Liam redux

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NPA's challenge to Islamophobia

This comes from France 24. The veil issue has shown its face in French politics once again, after radical anti-capitalist fringe party the NPA revealed that one of its candidates (pictured) in forthcoming regional elections wears an Islamic headscarf. A candidate for a radical French anti-capitalist party in the forthcoming regional elections wears a headscarf…

Liam
2–3 minutes

This comes from France 24.

The veil issue has shown its face in French politics once again, after radical anti-capitalist fringe party the NPA revealed that one of its candidates (pictured) in forthcoming regional elections wears an Islamic headscarf.

A candidate for a radical French anti-capitalist party in the forthcoming regional elections wears a headscarf as a token of her Islamic faith, something that has raised eyebrows in this rigidly secular society.

All the more so because the NPA (New Anti-capitalist Party), led by Trotskyist postman Olivier Besancenot, is a party that generates headlines for its extreme left wing position on issues including militant secularism.

Scarf-wearing Ilham Moussaid (pictured), a student and a party treasurer, is NPA candidate for the regional council of Vaucluse in southern France, Besancenot confirmed to French daily Le Figaro.

“A woman can be a feminist, can uphold secular values and wear a [Islamic] headscarf at the same time,” he told the newspaper.

The veiled meanings of a very French issue

Wearing a headscarf – as well as the wearing of other religious symbols such as crucifixes – is strictly prohibited in French public institutions such as schools.

And a cross-party parliamentary commission last month came up with a list of recommendations for a law to ban wearing the full face veil (niqab) in public places such as hospitals and on public transport.

It is a very French issue. Islamic headscarfs in France are all referred to as “voile” – meaning veil – whether or not they cover the face.

The French public dislikes veils because they are seen as the embodiment of male domination over women, as well as symbols of religious attachment in a country that clings fiercely to the principle of the separation of church and state.

But veils and headscarves are also an overt reminder that France is home to Europe’s largest Muslim population, something that makes the (often Christian) right wing uncomfortable.

Radical pragmatism of a fringe party

Making headway in the country’s deprived suburbs, notable for their large Muslim immigrant populations, could pay political dividends for the NPA, which is very much a fringe party.

The “banlieues”, Besancenot told Le Figaro, are “deserts where social associations, unions and political activity barely flourish.”

They are also places where women, some of whom wear Islamic veils, are starting to carry the torch for the NPA’s brand of militant anti-capitalist Trotskyism.

In a statement, the party said the choice to put Moussaid forward as a candidate had come after “a serious and complex debate”.

“[Moussaid] is a militant feminist, anti-capitalist and internationalist who happens to wear a headscarf for religious reasons,” the statement continues. “The NPA welcomes young people, the unemployed and wage-earners of all walks of life who hold our ideals dear. Religious faith is a private matter that should in no way be an obstacle to the NPA’s fight for its fundamental principles of secularism, feminism and anti-capitalism.”

33 responses to “NPA's challenge to Islamophobia”

  1. Adamski Avatar
    Adamski

    excellent news, very pleased to read this.

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  2. Derek Wall Avatar
    Derek Wall

    cool, do post more news on France, sounds like another good strong women left candidate he also happens to be Muslim like Salma over here.

    And hope you are feeling better Liam!

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  3. shug Avatar
    shug

    Derek,is she a cross dresser.”sounds like another good strong woman left candidate he also happens to be Muslim like Salma”.

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  4. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    The NPA have it spot on.

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  5. Kevin Ovenden Avatar
    Kevin Ovenden

    This is a very positive move. Well done to the NPA and Olivier.

    A close alliance between the five million or more French Muslims who are being demonised and the radical left can be a potent force and deepen the left as a whole.

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  6. John Mullen Avatar
    John Mullen

    This issue has caused a lot of waves. Spokespeople for the Socialist Party and the Left Party have said that they would never have accepted a woman in a headscarf on their slates. The NPA is very much divided. At the founding conference a year ago, (where I was a delegate), there was no mention at all of islamophobia in the founding documents (I tried and failed). This was in the hope of avoiding a big argument in the party, where islamophobia is not unknown, and concessions to islamophobia are frequent.
    At the next conference, the issue will be brought up – it is an explosive issue in France. So all that can be done to oppose islamophobia, and to explain and debate with the Left activists who are tempted by islamophobia, is extremely valuable.

