Contributed to @Guardian Podcast 'Today In Focus': The murder of schoolteacher Samuel #Paty who had shown his class #cartoons of the prophet #Muhammad has rekindled a debate in #France over #secularism & the state’s role in regulating #FreeSpeech. (21'-29') I emphasise that we can discuss the general problem of hateful #cartoons about the Prophet #Muhammad & his Muslim followers that spread collective guilt & humiliate often underprivileged #minority communities beyond acts of barbaric #terrorism. #Racism #Islamophobia #CharlieHebdo

Spoke to @Guardian podcast about growing up in post-War #France... that is post-#Algerian War of Independence, still v. much in living memory. The War’s legacy is perceived in all kinds of aspects of modern life, still blighted by the #colonial experience. A point that is easily overlooked by foreign observers is that the 2nd most influential party in #France now was founded by far-right nationalists who wanted to keep #Algeria French. #LePen's FN -now called the Rassemblement National -is openly racist, islamophobic & antiSemitic.

My piece on the despicable propaganda advanced by @EmmanuelMacron when,in a letter published in a British outlet,he used #eugenics parlance to describe underfunded suburbs full of #Muslims as “breeding grounds for terrorists in #France”. #Islamophobia @FT
independent.co.uk/voices/batacla… Delivering lines straight out of a Trump #fakenews generator,@EmmanuelMacron claimed,w/out any evidence whatsoever,that there are “districts where small girls aged 3or4 are wearing a #fullveil,separated from boys [..] & the rest of society,raised in hatred of France’s values”.@FT

Earlier spoke to @BBCR4Sunday
about the barbaric #murder of French teacher Samuel #Paty.An anti-#terrorist enquiry is in full swing with the authorities making information available as quickly as possible.Meanwhile marches will be held today in commemoration of Paty.#CharlieHebdo The #Elysee Palace said a “national #hommage” would be paid to Samuel #Paty, on a day to be fixed & it will be coordinated with his family. #Macron said the killer had sought to “attack the republic and its values” & the “#terrorists will not succeed… They will not divide us.”

After a peaceful pro-#independence demonstration in #Paris on #17October1961,up to 300 #Algerians were murdered by police. Historians described this #massacre as “the bloodiest act of state repression of street protest in western Europe in modern history”.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/… The most memorable – and vicious – #atrocities saw #policemen herding panicking crowds on to #Paris's bridges, where many were tossed into the #Seine. The river became a watery morgue for scores of victims, whose lifeless bodies were washing up for weeks. #17Octobre1961 #Algeria