FRankreich’s President Emmanuel Macron paid a symbolic visit to the Alsatian city of Mühlhausen and its problem areas on Tuesday to prepare the announcement of his action plan against Muslim separatism. His work trip to Alsace was marked by the reconquest of what is known in France as the “lost territories of the republic”.
The 15,000-inhabitant town of Bourtzwiller is one of the 47 government-defined quarters of the “Republican Reconquest”, QRR for short (district of reconquete républicaine). Macron visited a police station there, had lunch with police officers and exchanged views with political representatives and actors from sports clubs.
– –
Emmanuel Macron (center) and Interior Minister Christophe Castaner (right) with police officers from Bourtzwiller
Source: AFP
– –
The aim was to show that his long-announced action plan was not drawn up in the ivory tower of the Élysée Palace, but in several ministries and was aware of the problems on the ground.
“The Republic must keep its promises,” Macron said to the Bourtzwiller residents, adding: “We have to fight separatism because others try to replace the Republic if it does not keep its promises.”
Macron makes a large detour around the mosque
The Al-Nanour mosque in the northeast of Mühlhausen, which is still not quite finished French President made a big bow, however. The reason: the delayed construction history of Al-Nanour shows how helpless the French state was and still is in the face of a radical Islam in its own country.
The foundation stone of the mosque was laid in 2009, in 2012 there was a multi-year construction freeze, today there is no money to finish the almost finished center. Because over half of the construction, which totaled 28 million euros, was financed by an NGO from Qatar.
also read
– – – – –
Since two journalists in a book (“Qatar Papers”) have disclosed the funding of the Mühlhausen center and other mosques, the French state has blocked further transfers from abroad. 2.5 million are currently missing to complete the prestige property with its 4000 square meters of floor space on three floors.
Al-Nanour should not only become the largest mosque in France, but also offer everything the heart of a devout Muslim desires: shopping center, schools and crèches for the children, fitness center, hairdressing salons, a swimming pool with a 25-meter lane and, last but not least, one morgue. “It is a center of life. that corresponds to the ideology of a global Islam of the Muslim Brotherhood from birth to death, ”notes the French newspaper“ Le Figaro ”dryly.
You can put it differently: Al-Nanour is the most luxurious variant of parallel society in France to date. Because the client is an association of Alsatian Muslims, the Association des Musulmans d’Alsace (Amal), which is close to the Muslim Brothers. Translated this means: In this swimming pool presumably there will never be men and women at the same time. The same applies to the sports club.
Helpless attempts by Macron’s predecessors
You also have to imagine the hair salon separately according to gender, because a veiled woman will not be embarrassed that a man can see her hair. The huge prayer room can accommodate 2,000 men, “but it only makes up 13 percent of the area of the center, the rest is open to everyone,” emphasizes club president Nasser El Kady, who would have liked to have convinced the president of the charity of this project.
Macron has postponed its long-announced action plan several times. The The topic is delicate, and obviously the government is supposed to present proposals and programs that differ from the helpless attempts of Macron’s predecessors.
At the end of January, ministers from the Élysée Palace announced that they would “better inform themselves and face reality”. Lunch was hastily organized with politicians from problem areas in the Élysée, including the conservative Mayor of Mulhouse, Michèle Lutz.
also read
– –
International Relations – – – – –
Macron has consulted many experts in the past weeks and months, it is said. Islamic scholar Gilles Keppel regularly talks to the president. Also the book authors Hugo Micheron (“Le Djihadisme français”, French Jihadism) and Bernard Rougier (“Les Territoires conquis de l’Islam”, The Territories Conquered by Islam) were also asked to speak by the President. All of this shows how seriously Macron takes the problem.
Already when he spoke to the New Year, he had announced “to fight decisively against the forces that blow up national unity”. The problem is old in France, but the choice of words is new.
In 2015, François Hollandes Prime Minister Manuel Valls spoke of “apartheid” as a perverse consequence of a failed integration policy. Macron has deliberately abandoned the concept of parallel society for a few weeks and now wants to fight what will be called separatism in the future.
also read
– – – – –
The term first appeared in 2016 during the so-called Burkini affair. While the parallel society is more of a symptom, the concept of separatism reflects the active will to want to separate and exclude oneself.
In 2017, the philosopher Elisabeth Badinter described him as follows: “A second society is trying to establish itself in our Republic in a sneaky way, turning its back on it and unequivocally aiming for separatism, if not secession.”
Macron plans to take another trip to such a place of “reconquest” next week. They are the symbolic preludes for the action plan, which is available in a draft for the magazine “Le Point”.
In its preliminary form, it comprises around 30 pages and explains how the state intends to fight “Islamist separatism and radicalism”. It is obviously also about sharpening the tools for a more reliable diagnosis of radicalism in sports clubs and schools and developing strategies to recapture the lost territories of the republic.
video-element " data-qa="VideoElement">
Sex video overthrows Macron’s mayor candidate in Paris
French President Emmanuel Macron’s candidate for the mayoral election in Paris, Benjamin Griveaux, will not run for the post after the appearance of a sex video.
– – – – –
– –
– – – – –
