Qui est le vrai terroriste?; breaking down the causality of terrorism in the Republic
A summary of this work; Downing, Joseph. French Muslims in Perspective: Nationalism, Post-Colonialism and Marginalisation under the Republic (Chapter 4: Confronting Orientalism, Colonialism and Determinism: Deconstructing Contemporary French Jihadism). Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 115–140.
“Les musulmans peuvent se détacher de l’islam et avoir une pratique ‘chrétienne’ de leur religion en France “ {Muslims can detach themselves from Islam and have a Christian practice of their religion in France } ( Zemmour, 2021)
This was said by Éric Zemmour, a far-right presidential candidate who aims to combat the ‘Muslim problem’. Matters took a turn for the worst after the Charlie Hedbo slaying and the beheading of Samuel Petty. These actions had placed the lives of French Muslims on the line, thanks to colonialist and essentialist claims about their identity.
When Joseph Downing wrote French Muslims in Perspective, he aimed to bring an understanding of the lives and struggles of French Muslims. The chapter that is up for analysis aims to comprehend the root causes of Jihadism in France and how scapegoating Muslims alone is not the solution due to the heterogeneous aspect of the French Muslim community Downing suggests bringing a constructivist approach when it comes to comprehending the discourse surrounding jihadism. He also advertently calls out the problem-solving attitude that terrorist studies scholars tend to adopt which leads to generalised assumptions being made and ignoring the fact that analysing jihadism is rather complicated due to nuances.
It is important to note that not all Muslims respond to their situations through extreme violence. Downing suggests that by looking at the trajectory of many Jihadists, it started from committing petty crimes, not religion. This is why jihadism goes beyond religion and a broader analysis on the social positions like class and gender need to be taken. He also proposed that there should be increased coverage of French Muslim casualties. By revealing the identities of the Muslim victims; ranging from veiled women to working-class Arab men, there can be an increase in understanding of French Muslims and eliminate the separation of Islam and the European identity Downing states the complicated and rigid methods of French national security should be blamed. It is ineffective in controlling and monitoring terror threats in the country.
He also suggests that if the French government had a harsher crackdown on the distribution of assault weapons via organised crime networks, the Charlie Hebdo shooting and the 2015 Paris attacks. Another cause is the political and economic failures of the French government. This is because marginalised communities are left vulnerable to extreme ideologies due to the lack of education and opportunities for economic development. Even though these problems were caused by the failures of the French government, the blame will still be placed onto French Muslims regardless, even though the acts of Jihadism could presumably be carried out by only a few thousand.
Although this chapter does exclude West African Muslims from the discussion as this chapter and the book, in general, brings mainly Muslims from the former French colonies into focus. Despite that, this chapter is still a fantastic read for constructivist theorists who are interested in truly understanding French Jihadism. If possible, I highly recommend reading the entire book to understand the nuances of the French Muslim community
this was an assignment for the course of International Security which was convened by Dr Julia Roknifard. Reference is mentioned above already
