Posts Tagged ‘Terrorism’
Call from US Left, “For popular action to close down the racist Charlie Hebdo magazine!”
Yankee Doodle Dandies Call “For popular action to close down the racist Charlie Hebdo magazine!”
Boycott Imperialist and Islamophobic France!
Solidarity with the Muslim migrants! Drive out the French occupiers from Mali and other countries!
Statement of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 26.10.2020,
No to Islamophobic hatemongering!
* Release all arrested Muslims in France!
* For popular action to close down the racist Charlie Hebdo magazine!
* French Navy – out of the Eastern Mediterranean!
* Drive the French occupiers out of Mali and all other African countries!
* Freedom for Chechnya! Down with Russian imperialism!
* No “normalization” with Israel! For a single red and democratic state in historic Palestine from the river to the sea!
It will come as no surprise that this group, which has origins in Trotskyism, has ‘Views” on the Holocaust, “The reason that the genocide of the Jews is unique is because the Jews were white Europeans.” “The Zionists also contributed to the genocide of the Jews because they wanted to secure their settler colonialism project rather than using their influence to open gates of the USA, Britain and other countries to the Jewish refugees.”
Counterfire has the relatively moderate rant on the topic by an old mucker (I speak of muck), John Mullen.
Mullen is a friend of ‘Comrade Delta’, the SWP leader accused of rape. You can read him on Martin Smith’s site A Dream Deferred, This is a fact which oddly does not get mentioned. He is (or was, this is not clear, but I would like to imagine they would have told him to fuck off long ago) a member of Ensemble the left group that’s an ally of La France insoumise of Jean-Luc Mélenchon
This is the gobshite published today:
France: build the movement against Islamophobia.
Patronising barely covers this bit,
Not understanding that these caricatures are racist is very common indeed on right and left in France, and the caricatures are on the school curriculum, so showing them in class as illustrations does not mean that this was a racist teacher.
As is this loony bins conspi theory:
In the Eastern region of France a booklet of caricatures of religious figures (“those most remarked upon”) will be distributed in every high school, and other regions will probably follow suit. The booklet will include anti Catholic caricatures too, but its main aim is Islamophobia. Town halls in major cities have been projecting on the walls of their buildings Charlie Hebdo cartoons, avoided the most insulting ones, but portraying mocking Islam as a brave blow for freedom.
MInd you he has a good word for his old comrade from Socialisme par en bas (the SWP’s arm in France, she was part of this group),
Leading figures such as FI Member of Parliament Danièle Obono have been in the forefront of the fight against Islamophobia for years, and persistent work by a minority has led to real progress on Islamophobia in the organisation.
HIs conclusion,
The most important task is to build as broad an alliance as possible to defend Muslims against Islamophobia.
Note I have corrected the US spelling.
Not a word, not a dickey bird, about his own orga’s declaration.
In the view of many on the left this is about the best statement going,
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.
For your info Mullen the fact that you, a member of the group that has somebody as respected as Clémentine Autain as a leader, are playing politics in the UK (as in your role in the JVL statement on the same issue) at the moment is highly unwelcome.
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.
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.
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) .
“Rightly seen as an insult” – Socialist Worker Exploits Murder of French Teacher Samuel Paty.
Un “martyr de la liberté” – Imam Hassen Chalghoumi,
This is taking place today:
France to pay respects to beheaded teacher with ceremony at Sorbonne
The reactions to the murder of Samuel Paty continue to dominate French politics.
First of all there has an outpouring of feeling in solidarity with the victim, his profession, family and friends.
There was this appeal, by Hassen Chalghoumi, President of the Conférence des imams de France.
“Cette barbarie n’a pas sa place, ni dans les écoles ni ailleurs en France”, a assuré le président de la Conférence des imams de France.”
His dignified reaction had already got into the British media,
“Police have carried out dozens of raids, while the government has ordered the six-month closure of a mosque and plans to dissolve a group that supports Palestinian militant group Hamas.”
In the heat of the emotion the French government has clamped down on Islamists, carrying out raids and ordered the six months closure of Pantin mosque accused of being linked with the “mouvance islamiste radicale“, and notably of having circulated videos inciting hatred against Samuel Paty.
They also hastily announced plans to, amongst other measures, dissolve the Collectif contre l’Islamophobie, a national campaign founded in 2003,
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, promised it Monday morning. He will ask for the dissolution of the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) which he suspects, supporting evidence he said, of having participated in the campaign against Samuel Paty , the professor assassinated on Friday in Conflans-Sainte- Honorine (Yvelines) . The association would be “an enemy of the Republic” , he said on Europe 1. It is a wake-up call for the new generations of Muslim activists who have grown up in France. Controversial, vilified but appreciated by some, the CCIF, a symbol, has been at the centre of controversies over Islam for ten years.
https://twitter.com/Alric_Andreas/status/1318414693946589184?s=20
These allegations been denied by the Collectif. As French leftists, far from favourable to the organisation, have pointed out, there is no evidence of ties between the CCIF and the campaign of hate waged against Samuel Paty.
