‘France will not give an inch on our freedoms’
‘The secular model of the French Republic is best suited to face the challenges of the 21st century, namely to live together in peace’
‘The idea is to show that caricatures are tonguein-cheek, not necessarily disrespectful, can be humorous and are just one aspect of expression’
France’s education minister has said that Western multiculturalism does not do enough to protect democracy, as his country doubles down in its defence of secular values over Islamism.
Critics who have accused Emmanuel Macron, the French president, of being anti-muslim are “waging a war against democracy, not Emmanuel Macron,” said Jean-michel Blanquer in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.
His comments came as Mr Macron said France would double the number of police guarding its borders to tackle the “growing threat” of terrorism in the wake of a spate of attacks, the latest by an illegal Tunisian immigrant in Nice.
Mr Blanquer was speaking just three weeks after French schoolteacher Samuel Paty was beheaded by an Islamist after he showed pupils caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in Charlie Hebdo as part of a class on freedom of expression. He pledged to bolster protection for teachers who receive threats and insisted that France would “not give an inch of ground when it comes to freedom of expression”.
Mr Blanquer was asked why the French president’s stance on Islamism and the French principles of laïcité, the country’s secular model, had made such waves in the Muslim world.
There have been protests in a string of Muslim-majority countries, while Turkey has led a drive to boycott French goods. The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has claimed that Mr Macron has a “problem with Islam” and is even “mentally unwell”.
“I don’t think that the French president has been misunderstood at all,” said Mr Blanquer. “I think there are people who don’t want to understand him because they see the principles of democracy as their enemy. This is a war against democracy that is being waged, not against Emmanuel Macron.”
Under a landmark 1905 law on the separation of church and state, laïcité guarantees freedom of belief and thought, while banning any outward signs of religion from state schools, including headscarves. But for its detractors, it has become a vehicle for discrimination against France’s Muslim population. Mr Blanquer was particularly irked by a recent article in The New York Times, which suggested that the teacher’s murder by an 18-year-old who had grown up in France from the age of six and was the product of its public schools pointed to “the failure of French integration”.
“(George) Washington would be turning in his grave,” said Mr Blanquer, blasting multiculturalism, particularly in America, as a failure.
“The secular model of the French Republic is best suited to face the challenges of the 21st century, namely to live together with our differences in peace. We don’t believe in the model of ‘communautarisme’ (a French expression that translates loosely as the equivalent of multiculturalism).
“We don’t think it has proved its worth in American society today, nor has it proved itself to be particularly peaceful,” he said. Mr Macron is also said to have been irritated by comments by Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister. “In a pluralistic, diverse and respectful society like ours, we must be aware of the impact of our words, of our actions on others, particularly these communities and populations who still experience enormous discrimination,” said Mr Trudeau. Mr Blanquer riposted: “If you follow the logic that you mustn’t displease anyone, you end up saying nothing. I know people are trying to cast (France’s model of assimilation) as totally out of date, to make out that when one speaks about the French Republic and secularism, it’s for bearded boffins of the Third Republic. I think it’s quite the opposite.
“Those who say so support models that result in a loss of freedom, split society into silos, and turn communities in on themselves, while our model is one of freedom that allows religions to flourish but while respecting others.”
Mr Blanquer also called on allies of France to be more vocal in rallying France’s call to defend the French model rather than sniping at it. “It would be nice if France wasn’t alone in defending the values of democracy because that is what this is about. We are all supportive of Vienna (the scene of an Islamist terror attack on Monday in which four died),” he said.
“If we remain isolated and say it’s their problem not ours, that’s the attitude that leads to totalitarianism in countries. Today there are people who say thank goodness, there are still brave people prepared to defend freedom of expression.”
Mr Blanquer said his government was looking into ways of creating a more robust early warning system in the classroom.
Last year, there were 935 reports of “breaches of laïcité”, from threats to teachers to refusal to engage in some activities. A recent Ifop poll suggested only six per cent have been trained in teaching laïcité while 38 per cent self-censor themselves when teaching subjects that might offend. The figure is 54 per cent in disadvantaged areas.
Mr Blanquer said that “values of the republic teams” had been set up to help teachers. But “in the coming days we will roll out new rules on protecting state workers (including teachers) which enables them to ask for protection each time they are under threat”.
He said there were no hard rules on freedom of expression, but “common sense” dictated not just focusing on the Prophet Mohammed when showing caricatures. “The idea is to show that caricatures are tongue-in-cheek, not necessarily disrespectful, can be humorous and are just one aspect of freedom of expression. But we mustn’t give an inch of ground on freedom of expression.”
♦ Two teenage boys, aged 16 and 17, have been arrested in Belgium accused of pledging allegiance to Islamic State and planning to attack police officers with knives, prosecutors said.