Emmanuel Macron defended the strict secularism of France and its long tradition of satire.
Washington, United States:
French President Emmanuel Macron called on New York Times media correspondent to criticize the English-language coverage of France’s position after the recent attacks, arguing that this amounts to “legitimizing” the violence.
“When France was attacked five years ago, all the nations of the world supported us,” Macron told Ben Smith in comments published in the column last Sunday.
“So when I see, in this context, several newspapers which, I believe, come from countries which share our values … when I see them legitimizing this violence, and saying that the heart of the problem is that France is racist and Islamophobic, so I say the founding principles have been lost. “
In his column on their exchange, Smith said the French president argued that “the foreign media failed to understand ‘secularism'” or secularism, a pillar of French politics and society.
National support for a firm line on the need for immigrants to embrace French values is stronger than ever since the grisly beheading last month of Professor Samuel Paty, who showed his students caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in a lesson on freedom of expression.
While paying homage to the slain man, Macron defended the strict secularism of France and its long tradition of satire.
“We will not give up cartoons,” he promised.
He reiterated his point in an interview with the Great Continent in which he declared that, despite his respect for different cultures, “I will not change our laws because they shock elsewhere”.
“The fight of our generation in Europe will be a fight for our freedoms,” Macron said, adding that he believed they were “overthrown”.
His views have been called into question not only during angry protests in Islamic countries – many of which have called for boycots of French products – but also by English-language newspapers and even international political allies.
The Financial Times published an article by a correspondent entitled “Macron’s war on ‘Islamic separatism’ only divides France further.”
The document then deleted the column, citing factual errors.
Defending France’s position in a letter to the FT in which he denied having stigmatized Muslims, Macron wrote: “France – we are under attack for this – is as secular for Muslims as it is for Christians, Jews, Buddhists and all believers. “
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