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  7. Adamski Avatar
    Adamski

    a short article by the late daniel bensaid on the formation of the new anticapitalist party

    http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1789

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  8. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    Kevin Ovenden wrote:
    “A close alliance between the five million or more French Muslims who are being demonised and the radical left can be a potent force and deepen the left as a whole”

    Such idiocy needs to be challenged. Should the left closely ally with all 5 million? Is it your belief that Muslims are a class, with no distinctions between diplomats and their domestic servants, generals and their peasant victims, industrialists and their factory employees? Do they really share common interests? You can deplore the racism against Muslims in France (and I prefer to call it racism than use the increasingly meaningless term ‘Islamaphobia’ ) without viewing Muslims as an undifferentiated mass. I deplore the racist taunts of Obama (or Colin Powell or Condoleeza Rice) without believing that their being Black trumps any other distinction between them and the Black working class. I oppose the French ban on the burkha without claiming that the burkha or hijab is a symbol of resistance.
    The left’s experiment with a close alliance with ‘Muslims’ in Tower Hamlets has meant that Respect works with some of the most reactionary Muslim groups and contributes to the silencing of other, more progressive Muslim voices.

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    1. Liam Avatar
      Liam

      Rachel – there is a very strong hostility to any manifestation of Muslim identity in France. It spans the range from liberal women’s magazines like Elle, newspapers like Le Monde sections of the Communist Party and the hard right. Sometimes it’s expressed as defence of women’s rights and other times it’s part of a discussion on “French identity”. It is quite distinct from the racism that a Sengalese migrant might face and the NPA’s decision to stand a woman who wears a hijab has been controversial even among some of its own supporters.

      The Tower Hamlets issue is quite separate and I’ll return to it in the fullness of time.

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  9. skidmarx Avatar
    skidmarx

    Rachel – such idiocy isn’t likely to be challenged by Socialist Resistance at the moment:
    Today in England, in the run up to a general election, now unofficially launched, probably for May 6th, we are building Respect, ‘warts and all’, because it is the only broad-based, nationally organised, working class left alternative going.

    Some Lessons of the Crisis in the SWP

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  10. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    Sorry, Liam, I didn’t understand your reply ( my comments were somewhat unclear, it’s true).

    Do you agree with what Kevin Ovenden said above:

    “A close alliance between the five million or more French Muslims who are being demonised and the radical left can be a potent force and deepen the left as a whole”.

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  11. Kevin Ovenden Avatar
    Kevin Ovenden

    Perhaps people should read whole sentences before fulminating. You may call a close alliance between the radical left and “five million or more French Muslims who are *being demonised*” idiocy; I call it a basic act of solidarity.

    Are Muslims a socio-economic class? Of course not. Are they, in France, on the receiving end of racism and bigotry? Most certainly. I believe the radical left should be the tribune of the oppressed. And that’s what we are doing in Tower Hamlets, incidentally – defending migrant communities new and old from racism and fighting for the services which the most vulnerable working class people need.

    Others can follow a colour-blind approach if they so wish. In a context of rising racism, I think that’s profoundly reactionary.

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  12. pete shield Avatar
    pete shield

    The debate here in France over ‘overt signs of religion’ is a little difficult for anyone not soaked in the French left’s anti-clericalism.

    I’ve been involved with the French left, albeit as a sort of tolerated foreigner, for around 10 years and it confuses the hell out of me.

    Many of my comrades in the PCF, particularly those active in the SNCF CGT, are of Algerian arabic origins and they are to a man and woman 100% against any form of cultural/religious attire, not just in public sector buildings but in all aspects of life.
    They consider my approach, which is that the State has no role in telling anyone what they choose to wear or not wear, at best BOBO(Bourgeois bohemian) liberalism, or at worst right wing communalism.

    Yes certainly there is a strong element of racism in the movement against religious clothing,and the way the debate is centred around Muslim women, but there is also strong feeling within progressive Arabs, and left wing feminists against what is seen as the public submission of women to male authority, the debate is not as clear cut as seems to be portrayed above.

    The NPA down here in the Languedoc is seem very militantly secular, from the conversations I have had with them, which seems very different from their comrades over in neighbouring PACA.

