France Parliament Approves Anti Radicalism, Radical Islamists Worried

KEY TAKEAWAYS

•The lower house of the French Parliament approved a draft bill of Anti Radicalism, agreeing to safeguard the French values and culture while also promoting respect and preventing acts of endangerment. 
•As a landmark project of the French President elect, Emmanuel Macron, the bill was passed, and it talks about various aspects of the French life, while preventing anything that endangers the life of any person. 
•This bill has stirred an emotion of worry within the Islamic radicals, the Muslims, a few lawmakers and anyone who feels this bill is criticising the nation's second religion, Islam.
°Children above three to attend regular school, homeschooling banned. 

INTRODUCTION

By an overwhelming vote of 347-151, the lower house of the French Parliament passed the Anti Radicalism Bill, strengthening the oversight of schools, sports clubs and mosques, to treasure, and promote respect for the French value, making this a successful landmark project of the French President, Emmanuel Macron.

The aim of this legislation was to curb the rise of Islam radicalism and Islaism in towns and cities of the nation, threatening national unity, and also curbs polygamy and forced marriage down. It is also known as the Anti Separatism Law.

Critics state that this bill is just a political move by the President, to win votes, ahead of next year's presidential elections. 

FURTHER DETAILS

The purpose of this law was to stop Islamic radicalism, and religious fundamentalism. It aims to prevent people from stepping on the path of separatism.  

This bill empowers the law enforcement agencies of the nation to detain any person spreading hate online, and enforces the agencies to charge a fine of 45,000 euros and imprison the person for three years, under the 'Online hate speech law'. 

It also aims to minimise polygamy, and prevents wearing of a hijab in private and public offices, and enforces the French authorities to close down any religious places of worship, if they're found to be propogating hate. It charges a fine of 75,000 euros and imprisons anyone that intimidates or threatens elected officials for five years.

This law bans any virginity tests and virginity certificates that were asked to prove the woman's purity, and bans homeschooling to children above the age of three, thus curbing measures of teaching and promoting ideology. 

The Paty law- named after Samuel Paty, the teacher who was killed outside the school in Paris- criminalises the act of endangering any person's life by the way of sharing details of their private life along with their location. 

BACKGROUND

Many European countries welcomed Muslim refugees with open arms, wanting to prove the secularism they hold, in the wake of areas being captured by ISIS during the years 2015-16. By 2019, the refugees alone totalled upto a number of two million. 

It was these same refugees that then decided to question and challenge the secular and constitutional values of France, along with other European Countries. The root of radical Islamic terrorism, and the incidents that followed, such as the terrorist attacks in France, were all the Muslim refugees. 

The draft Bill was brought into existence last year as the President's project- after a series of attacks by the Islamic radicals blew up in the country, and it became urgent after a teacher was beheaded, outside Paris, and the killings of three people, later that same month. 

The legislation is titled 'Supporting respect for the principles of the Republic', and it is aimed to protect the French values, including the harmony and secularism of the nation. Two weeks of serious debates regarding the bill, the controversial Bill sparked some conflict of interest by some muslims, lawmakers and anyone who feared that this bill intruded on some essential freedoms, while criticising Islam, the Nation's second religion. Many French Muslims claimed that the draft bill limits various religious freedoms, while targeting them. They also stated that there are enough laws to fight terrorism and violence. 

This bill strengthened the French efforts to bring down extremism. 

This bill doesn't explicitly mention Muslims or Islam by the name, but talks about the protection of French values from encroaching on religious fundamentalism, and promoting respect to the Nation's foundational values of secularism, harmony and gender equality. 

CONCLUSION

This landmark success of the President's project paves way to a new era of National unity within the nation, by preventing any acts of endangerment to the nation. The rise of radical Islamic terrorism in the country resulted in the approval of Anti Radicalism bill. This bill covers many aspects of the French life. Despite the obstacle, the bill was approved in the National Assembly, dominated by Macron's party, and the Conservative led Senate, and was passed by an overwhelming 347-151, enabling the French Government an oversight of the mosques, schools, and any institution, to safeguard the nation from Islamic radicals, and ensuring the protection of the Nation's treasured values. 

Nandini Warrier