It's going to be an interesting 6 months 👉Why #Europe #Muslims are braced for #France stint running the #EUpresidency | Shada Islam | The Guardian theguardian.com/world/commenti…
The French election campaign essentially means it is open season on Muslims in France. French politicians have adopted rampant Islamophobia as an electoral strategy. Toxic debates on Islam, mixed with acrimonious intersectional swipes at race and migration, are venomous.
The @ENAREurope warns of a full-blown “Islamophobic witch-hunt” of French Muslims and says the government is using “countless administrative procedures” to close down Muslim-led organisations, mosques, schools, and even Muslim-owned snack bars
But the fear now is that France will use its EU presidency to push for even tougher Europe-wide measures.
My own articles on #France and #Europe - www.shadaislam.com- note a persistent unease about Islam as an alien faith, #Muslims as undesired foreigners and an irrational fear of the #hijab. Diatribes conflating Islam, extremism and terrorism are a tediously recurring phenomenon.
France’s fixation with Muslims has extended across the #EU landscape; Islam is seen either as a threat to national secular traditions or to "Christian Europe”. Dog whistling to anti-Muslim extremists is becoming the standard pattern for many mainstream EU conservatives.
Being a European Muslim has never been a walk in the park. With about one-third of French voters saying they will vote for far-right and ultra-nationalist candidates, France’s Islam-panic is likely to escalate in the coming months.
Despite the #EU’s lofty talk of equality, diversity and non-discrimination, #European #Muslims should be braced for a tough start to the new year.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
　