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  13. John Mullen Avatar
    John Mullen

    I am in the NPA in Aquitaine. An Australian blogger asked to interview me, in English, about this affair. The resulting interview is online here and might be useful to anglophones who are not too familiar with the background.

    http://www.jcmullen.fr/2009ilham.html

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  14. pete shield Avatar
    pete shield

    Very good response John, has cheered me up.

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  15. bill j Avatar
    bill j

    Personally I don’t think it helps matter when people throw around epithets like “idiocy” “profoundly reactionary” and so on.
    I read Besancenot’s explanation and it seemed fine to me. Basically (summarising) it said that a woman who wore the hijab could be a feminist – i.e. someone who supports women’s rights – and an anti-capitalist etc. and that what people choose to wear is a private matter for them.
    In other words if this candidate is a good candidate able to fight for the politics of the NPA and no political concessions have been made to her, say on a woman’s right to free abortion on demand ( this was not the case with Respect of course), then she should be selected and what she chooses to wear is her affair. I agree.
    I know that in recent history the SWP tried to persuade their Muslim women members to wear the veil on the grounds that it was no longer a system of sexual oppression (not true in my opinion) but was now a symbol of anti-racism (maybe but still debatable in my opinion).
    I basically agree with Rachel’s points about an alliance with the five million. This is the cross class politics of Respect.

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  16. John Mullen Avatar
    John Mullen

    Bill doesnt’ give a source on his claim that the SWp aims at persuading women to wear veils. I heard Lindsay German speaking and saying something quite different “Most of us here (in a large SWP meeting) would not choose to wear a veil, but we defend the right of others to make their own choices.
    This is a secondary point, but sources are important.

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  17. bill j Avatar
    bill j

    Its from conversations with various of their members over the years.

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  18. pete shield Avatar
    pete shield

    John, that is a criticism I once heard about ‘Socialisme par en bas’ in Montpellier asking its female militants to wear a head covering, of some description, while campaigning in poor / arabic areas of town. But the criticism was from a LCR member who was somewhat known for her dislike of other Trot currents at the time, so as a valid source I would be very dubious.

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  19. John Mullen Avatar
    John Mullen

    I certainly hold no brief at all for Socialisme par en bas, whohave taken some very very erroneous positions at times, but I don’t believe this of them.

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  20. pete shield Avatar
    pete shield

    As I say, very dubious source, and you know how these things can develop a life of their own independent of the facts.

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  21. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    Ok, ‘idiocy’ is bad language on a blog comment, agreed.

    But really I am tired of Respect claiming to be on the side of ‘the oppressed’ and ‘Muslims’ therebye not recognising that there are power differences between Muslims in the same ‘community’. Choosing to work with some of the most wealthy, powerful and conservative elements of the community in Tower Hamlets means that Respect is not acting in basic solidarity with many progressive, socialist, feminist, and secular Muslims in the borough or elsewhere.

    I disagree with Derek Wall that Ilham Moussaid should be compared to Salma Yacqoob. The NPA is committed to secularism while Respect is happy to promote god-based politics. These differences reflect the profound historical differences in their respective states of course.

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  22. The Bunk Avatar
    The Bunk

    “I know that in recent history the SWP tried to persuade their Muslim women members to wear the veil on the grounds that it was no longer a system of sexual oppression”

    Bull***.

    “Its from conversations with various of their members over the years.”

    Bull***.

    Why do you feel the need to either misrepresent or outright lie like that? Which SWP members have told you they were encouraged to wear the veil? SWP members who have chosen to wear the veil have their right to do so respected. Nobody has “encouraged” it.

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  23. bill j Avatar
    bill j

    Well if you say so it must be true. Because if you don’t say so its bullshit. I get it. Anything else bullshit while we’re at it?

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  24. tony collins Avatar
    tony collins

    I’ll say it as someone who has no love for the SWP: It’s a lie, Bill.

    There was a story that some non-Muslim SWP members thought it might be good at a particular demo to wear a hijab as a symbol of solidarity, which sounds a bit “student” but is nothing like what you claim it is, and is at least a political act, rather than the nannying type of thing you’re saying was going on.

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  25. Kevin Ovenden Avatar
    Kevin Ovenden

    Respect’s base in Tower Hamlets is disproportionately among the poor, women and the young.