Bringing in such measures, by a “claquement de doigts”, has been, according to some government sources, not been unanimously agreed. Strong opposition from the Ligue des droits de l’homme (who have appeared on the Journal d’Arte, amongst other platforms), and the widespread feeling that democracy and the republic are not defended by catch-all administrative repression, indicates that they face serious obstacles.
What is clear is that some extreme Islamist forces have been involved in the slaughter.
The links and the issue of whether responsibility can be assigned to these individuals are the subject of a judicial investigation.
These decisions are nevertheless underway,
Macron said a pro-Hamas group called the Cheikh Yassine Collective would be dissolved for being “directly implicated” in the murder, adding that a formal decision would be taken at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
The group’s founder, Islamist radical Abdelhakim Sefrioui, is being held by police for publishing a video on YouTube insulting Paty.
The radical anti-fascist left site, La Horde has published this about the principal figure accused of inciting murder, Abdelhakim Sefrioui, the anti-Semitic circles he is part of, and the above “Cheikh Yassine” Collective:
À propos d’Abdelhakim Sefrioui et du collectif Cheikh Yassine
The individual is not unknown to anti-fascists, and the comrades of the REFLEXes site, who had already spoken of the character a few years ago, reminded us of this. In the wake of the creation of the Cheikh Yassine collective, and therefore of the decision to use support for the Palestinian people for proselytising purposes, Sefrioui also created in 2005 the “Committee on the Genocide in Palestine”, with two unwavering supporters of Holocaust Denial, Ginette Hess Skandrani and Mondher Sfar, leaders of the association Entre la Plume et l’Enclume.
The latter, with his Tribe Ka, is still, in anti-Semitic circles, all haloed by his provocations in the Marais district; we remember for our part his support for Youssouf Fofana, the torturing kidnapper of young Ilan Halimi, murdered because he was Jewish.
Sefrioui’s opportunism does not stop there. Manager of a religious bookstore in Paris, he saw, in the aftermath of the riots of 2005, in the rapprochement with Dieudonné, an opportunity to get closer to the youth of working-class neighbourhoods, within which the comic enjoys a certain credibility Thus, at the same time, he got closer to Dieudonné (Note: prosecuted many times for anti-Semitism), not only by joining his support committee in 2007, but also by introducing him into the Islamist spheres: thus, it was Sefrioui who accompanied Dieudonné during the days of the UOIF at Le Bourget in 2006.
The article, which is lengthy, concludes by condemning the French state for fostering this racist form of identity politics by financing and giving prominence to such people who claim to be (what we would call in the UK), “community leaders”.
All of these considerations have been ignored by the British Socialist Workers Party. The group, which has a strong influence on the Stand up to Racism association, is trying to exploit the tragedy for its own ends.
The murder and beheading of teacher Samuel Paty in France last week was appalling. It must not be used to deepen Islamophobia and racism.
Paty had shown his school class an image produced by the Charlie Hebdo magazine of a naked caricature of Mohammed. He had told Muslim children to turn their backs or leave the room.
It was rightly seen as an insult. Chechen refugee Abdoullakh Anzonov then killed Paty.
Now official French society, drenched in Islamophobia, has seen a chance to step up its institutional racism.
A wave of hypocrisy about “free speech” has followed. Macron—the brutaliser and blinder of Yellow Vest protesters and the initiator of imperialist wars in Africa—says he is for freedom.
He adds that the killing proves the need for his new law on Islamic “separatism”. This includes a host of measures where Muslims are treated differently to others.
The right, except for the fascists, backed Macron. Marine Le Pen’s fascists want to go much further. Disgracefully most of the left—from the Socialist Party to Jean-Luc Melenchon of France Unbowed—have also swallowed “national unity” with a racist, anti working class state.
Melenchon attacked the whole Chechen community.
This horrific murder must not be seized upon to deepen the Islamophobia and state repression that are the context in which it happened.
Insult and then killing.
Perhaps one might also note that the public education system in France is part of the “French state”.
This is the account published today in Le Monde, a more respected paper,
A complaint was filed by the parent of a student against the history and geography teacher for “dissemination of pornographic images” , after the latter had shown his students two caricatures of Muhammad which had appeared in Charlie Hebdo. This parent of a student had also broadcast a video, which has been around social networks, in which he called Mr. Paty a “thug” and called for “say stop” . The police questioned the teacher about the rumour that he asked Muslim students to report and leave the classroom. This he strongly denied.
Paty denied that he asked Muslim pupils to leave the room.
This is what Paty said,
I suggested that my students look away for a few seconds if they thought they were shocked for one reason or another . At no time did I tell the students: “Muslims, you can go out because you will be shocked.” And I did not ask the students who were of the Muslim faith.”
The statements of Melenchon, or as he spells his name, Mélenchon, have created dissension inside La France insoumise.
Update:
Tendance Coatesy 