We (also) are the Nation - Why we must fight against Islamophobia, by Marwan MUHAMMAD

Director of the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), created in 2003, Marwan Muhammad delivers here his analysis of the recent evolution of French society. He also shares his concerns as well as his hopes.

The mere fact of pronouncing the word "Islamophobia" provokes hives in some French politicians and media. As if they hadn't noticed that Muslims were the target of increasingly violent attacks. As if the simple fact of denouncing the injustices and racism that strike millions of French people made you an accomplice of the worst terrorists.

Marwan Muhammad intends to get out of this trap, these blackmails and these fantasies. Returning to his own trajectory as a Frenchman of the Muslim faith and explaining without embellishment the mission that the CCIF has set itself, a mission that is both modest and ambitious, this text usefully deflates the often absurd, but always revealing, "polemics" of which target Muslims, as well as those involved in the fight against racism and Islamophobia.

Faced with nostalgia who set up the past as a project for the future, Marwan Muhammad suggests working for a fairer, more optimistic society, in which those who are still ostracized from society are called upon to reassure others by repeating each day: “We (also) are the Nation! »
A society where no one would ever think of doubting it.

About the Author: Marwan MUHAMMAD

Marwan Muhammad, is a statistician and community activist. He joined the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) in 2010, before becoming its director in 2016.

Table of contents

Prologue
1. Not quite like the others
Alexandria, Sétif, Paris: an unlikely encounter
A child of the capital
A family Islam, lived in evidence and simplicity
Between public school and private Catholic education
Trials, Errors, and Successes
Discovering the world of finance
College, rap and faith
In the jungle of La Défense
Japan: radical change of scenery and awareness
Towards commitment
2. The CCIF fight
The origins of the CCIF: the emergence of Islamophobic discourse and acts
Early supporters and development
The submerged part of the Islamophobic iceberg
Beyond the law, a systemic approach to Islamophobia
Within Muslim Communities: Islam and Human Rights
Communicate: the word of the CCIF to public opinion and the media
3. Deconstructing Islamophobic ideologies: instructions
“Religion is the opium of the people”
“Muslims are against freedom of expression”
"In the name of women's freedom, the headscarf must be banned"
“Islamophobia is not racism, it is criticism of Islam”
"The fight against Islamophobia: a claim to identity and religion"
“Secularism is in danger from Muslims”
“We cannot be racist since we are on the left”
“Muslims are communitarians”
“Muslims must assimilate. In Rome, do as the Romans. »
"No to the Islamization of France"
“Muslims must stop victimizing themselves”
"The far right is not Islamophobic but patriotic"
"The fight against Islamophobia is the vanguard of political Islam"
4. The state in the face of Islamophobia: structural ambivalence
Mechanisms that form a system
Legal strategies and political context: opportunities and risks
When the State passes (discreetly) in force
New territories of discrimination
The private sector: a differentiated reality
Political class: the premium for Islamophobia
Anti-terrorism put to the test of reality
intelligence gaps
The state of emergency in action
Fight against radicalization: a failing market
5. One Islam, Muslims
Rise and decline of consular Islam
Ways of faith: a plural and evolving experience
Muslim women: feminine plurals
Muslims and politics: participation or defection?
“France, she loves me or I leave her”.