Following recent events, projects for the construction of Muslim places of worship by the Town Hall and private initiatives, dismantling of Salafist cells in Cannes, the controversies are resurfacing.
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Beforehand: The figures.
12 million immigrants live in France, including 6.7 million children of immigrants born in France. Of the 5.3 million immigrants born outside France, 3.17 million still hold foreign nationality, while 2.17 million have acquired French nationality.
It is considered that 5 to 6 million (out of a total of 12 million) are of Arab origin, including 2.1 million practicing Muslims.
As for the people who could either be part of Salafist cells and terrorist networks or be in contact with them, experts estimate them at around a thousand (mostly French citizens).
Mixing the two does not seem to come from a correct analysis and moreover risks conflating two entirely different cases: religious practice and the right to practice it under dignified conditions (places of worship) and the security of citizens and the condemnation of any form of terrorism (intelligence activity and police enforcement against culprits).
If the situation is indeed complex, in difficult times it is necessary to have a comprehensive view of the problem and, above all, to know how to stay the course and keep the direction.
MORATORIUM
The roundup in radical Islamist circles at the end of last week is an opportunity to revisit a widely accepted yet completely false idea: Building mosques would prevent the development of radical Islamism, this infamous “Islam of the cellars” that is incessantly opposed to the wise and benevolent Islam.
However, it turns out that the arrests made last week took place in cities that already have at least one mosque; there has never been as many mosques in France, and at the same time, there has never been such a resurgence of jihadists and the terrorist risk intimately linked to it.
This is thus the main myth by which UMP elected officials justified to their electorate the construction of mosques in France, now collapsing.
Just a week ago, it was based on a similar analysis that Christian Estrosi intended to sell his 500-place mosque in Nice East — benefiting from a favorable lease granted by Côte d’Azur Habitat — and allowed the 1,000-place one in the middle of the Plaine du Var to be funded by Saudi Arabia. It was necessary to accept these constructions as a lesser evil for the neighborhoods, to give in to the risks of Salafism developing in our cellars… And well, those who still doubted it can today see where this kind of policy leads: Having mosques with Salafism as a bonus!
In such a context, and faced with the real and proven risks that exist, I solemnly ask the Mayor of Nice to impose, in practice, an immediate moratorium without time limit on these projects. This request may seem strong but it is necessary given the circumstances we are going through: it is a prudence requirement expected by our fellow citizens; it is also the best solution for French Muslims, who will not be prevented from praying but will thus avoid any confusion.
Gaël NOFRI
Mission Officer of the Rassemblement Bleu Marine for Nice and its Metropolis.
While Islamists are arrested in Cannes, Estrosi promotes Islamization in Nice
The dismantling of an Islamist network with a terrorist aim, whose nerve center was located in Cannes, has been sufficiently commented on in recent days in all the media for us not to go back to it. It features all the now sadly classic elements…
Comments, analyses, one can nevertheless regret that our leaders draw no real lesson. This at a national as well as local level.
David Lisnard (UMP), first deputy to the mayor of Cannes, considers that these Islamists justify his municipality’s support for new “open and controllable” mosques. The truth is that in Cannes, as in Nice, nobody controls anything at all – neither the police nor the municipality – and that each new mosque that opens is a new place of propaganda and indoctrination available to hate preachers. Incidentally, one can be surprised that the imam of the downtown Cannes mosque, frequented by some of the arrested Islamists, suddenly went on vacation and remains unreachable.
It seems evident that this Islamist network with national ramifications has not been stopped at the Pont du Var and may have ties or contacts in Nice.
Nice where – in the light of the Merah case – revelations were made about the presence of structured jihadist groups.
Nice, a city where there are already 17 mosques and where, within 10 days, two large mosque projects were announced. One (500 places) placed under the tutelage of the UOIF – an organization close to the Muslim Brotherhood on an international scale – and supported by Christian Estrosi through the provision of public premises, the other (1,000 places) funded by Saudi funds.
While every day the explosion of Islamism in France becomes more visible, we ask – in the name of the Niçois people, their security, and identity – that Christian Estrosi ends his policy of supporting the Islamization of our city.
Today, it is in the name of the most elementary precautionary principle that we first demand that the two large mosque projects in Nice be stopped.
