AGI – Islamic world and France are at loggerheads. The insistence of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in defending the freedom to publish cartoons against the prophet Mohammed was not welcome. And the confrontation is now taking on a global reach. It is no longer just the insults of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who even today suggested to Macron “to examine his own mental health” but the discontent spread, overcoming the Middle East and touching Asia, from where the Pakistani Prime Minister, Imran Khan, also joined the criticism.
What worries French diplomacy, in particular, is the boycott campaign that is beginning to take hold, starting from the Gulf where “Made in France” products could suffer a heavy blow. From Paris they called for “an end to the calls for this campaign favored by a radical minority”.
The dossier became urgent enough for Macron to intervene in person with a tweet written in French, English and Arabic, in an attempt to reach everyone. In the twitter it opens up to “rational” dialogue but reaffirms France’s proud position “that does not come back”.
“We never go back, ever. We respect all differences in a spirit of peace. We do not accept hate speech and defend reasonable debate. We will always be on the side of human dignity and universal values,” wrote the head of the Elisha.
Nothing makes us hold back, ever.
We respect all differences in the spirit of peace. We never accept hate speech and defend rational debate. We will always stand by human dignity and universal values.— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 25, 2020
“The calls for a boycott are useless and must stop immediately, as well as all attacks directed against our country, exploited by a radical minority”, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, which yesterday recalled the French ambassador to Turkey. after Erdogan’s insults. For the Parisian diplomacy the statements of Macron, that they triggered the protests of half the world, have been “exploited“.
The bill and the president’s statements aim only to “combat radical Islamism, and to do so with Muslims in France, who are an integral part of society, history and the French Republic”, stated the Quai d’Orsay.
But the damage now seems done. And this is confirmed by the words, also on Twitter, of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. “President Macron could have aimed at pacification and denied space to extremists rather than creating further polarization and marginalization that inevitably lead to radicalization. It is a pity that he has chosen to encourage Islamophobia by attacking Islam rather than terrorists who practice violence. , whether they are Muslims, white supremacists or Nazi ideologues, “wrote the Pakistani prime minister.
Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI‘s statement denouncing the Islamophobic comments of French President Emmanuel Macron. pic.twitter.com/g51BE3YqpV
— Prime Minister’s Office, Pakistan (@PakPMO) October 25, 2020
The indignation of the Islamic world has not spared North Africa. In Libya, where Macron’s statements have been described as “provocative” on social media, it was organized a demonstration in Piazza dei Martiri, in the center of Tripoli. In the Tunisian town of El Kamour, at the gates of the Sahara, an anti-French march brought together a few dozen people, according to images released by a local collective.
Also in the Maghreb, the leader of the Algerian Islamist Front for Justice and Development party, Abdallah Djaballah, called for a boycott of French products and asked for the French ambassador to be summoned. And in the Middle East, already about last night two hundred people gathered in front of the residence of the French ambassador to Israel.
In the Gaza Strip, protesters burned Macron’s photos. A symbolic reminder of the boycott also reached Bab al-Hawa, a border crossing point in the north-west of Syria, in the hands of the rebels and where few French products arrive. Demonstrations were organized “in various regions outside the control of the regime” in Damascus.
In neighboring Jordan, the minister of Islamic affairs, Mohammed al-Khalayleh, said that “offending” the prophets “is not a question of personal freedom but a crime that encourages violence.” In Lebanon, the demonstration scheduled for Sunday in front of the French embassy did not attract – as the day before – anyone except dozens of soldiers and anti-riot forces.
The powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah condemned “strongly the deliberate insult” addressed to the prophet, expressing in a statement its “rejection of the persistent French position of encouraging this dangerous affront”. In Kuwait, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Ahmed Nasser al-Mohammed al-Sabah “met” the French ambassador Anne-Claire Legendre.
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