On the 7th night of rioting and some 30 years after the warehousing of Muslim immigrant communities in state-planned ghettos, the president of the Conseil français du culte musulman ("CFCM"), which represents Islam, its interests, and its faithful before the State, was inspired to seek for the Muslim community the respect due all French citizens.
FRENCH MUSLIM LEADER ASKS FOR 'RESPECT'
PARIS, November 3, 2005 (AFP) - One of France's most prominent Muslim leaders ... Dalil Boubakeur, president of the French Council for the Muslim Religion, said Muslim immigrants deserved better than their current lot."Our immigrant brothers in Paris and in France must be given the conditions to live with dignity as human beings," not in "disgraceful squats", Boubakeur said, referring to the low-income suburbs where the trouble has broken out.
Well, better late than never.
"This is our hope, this is our wish and is an address to the French authorities, to (president Jacques) Chirac who is a friend to Muslims, a friend to Islam," he said.
The multiculturally sensitive and perspicacious Jack, friend to Muslims, friend to Islam, had this to say about his Muslim friends [Hat tip: ¡No Pasarán!]:
"Our problem is not foreigners, it's that there are too many of them. It's probably true that there are more foreigners in France now than before the war, but they are not the same kind and that makes a difference. It's sure that having Spanish, Polish, and Portugese working here poses fewer problems than having Muslims and Blacks working here."How can you expect a working class Frenchman, with his wife working as well, earning about Ffr15,000 [€2,300], and in the projects where they live they see next door a family with the husband, 3 or 4 wives, about 20 kids, earning Ffr50,000 [€7,700] in welfare, without working of course ... if you add to that the noise and the odor, well the working class French next door just goes crazy. And it's not racist to say so." -- June 19, 1991
Ah, if your friends won't tell you...
Anyway two weeks later, the Muslim leaders are back.
FRENCH MUSLIM LEADERS REJECT BLAME FOR RIOTS
[Or as LGF has it: FRENCH MUSLIM LEADERS BLAME EVERYONE ELSE]
PARIS November 17, 2005 (Reuters) - French Muslim leaders denounced on Thursday efforts [by politicians] to blame Muslims and Islam for recent riots in the country's rundown suburbs and said they saw worrying signs of growing prejudice against their faith here.Many young rioters may have been from Muslim backgrounds, but their violent outburst was a protest against unemployment, poor housing and other bias they faced because of their foreign origins, they told journalists.
"They didn't act like that because they're Muslims, but because of the misery they're living in," said Kamel Kabtane, rector of the Grand Mosque of Lyon in eastern France.
"There weren't just Mohammads and Alis in those groups (of rioters) -- there were Tonys and Daniels too," said Dalil Boubakeur, the Paris Grand Mosque rector.
Prejudice is an opinion without recourse to reason or the facts. That Muslims run riot and put France to flame seems a not unreasonable basis to be wary of Muslims. That Muslims have legitimate grievances against an uncaring France may color but not change the fact that Muslims have sought redress in violence, destruction of property, and putting themselves outside the law. There are probably many good citizen Muslims, but what is the unmistakable signifier to distinguish between the good citizen and the bad? Alas, there is none. A general caution toward Muslims is not prejudice. It is the practical opinion of a rattled French public.
Let us grant that Islam, the religion, is not to be blamed for France in flames. But what is the Muslim leadership arguing? That there were sizable contingents of disgruntled Italian-French [scil., Tonys] and long-suffering Irish-French [scil., Daniels] torching Citroens? Even the French press reluctantly has come round to identifying trashed France as the handiwork of Muslim "youths". M. Boubakeur cannot both argue exculpation and beg culpability.
Mohammad Bechari, head of the National Federation of French Muslims (la Fédération nationale des Musulmans de France, "FNMF"), said Muslim leaders were concerned about the rioting but disagreed with the way many local officials turned to religious leaders to try to calm the youths down."We refuse to be sub-contractors," he said.
M. Bechari sniffily and ever so easily abdicates his responsibility. OK, the Muslim leadership is too proud to do good at the beck of the Republic, but are they also too important to serve their constituency? French Muslims are as poorly served by their leadership as by the French government.
"When French farmers go out on protest, they don't turn to the Catholic Bishops' Conference to intervene," Kabtane added.
This is disingenuously or just stupidly argued. Perhaps if French farmers -- claiming grievances as Catholics -- ran riot and put the Republic in a state of emergency, well, who doubts that the Interior Minister wouldn't pay the Catholic Bishops' Conference a visit?
Boubakeur said politicians should "stop Islamising all problems concerning Muslims ... We don't want to be the scapegoats for the failures of integration policy. ... We just want to be treated like everyone else, like the Catholics or the Jews," he said.
How brave. The failures of integration policy may rest largely with successive French governments, but the Muslim leadership acts as if it woke up to all this yesterday.
If the Muslim leadership is keen for France's good opinion, might we suggest they first discipline the faithful not to destroy France. It makes for a bad impression.
[Emphases added.]
PFFT (What is this?): Muslims in sight 4 | Rayonnement français 0
Bonjour...
[And that is the full extent of M. AntiYankees/AntiBrits' post's worth. What followed was an off-topic mock of American and British troops. In French. It has been deleted. Do not weep for the loss.
The Management]
¡Hola, intolerante!
1) Arrojas a su discurso de delirio psicópata a alguien que cuida.
2) Comentas a aquí en inglés.
