Islamist attack in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (France): the CMA strongly condemns the abominable crime

By CMA, AmazighWorld.org
Date : 2020-10-29 21:37:00

The Amazigh World Congress (CMA) has been slow to react to the despicable murder of the teacher in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine on 16 October 2020, so many words seem derisory in the face of the abomination of this crime.

The CMA naturally pays homage to Samuel Paty, victim of Islamist barbarity, and expresses its sincere condolences to his family.

With each new attack committed by the Islamists, we believe that we have reached the end of the horror and above all we try to give ourselves courage by saying to ourselves that this is certainly the last one because this time France will react to the height of the threat in order to definitively protect its citizens from Islamist violence.

That's what we said to ourselves, especially after the attacks of the last few years, but a thousand times unfortunately, the Islamists continue to strike and sow terror in the country. This is inconceivable to us and raises the question of whether France has taken the real measure of the Islamist danger and whether it is capable of dealing with it effectively.

In other words, is France finally going to take the appropriate measures to put Islamism out of harm's way? And when we say France, this is obviously not limited to the government but should concern the whole of French society.

Unfortunately, for a long time now, France has been giving signs that are not very reassuring, particularly with regard to the level of awareness of the Islamist danger and the existence of a real and strong will to put itself in a "state of war" against this deadly ideology and its supporters. As an anecdote, the day after the beheading of the teacher of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, in the morning newspaper of France Inter, the public radio, after having announced the horrible assassination of Samuel Paty, the journalist continues in a cheerful tone, on "the glass of the last evening before the anti-covid curfew in Paris" and then on the fact that Toulon has not won the European rugby cup. It was truly indecent to go on like this without any emotion, from a fact that shocked the whole country and threatens universal human values, to banal "news", thus reducing, certainly unintentionally, a particularly barbaric crime to a "news item". This form of trivialisation of violence is in a way also abominable and does not help this collective awareness that France so badly needs. A few weeks ago, on the same radio station and in the same morning time slot, a journalist enthusiastically and admiringly introduced a woman of Somali origin who referees football matches in England wearing the Islamic veil. This journalist thus believes he is defending women's freedom where in reality he is promoting Islamism because the Islamic veil corresponds to Islamist ideology.

Everyone should also remember these speeches made at the highest level of the French State on the teacher who "can never replace the parish priest or the pastor", on "reasonable accommodations" and on "open secularism", which are in our opinion as many inadmissible attacks against the 1905 law on secularism, which means, it should be remembered, freedom. And we cannot cite the countless cases of attacks on secularism and pro-Islamic behaviour by national and local elected representatives, trade unionists and the public at large. They did so out of electoral concerns, because of guilt linked to France's colonial past, because of a certain paternalism and other more or less avowable motives. This has largely contributed to inflating the veils of Islam in France. As a result, the Islamic veil, which did not exist in France thirty years ago, has become the norm today among "Muslim women" and the number of mosques has exploded and continues to grow.

France believed it could structure to better control Islam in France and even create an "Islam of France". But in doing so, it has only given more legitimacy, spaces of freedom and resources to structures that have applied not what the Republic asked of them, but naturally what the Koran recommends: spreading Islam everywhere and all the time. For decades, France has also 'imported' Imams to take charge of the 'religious education', without any control, of a category of its citizens. This was also done within the National Education system through the "teaching of languages and cultures of origin - ELCO" by teachers recruited and paid by foreign States. The change of these ELCO into EILE (international teaching of foreign languages) is nothing new in so far as EILE teachers are recruited and paid by foreign States under bilateral agreements. One wonders why part of our children's educational programme would not be provided by the National Education system but would be "subcontracted" by foreign States. Moreover, for the children of parents or grandparents of North African origin, there is provision for Arabic language teaching exclusively, as if these children were of Arabic origin only. The reality that cannot be ignored by the French government is that at least half of the population of North African origin in France is made up of people of Amazigh (Berber) origin and that the Amazigh language has the status of an official language in Algeria and Morocco, two major North African countries. Under these conditions, in the name of what would France agree to teach only Arabic?

The Franco-Amazighs (or Franco-Berbers) demanded more than twenty years ago to put an end to the ELCO and to integrate the teaching of the languages and cultures of France into the official curricula of the National Education system, but to no avail. For example, this could have taught pupils that one of the most eminent fathers of the Catholic Church, Saint Augustine, is a North African and more precisely an Amazigh, which would have been a way of showing that North Africa and its inhabitants have not always been Muslims and thus put an end to the historical lie that North Africa is "Arab" and a "land of Islam" and that its inhabitants have only known this religion. Learning about the diversity of peoples, cultures and beliefs can only help to open the minds of students and convince them to accept and respect this diversity and even promote it, for a better life together.

With reference to the last speech of the President of the Republic delivered on October 2 on the theme of "Islamic separatism", we share several points raised by the Head of State but we feel it is important to draw everyone's attention to the fact that Islamists are not "separatists" because Islam prescribes the unlimited expansion of this religion by all means. Islamists do not want to separate themselves from non-Muslims and create a border within which they can live in peace, but their objective is on the contrary to extend the borders of their religion a little more every day until they make the whole world a "land of Islam" and an Islam in the Salafist way, that is to say retrograde. Consequently, it seems to us that the fight against Islamism as a sectarian and evil ideology must be fought on an international scale, by allying States that have opted for universal values, human rights and fundamental freedoms. At the same time, it seems equally important to us to be uncompromising with States that are Islamists and/or support Islamism in one way or another.

Furthermore, we would have much preferred that the considerable financial effort planned to "train Imams" and to "better understand Islam" be directed above all and first of all towards the structures, including associations, which act daily to protect and promote secularism and cultural diversity, because it is they who are threatened today by Islamic religious dogma. Culture must occupy a central place in the fight against Islamism.

We also believe that in the current context, Muslims cannot be satisfied with verbal condemnations of Islamist violence, they must show discretion and provide factual evidence of their rejection of extremism and their respect for the values of the Republic. Moreover, as citizens of this country, they must unequivocally take part in the war against this diabolical ideology and its followers.

The Amazigh World Congress denounces the current campaign of senseless hatred launched against France in certain countries and wishes to reaffirm its firm and unwavering commitment to freedom of expression and laicity.

Paris, 25 October 2020

The Board of CMA