Muslims Divided on EU Constitution
Family get-togethers are turning into battlegrounds, lunch tables in company canteens are segregated according to who is pro and contra, posters hung up by one camp are often plastered over by those of the other side the very next day. There's no doubt about it: France is in the midst of a heated referendum.
Will the majority vote yes or no to the ratification of the EU constitutional treaty on May 29th? It's still hard to say, because since the beginning of the month opinion polls have alternately showed both the advocates and the opponents in the lead.
How do the nearly four million Muslims or people of Muslim extraction living in France feel about the referendum?
First of all, it is evident that this group is just as evenly divided on the issue as the rest of the population. Those who have voting rights – as the French-born children or grandchildren of immigrants – will presumably be distributed between the two camps.
For greater insight, we might take a closer look at the collective behavior of associations – whether political or social, secular or religious – that incorporate a large number of immigrants from Muslim countries, along with their children and grandchildren. Of course, not all of these organizations have taken an official public stand for one side or the other.
Secular organizations of North-African immigrants
One of the largest organizations of Maghreb immigrants living in France, the secular association of Maghreb workers in France (Association des travailleurs maghrébins en France, ATMF) has not yet issued a collective statement on the EU constitution.
It might be presumed, however, that the association's members and sympathizers would tend to support the arguments of France's left wing and alternative left wing, which for the most part reject the treaty. After all, the ATMF has been linked throughout its history with left-wing political ideas, and the immigrants carry out many of their campaigns for social rights in conjunction with left-wing or "anti-globalization" organizations.
By contrast, the likewise left-tending "Federation of Tunisians for the Right to Citizenship on Both Shores of the Mediterranean" (FTCR) has become more strongly involved in the referendum battle. One of the group's members, Hamida Ben Sadia, signed the "Appeal of the 200" last fall as "Activist of the FTCR and the Feminists for Equality collective," the latter of which fights against the specific discrimination of Muslim women. Bearing the signatures of 200 intellectuals and celebrities, this appeal kicked off the battle against the EU charter by the anti-capitalist left.
The FTCR is in addition conducting a campaign for EU-wide residency status for immigrants living in one of the EU member states. As argument for this proposal, the FTCR cites the fact that neither the Maastricht Treaty nor the constitution currently under consideration grants rights to the 15 million non-European migrants residing in the EU today. In order to change this, the group intends to collect one million signatures.
Muslim religious organizations
A different impression is made by the positions taken up by the Muslim religious organizations. The Union of Islamic Organizations in France (Union des organisations islamiques de France, UOIF), one of the largest and likewise – due to its supposed links with the Muslim Brotherhood – most controversial organizations, has not issued an official opinion on the referendum.
Unofficially, however, the signals are loud and clear that the group will vote “yes” for the ratification of the treaty. Amar Lasfar, director of a mosque in the northern French city of Lille, and one of the "historical" figures in the UOIF, openly sides with those in favor of the EU constitution and is working on drumming up further support.
Dalil Boubakeur as well, the rector of Paris' central mosque and current chairman of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (Conseil français du culte musulman, CFCM), who is often touted in the conventional media as "moderate," looks favorably on the constitutional charter. As he freely admits, his position is in part the result of his closeness with President Jacques Chirac.
Boubakeur does not, however, intend for the CFCM as such to call on people to vote for the constitution, but emphasizes instead that the position he espouses is "in his personal name" only. The individual member organizations of the CFCM should be left to represent their own positions.
Reasons for supporting the constitution
Many of the Muslim religious organizations, and in particular the UOIF, regarded as conservative to reactionary, have good motives for their positive attitude toward the EU treaty. The first reason can perhaps be found in the text of the EU constitution itself. Article II-70 guarantees freedom of religion: "in public or in private, to manifest religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance."
Furthermore, the constitutional treaty also guarantees the right to marry and the protection of marriage, but does not – as heavily criticized by some members of the French left wing – include any guaranteed rights to divorce, abortion or contraception.
The reason for this is that many EU states, such as Ireland, Portugal, Poland and Malta, still prohibit divorce and/or abortion. In this respect, conservative Muslims in particular seem to find the charter more acceptable than France's emphatically secular political culture.
A second reason can be found on the level of political interests: ever since Nicolas Sarkozy's (today chairman of the conservative-liberal unity party UMP) term as Minister of the Interior from 2002 to 2004, the UOIF in particular has been closing ranks with the French conservative right.
As Interior Minister, Sarkozy guaranteed the UOIF strong representation in the French Council for the Muslim Religion founded during his term in office. Just as the Maghreb workers' association shares many of its viewpoints with the political left, conservative right-wing forces are now for the first time searching unabashedly for political allies among the Muslim population. The approval of the constitution on the part of certain Muslim groups can thus also be attributed to this increasing alignment with France's conservative right wing.
A motive that is also mentioned from time to time, in the words of Boubaker El Hadj Amor from the UOIF in the Paris evening paper "Le Monde" is “the hope of seeing a stronger EU become an international counterpole to the power of the USA.”
Against the constitution: Tariq Ramadan
Among the religious Muslim intellectuals, only one has stepped out of line to take a strong stance against the EU charter: Tariq Ramadan. However, as a Swiss citizen living in Geneva, he has of course not issued an open recommendation on how the French should vote in their referendum.
In an article on the constitutional treaty published in late April, Tariq Ramadan mostly chimed in with the typical political left-wing criticism of the liberal economic provisions of the treaty. In his text, Ramadan finds fault with the power held by "the technocrats, economists and multinational corporations."
Ramadan's strategy in recent years has primarily consisted of a rapprochement with anti-globalization forces and social policy critics, as evidenced by his controversial appearance at the European Social Forum (ESF) in Paris in autumn 2003. His position on the French referendum is in keeping with this decision.
Bernhard Schmid
© Qantara.de 2005
Translation from German by Jennifer Taylor-Gaida
Qantara.de
Muslims in France
Fighting Symptoms Instead of Finding Real Solutions
It's with a mixture of indifference and helplessness that the non-Muslim majority approaches the problems of the marginalised young Muslims in the suburbs or the public presence of orthodox Islam in society, writes Jürgen Ritte.
Interview
Islam and Secularism
Soheib Bencheikh is the Grand Mufti of Marseille, France. In this interview, Bencheikh argues in favour of the headscarf ban and says that, because of secularism, Islam enjoys equal rights and duties in a traditionally catholic environment.
Portrait Tariq Ramadan
Role-Model for Muslim Youths throughout Europe
Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan is the idol of the Parisian suburbs. He is fighting for a modern Islam and against what he calls "Jewish intellectuals". Now the US administration has revoked his visa. By Jörg Lau