VideoLouis Vuitton bags, Evian water, Bic pens: Muslims all over the world share lists of French products with the plea to stop buying them. In the Netherlands too, the list is circulating online gradually, with the hashtag #BoycotFrance.
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Chris van Mersbergen
26 Oct. 2020
Latest update:
22:01
Turkish President Erdogan supported the call on Monday to stop buying French goods. “Just as in France some say ‘don’t buy Turkish brands’, from here I speak to my fellow countrymen: don’t pay attention to French brands and don’t buy them.”
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The proposed boycott was prompted by France’s fierce reaction to the beheading of French history teacher Samuel Paty by an 18-year-old Muslim extremist. During his classes, Paty had shown cartoons of Mohammed, something that some Muslims consider blasphemy.
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Bill
President Emmanuel Macron described Islam this month as a religion that is “in crisis” worldwide. He said the government will introduce a bill in December to consolidate a 1905 law that officially separated church and state in France.
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Macron announced tighter supervision of education and better controls on foreign funding of mosques. Also he promised a tougher approach to Muslim extremism. Moreover, Macron argued, it will always be possible to show religious cartoons in public in France.
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L’Oreal in Carrefour
In a number of countries, the boycott of French products was already put into practice on Monday. In Kuwait, L’Oreal products were removed from a supermarket. In Saudi Arabia there was a call to avoid the French supermarket chain Carrefour trending topic on social media. At two branches in the capital, it turned out, according to a reporter from Reuters however as busy as normal.
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In the Netherlands too, a list of French products that should be boycotted is slowly being shared on social media. “This is the least we can do as a consumer. Are you participating? ” someone writes.
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France has significant economic interests in Muslim countries, especially North Africa. This concerns, for example, agricultural products, the car industry and retail trade. The French Trade Minister said it was too early to say whether the boycott will have much of an impact.
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Cartoons Macron
In Bangladesh and Iraq, among others, protesters took to the streets with caricatures of Macron on Monday. They called the French president “the enemy of peace.”
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The parliament in Pakistan passed a motion calling on the government to bring the Pakistani envoy back from Paris. Qatar, Iran and Jordan have also responded furiously to the French reaction to the murder of Paty.
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Macron already announced this weekend that France “will not give in, never”. European leaders are en masse behind the French president and the values of free Western societies, such as freedom of expression. Prime Minister Mark Rutte did that Monday in a message on social media in three languages: Dutch, French and English.
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