Idlib received a photo of the head of the beheaded teacher from the young terrorist.

What kind of ideas did he have?

 Anzorov (the killer) had not held back from posting in succession dozens of anti semitic, misogynistic and homophobic messages.”

Today Mediapart publishes the results of an investigation into the network accused of inciting Anzorov.

The news site, founded by Edwy Plenel, author of Pour les Musulmans, (2014) cannot be accused of ‘Islamophobia’.

Attentat de Conflans: révélations sur l’imam Sefrioui

Abdelhakim Sefrioui, Mediapart notes, has a long association with the “anti-Semitic far right and  jihadist circles”

Sefrioui became involved in complaints against Samuel Paty to the point of presenting himself at the College to talk to the Head about it. Claiming to speak on behalf of French Imans, his own background was as a leading figure in a group, the collective Cheikh Yassin (CCY) named after the founder of Hamas. He had been removed, back in 2015, from the Muslim body that represents Imans (CIF). He, by contrast, became close to the Holocaust denier, Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala, in the early years of the new millennium. During a demonstration against Israeli attacks on Gaza two extreme right activists Frédéric Chatillon and Axel Loustau joined the cortège led by the Yassin collective.

The investigation is long and complex. It covers his turbulant agitation in front of Mosques, and particular interest in schooling, reminding one of Islamist agitation on gender equality education in the UK. Disagreements with the far-right, who supported Assad, broke out during the outbreak of civil war in Syria. While Mediapart found people who denied any active encouragement for people to join jihadist groups in the region, the Minister of the Interior, in the decree of October 21 dissolving the said collective. declared that group members “have distinguished themselves by facilitating the departure of several young radical Islamists to the Iraqi-Syrian zone, by going themselves to fight in the zone or by preparing attacks abroad”

Through his lawyer Sefrioui claims that he  “knew nothing” about the terrorist project of Abdullakh Anzorov,

France Info says today,

Adbelhakim Sefrioui is notably blamed for having participated in the mobilisation against the teacher. He had also accompanied the father to college who had come to complain about the teacher’s behaviour, and he had also posted a video on social networks. According to his lawyer, there is no proof, for the moment, that this video provoked the act of the terrorist. “Has Abdullakh Anzorov  seen this video? It remains to be proven. He surely did not need this to murder,” the lawyer continued. The same line of defence was offered by the student’s father who posted the video.

The official inquiry continues.

This much is clear: the slaughter of Samuel Paty by somebody who had nothing directly to do with his college cannot be understood as simply the “actions of an individual”.

What is at Stake?

JVL and the (Union juive française pour la paix refuse to discuss violent Islamism, and above all, to take into account the way that the anti-semitism of Islamists can lead to them making common cause with the far-right. On their site the only reference to fascism comes from a comparison between dissolving the CCIF and Vickey’s suppression of Jewish organisations,

Loin de moi l’idée de placer des régimes aussi différents que Vichy et le pouvoir macronien sur un pied d’égalité, mais il est utile de mettre en exergue des ressorts racistes partagés, ceux-là mêmes qui ont conduit à la dissolution des organisations juives et qui conduiront peut-être à la dissolution de certaines organisations musulmanes.

Far be it for me to ​​place regimes as different as Vichy and Macron’s on an equal footing, but it is useful to highlight shared racist motives, ones that led to the dissolution of Jewish organisations, and which may lead to the dissolution of certain Muslim organisations.

Derrière les dissolutions, la haine (20th of October)

The  translator of the statement published by the JVL, John Mullen, has been a member of the SWP linked group, Socialisme par en bas (he is at present said to be involved in Ensemble, supporters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France insoumise)  with links to ‘Comrade Delta’ Martin Smith – see Smith’s site Dream Deferred.

Ensemble itself denounces state attacks on Muslims and stands against  Islamist fascism  – something not mentioned by the JVL.

Agir contre le terrorisme islamiste, pas contre les musulmans.

After the abominable act perpetrated against a teacher last Friday, it is important to act against Islamist fascism, which threatens democratic freedoms, secularism, and community relations. We will be in this struggle: we are against all oppressions.

But we refuse to allow a battle to be waged against Muslims. In this regard, the request to dissolve the CCIF is inadmissible. This Collective against Islamophobia did not intervene in the denunciation of Samuel Paty. It should not be sanctioned. In the same way, there is no need to stigmatise all Chechens for the act of one of them, nor to suspect all asylum seekers … Nor is it the place to establish a wide-ranging law against “separatism”, which risks stigmatising those who adhere to a religion, andis, as a result, itself legislation that creates division.

The far right and the right are taking advantage of the situation to advance their repressive agenda Under the guise of the fight against Islamist terrorism, they aim to attack migrants, call into question the right to asylum, and permanently destroy the possibility of different communities living together in a free and democratic society.

Ensemble have got it about right.

 

*****

 

Note:

(1) For more information see Libération, Qu’est-ce que le Collectif contre l’islamophobie en France que Darmanin veut dissoudre ? and the CCIF their COMMUNIQUÉ DU 17 OCTOBRE : L’IMPASSE) .