Macron is using Islam to outmanoeuvre Le Pen

There was a rally in Paris on Sunday at which a couple of hundred protestors vented their anger at the French government’s ‘anti-separatist bill’ which was passed by the National Assembly on Tuesday. It was a disparate but predictable gathering of what one broadcaster described as ‘anti-racism, left-wing, pro-Palestinian and other activist groups’.

The demonstrators were repeating the claims made by some left-wing politicians that the bill will stigmatise the country’s Muslims. On the contrary, retort the government, who define the bill as a ‘Respect for Republican values’. They say it will protect the majority of Muslims from the minority of extremists whose objective is to create a separate society in France in which Islamist values take precedence. The bill will put an end to polygamy, forced marriage and the issuing of virginity certificates, and it will also compel children over three to attend school, curtailing the growing practice of home-schooling. Finally, the bill will give the government far greater control over the funding of mosques and the recruitment of imams, thereby reducing the influence of countries such as Qatar, Turkey and Algeria.