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New Muslim party aims for French election wins

A relatively new Muslim political party, that wants to overturn the veil ban, is eyeing up a stronger presence on the French political landscape, announcing on Thursday that it will field candidates in eight areas at next month's regional elections.

Published: 12 February 2015 16:22 CET
New Muslim party aims for French election wins
Shérazade Benhaddad and Khalid Majid, the party's candidates in Bobigny, Paris. Photo: UDMF
The Democratic Union of French Muslims (UDMF) wants to tackle the under-representation of Muslims in French politics. 
 
The group said on Thursday that it would put two candidates forward in the Paris suburb of Bobigny, where the party already succeeded in getting its candidate elected as a councillor last year.
 
It will also put forward candidates in seven other "départements" across the country which cover cities such as Marseille, Lyon and Nice. 
 
The party's founder, Nagib Azergui, told French newspaper Le Parisien that he believed the party's values were compatible with French democracy, much in the same way that France's Christian Democratic Party manages to separate religion from politics. 
 
His party's aim, he told the paper, is "to give a voice to the part of the population that can't be found in the traditional parties."
 
Azergui says he doesn't want France to be governed by Sharia Law and has no intention of "Islamizing" French society.
 
However the party does have some controversial policies that will not be welcome among French secularists, notably their wish to overturn France's ban on headscarves in schools and see an increased investment in the Halal food industry to help boost the economy. 
 
 
The role of Islam in France is once again being debated in the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks, committed by three homegrown Muslim extremists. Since then there has been scores of anti-Islam attacks carried out on Muslim targets, such as mosques.
 
France has struggled to integrate its Muslim community, Europe's largest estimated at around five million, although figures are difficult to come by as secular France does not collate religious data.
 
The UDMF was founded in 2012 in order to provide Muslims "an alternative in France when it comes to economics, society, and politics", its official website says.
 
"In the media debate sparked by some intellectuals and political leaders, it is clearly insinuated that Islam is not compatible with democracy," reads the website.
 
"But living together, morality, deep respect for other communities, the importance of family, the elderly, solidarity, mutual aid, charity and fighting injustice are precisely the values that drive us."
 
The party is still small, with 900 members and around 8,000 supporters.
 
Coincidentally the announcement comes as a book by French author and polemicist Michel Houellebecq, which envisions a France ruled by a Muslim president, tops the bestseller rankings in France.
 
Houellebecq was blasted by critics for scaremongering, however he himself said it would make sense for there to be a Muslim political party in France because Muslims are seriously under represented.
 

 
News of UDMF's election push comes just days after France's Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that France had to do everything it could to fight the Muslim Brotherhood – an international Islamic organization that has been designated as a terrorist organization in several countries.
 
He said that France needed to help the members of the Muslim community who were being confused with jihadists and terrorists.
 
"A religion can not impose its views on our neighbourhoods," he told Le Parisien. 
 

PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

Factcheck: Is France really trying to ban speaking English at the Paris Olympics?

A resolution by a group of French MPs to 'say non to English at the Paris Olympics' has generated headlines - but will athletes and visitors really be required to speak French?

Published: 3 May 2024 10:10 CEST
Factcheck: Is France really trying to ban speaking English at the Paris Olympics?

In a resolution adopted on Thursday, France’s Assemblée Nationale urged organisers of the 2024 Paris Games, as well as athletes, trainers and journalists, to use French as much as possible.

Annie Genevard, the sponsor of the resolution from the right-wing Les Républicains party, expressed alarm to fellow MPs that “the Olympic Games reflect the loss of influence of our language.”

The French MP’s resolution has garnered headlines, but does it actually mean anything?

Citing examples of English slogans in international sport, she added: “The fight for the French language … is never finished, even in the most official spheres.

“Let’s hope that ‘planche a roulettes’ replaces skateboard and ‘rouleau du cap’ point break (a surfing term), but I have my doubts.”

She’s right to doubt it – in French the skateboarding event is ‘le skateboard’, while the new addition of break-dancing is ‘le breaking‘.

But what does this actually mean?

In brief, not a lot. This is a parliamentary resolution, not a law, and is totally non-binding.

The Games are organised by the International Olympic Committee, the Paris 2024 Organising Committee and Paris City Hall – MPs do not have a role although clearly the Games must follow any French domestic laws that parliament passes.

The French parliament has got slightly involved with security issues for the Games, passing laws allowing for the use of enhanced security and surveillance measures including the use of facial recognition and drone technology that was previously outlawed in France.

So what do the Olympic organisers think of English?

The Paris 2024 organisers have shown that they have no problem using English – which is after all one of the two official languages of the Olympics. The other being French.

The head of the organising committee Tony Estanguet speaks fluent English and is happy to do so while official communications from the Games organisers – from social media posts to the ticketing website – are all available in both French and English.

Even the slogan for the Games is in both languages – Ouvrir grand les jeux/ Games wide open (although the pun only really works in French).

In fact the Games organisers have sometimes drawn criticism for their habit (common among many French people, especially younger ones) of peppering their French with English terms, from “le JO-bashing” – criticism of the Olympics – to use of the English “challenges” rather than the French “defis”.

The 45,000 Games volunteers – who are coming from dozens of countries – are required only to speak either French or English and all information for volunteers has been provided in both languages.

Paris local officials are also happy to use languages other than French and the extra signage that is going up in the city’s public transport system to help people find their way to Games venues is printed in French, English and Spanish.

Meanwhile public transport employees have been issued with an instant translation app, so that they can help visitors in multiple languages.

In short, visitors who don’t speak French shouldn’t worry too much – just remember to say bonjour.

Official language  

So why is French an official language of the Olympics? Well that’s easy – the modern Games were the invention of a Frenchman, the aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin, in the late 19th century.

Some of his views – for example that an Olympics with women would be “impractical, uninteresting (and) unaesthetic” – have thankfully been consigned to the dustbin of history, but his influence remains in the language.

The International Olympic Committee now has two official languages – English and French.

Official communications from the IOC are done in both languages and announcements and speeches at the Games (for example during medal ceremonies) are usually done in English, French and the language of the host nation, if that language is neither English nor French.

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