What does it take to survive as a Muslim in France?

- Experts and activists shed light on the situation of Muslims in France
If you are a French Muslim applying for a job, you are five times more likely to be discriminated against than a non-Muslim. And if you are a veiled Muslim woman, you have a 1% chance of finding a job. Yasser Louati, a French political analyst and human rights defender, currently head of the "French Committee for Justice and Freedoms for All" (CJL), cited these examples when speaking to Anadolu about the lives of Muslims. In France. “If you apply for housing, it takes you twice as long to get it, because you are identified as either African, North African or Muslim,” he observed. “If you are a young Muslim in France, police violence targets you first,” he lamented. The co-author of the Annual Report on Islamophobia in Europe for the year 2022, Enes Bayrakli, has named France as one of the most Islamophobic countries in Europe over the past year. Thus, for the year 2022, out of 527 recorded reports (in other words, facts which have been proven to relate to Islamophobia, editor's note), 501 refer to a situation that occurred in France, indicates the Collective against Islamophobia in Europe. Activists and experts have told Anadolu that they approve of the inventory drawn up in France for the year 2022. “There is a cost to this situation, it is that you have to fight every day. Because even if you have rights on paper, they are never granted to you,” Louati said.

**What does Emmanuel Macron's re-election mean for Muslims?

The re-election of French President Emmanuel Macron in 2022 "is not good news for Muslims and the French population as a whole", Louati said. He pointed out that the Elysée tenant had failed to fight poverty, corruption and discrimination, and that instead of focusing on social and economic policies, he had made identity politics his main issue during the presidential campaign last year. “He has prepared the ground so that his second five-year term is essentially about subduing Muslims with appropriate and extreme means,” Louati told Anadolu in an interview via the “zoom” instant messaging platform. For the human rights defender, this means that the French president can close any organization without going through the courts and that university researchers can be incriminated if they denounce Islamophobia. Abdennour Toumi, an expert from ORSAM (Center for Middle Eastern Studies), believes, for his part, that Macron's two five-year terms hastened the break between the French state and Muslims."Politically speaking, Macron has damaged the relationship between Muslims and France in general," he said.

**The haunting of the past

French Muslims continue to be haunted by the repercussions of the state of emergency declared by the government after the November 2015 terrorist attacks, which killed 130 people.“The fear and trauma we experienced in 2015 scarred us psychologically,” said Rayan Freschi, a French lawyer and researcher with London-based rights organization CAGE.Freschi, who converted to Islam that year, pointed out that this period was very difficult for Muslims. He explained that there have been changes in legislation, state policies and the judiciary in how they treat Muslims.Louati said more than 4,000 raids have been carried out, most of them against Muslim families. He lamented that the government "brutally attacked" thousands of families, while hundreds of Halal businesses, charities and restaurants were raided to make them "pay for the attacks".Criticizing the action of the government of the day, Louati said: "During these terrorist attacks, many Muslims died, which means that even in times of national tragedy, when terrorists do not distinguish between Muslims and non-Muslims. -Muslims, the government and the media make the distinction”.

**Laws against Muslims

Experts agree that "the law against separatism" presented to the Council of Ministers on December 9, 2020, adopted by parliament on July 23, 2021 and published in the Official Journal on August 25, 2021, "systematically hinders" freedom religion and practices of Islam.