    That’s why the in effect abolition of the secret ballot through postal votes on demand damages us and favours those, like Labour, who have rested on authority figures delivering household votes.

    Unsurprisingly, better off folk in Tower Hamlets tend to vote Tory and New Labour.

    Hence, the New Labour (some time Lib Dem vote) in the better off areas of Bow, and the concentration of Tory voters in the new developments of the Isle of Dogs.

    Just repeating baseless claims aboout Respect won’t alter the reality that we are a rooted force in some of the most deprived communities.

    What’s happening in east London now is a battle royal to sweep out the old corruption. And we’re working flatout to deliver some good news on election day.

    The next campaign tabloid is going to the printers shortly. All are welcome to come and lend a hand.

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  26. bill j Avatar
    bill j

    My problem is of course that I can’t prove anything, that’s the way life is though. But if people think that’s unlikely how unlikely is it that a leader of the SWP would also abandon key “shibboleths”, like LGBT and Women’s rights on the same time and on roughly the same rationale? If that had not occurred at Marxism and was on tape then no doubt it would be similarly denounced as “bullshit” “lies” and all the rest.

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  27. redbedhead Avatar
    redbedhead

    “how unlikely is it that a leader of the SWP would also abandon key “shibboleths””

    You know bill your arguments would have more credibility and be more useful for your cause if you weren’t just verifiably distorting and lying all the time. Nobody abandoned anything – the argument was about working in united fronts and not setting conditions for participation beyond the key demands. That’s what is meant by “shibboleth” – setting up artificial barriers to the involvement (in this case of Muslims) of others in struggle, particularly those to our right.

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  28. johng Avatar
    johng

    It really is extraordinary that Bill J is repeating this crap. A lazy opportunist kind of sectarianism repeating right wing slanders in the hope that they’ll stick. But you never know bill you might recruit a few people. On a more fraternal note your good point about Zizek earlier is repeated here in this excellent demolition job, in this case the book he wrote on Lenin:

    http://links.org.au/node/1500

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  29. fiannanahalba Avatar
    fiannanahalba

    I bet Anjem Choudhary sits up at nights regretting leaving the SWP. He could be Lord Actons grandsons leader now if hed hung around.

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  30. tony collins Avatar
    tony collins

    “But if people think that’s unlikely how unlikely is it that a leader of the SWP would also abandon key “shibboleths”, like LGBT and Women’s rights on the same time and on roughly the same rationale? If that had not occurred at Marxism and was on tape then no doubt it would be similarly denounced as “bullshit” “lies” and all the rest.”

    It really isn’t hard to find out what Lindsey was saying, and it doesn’t even require spin to interpret it – she was criticising groups who were demanding this or that from Respect while not even offering the most basic solidarity to the biggest figure on the Labour and ex-Labour left, (Galloway) who was under severe attack by the media and state. She wasn’t abandoning anything – she was accusing others, correctly, of making certain things points of principle purely as a stick to beat Respect with.

    You know all this, of course.

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  31. bill j Avatar
    bill j

    You know that you’ve plumbed the depths when RBH joins the crowd.
    On Zizek Paul Kellog mainly hits the mark. But Lenin did change his position on the state, from arguing for its abolition through the course of 1917 to arguing for its strengthening from around mid-1918 onwards.

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  32. skidmarx Avatar
    skidmarx

    bill j – to be charitable to you, isn’t it possible that you’re a victim of Chinese whispers? Some SWP member says it is OK to wear a hijab, by the time the comment gets to you it is transformed into SWP Muslim women must wear one.
    To get back to the issue at hand, there does seem to be a difference in political culture between Britain and France which needs to be taken account of. The tradition of militant secularism in the latter does appear to ignore the oppression felt in the suburbs by the application of Republican values, so this step should surely be welcomed. But on this side of the channel where there is far more agreement on the left about the need to defend the right to express cultural values, there should be far less excuse for the left to treat Muslims as one undifferentiated mass or as a substitute for the working class. And Kevin Ovenden alleging that to question Respect’s methodology is to repeat baseless claims won’t change the reality that it organises on the basis of community rather than class, while pretending to be the “radical left” and dismissing those with class politics as sects.

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