On Sunday Emmanuel Macron was reelected as the French president, defeating his far-right opponent Marine Le Pen. Emmanuel Macron secured a projected 58.2% of the vote, defeating the nationalist-populist Marine Le Pen, who scored 41.8%.
But consider this; 41.8% of French voters chose Islamophobia and racism without a mask and 58.2% preferred Islamophobia and racism in a presentable suit.
The 44-year-old will now serve for another five years as President of the French Republic.
French Far-Right
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said that she would keep up the political fight against President Emmanuel Macron in the run-up to June parliamentary elections, as she conceded defeat to the incumbent, in France’s presidential election.
Marine Le Pen & Emmanuel Macron both do not favor of Islam, but Le Pen has more extremist views than Emmanuel Macron.
If Marine Le Pen would have won, the French election the outcome could have been akin to France collapsing like a soufflé.
But finally, Macron won, continuing to make it difficult for Muslims to live & get the same treatment as others, or having a stable life in France.
In all French elections, Muslims fear for the future; Islamophobia is the driving force of the most French elections for Muslims, there literally is no ‘choice’.
Liberal Values and Neo-Liberalism
The talk about Liberal values and Neo-Liberalism is irrelevant now.
From the dramatic rise of the Far right & Neo-Nazism in Europe, it is evident that post-Liberalism must be the talk of the town.
Today 42% of French voted for the Far-right party founded by a Neo-Nazi known as “Devil of the Republic”, who was convicted for his holocaust denial.
Le-Pen got 34% of the votes in the 2017 elections and this time she secured around 42% votes which is enough to understand.
The social fabric of Europe and France is changing and evolving over the years and the rise of the Far-right is going to have profound consequences for minorities living in Europe, especially Muslims.
The point is that no matter how fair the state apparatus is at the end of the day it eventually submits to the wishes of the people.
This is what we are witnessing in India; Police giving protection to cow vigilantes, the Judiciary backing the political agenda of RSS, media & all institutions supplementing Structural discrimination.
Intellectuals and Scholars must discuss and debate this issue.
With the rise of the Far-right, the violence against Muslims will rise as well and would eventually be backed by the State apparatus.
The statistics speak for themselves:
-In 2018 rise of Islamophobic incidents
– France 52%
-Austria 74%
Head Scarves
Moreover, “Women constitute the majority of the victims of Islamophobia, especially when they wear headscarves.” according to the European Islamophobia Report 2018
Marine Le Pen has vowed fines for Muslims who wear headscarves in public; Le Pen was openly abusive against Islam and believes in white supremacy.
Macron warned that the country would risk ‘civil war’ if the ban is implemented.
Let’s not forget that Macron quietly pushed his “centrist” political platform to the right over the last 2 yrs or so. Aggressively posturing against Islam with a reformist, secularist tone that was a part of it. He did it to eat into Le Pen’s base, and it worked.
Macron will likely move back closer to the center now because the elections are over.
And it’s great that Le Pen was defeated. But this is a reminder that Right Wing populists always end up poisoning the whole discourse. And every time, minorities are the only ones who face the heat.
And there was a blasphemous cartoon that was published before President Macron by Charlie Habdo; Macron decided to take more steps and have it published it officially. He published this blasphemous cartoon by Charlie Habdo & called it “freedom of speech” which is quite unacceptable against the overall sentiment of Muslims.
Later on, it was also strongly condemned by other Muslim leaders including the Canadian & Russian Presidents, and after a lot of challenging work done by Pakistan’s former PM, the United Nations decided to raise the Islamophobia issue; but when it came to the Macron, he called a poster people across France made, with his face on it a disrespectful act.
My question is where is his so-called freedom of speech??
When someone hurts Muslims with blasphemous cartoons, you’re calling it freedom of speech, but when someone does the same against you, you become frustrated, spreading blasphemous cartoons on an official level for a person who is being followed by more than 1.8 billion Muslims, that is not a freedom of speech.
During his five-year term, the President of couples and single women, Macron has also given access to assisted reproductive technology to the lesbian community
LGBTQ+
While some progress has been made, LGBTQ+ activists say there is more that needs to be done. Emmanuel Macron President was seen as the candidate most in favor of reforms for same-sex couples and families.
While Le Pen has previously said she wanted to repeal the same-sex marriage law, passed in 2013. In the past, she has voted against making assisted reproductive technology available to lesbian couples and single women. She also opposes adoption for same-sex couples.
In a nutshell, Emmanuel Macron was a favorite candidate of the LGBTQ but those who were supporting Le Pen said that in the past Macron was gay that’s why he is doing his best for LGBTQ.
However, in new modernized so-called secular France, LGBTQ will have more rights than the nine percent population of the country which are Muslims. It’s a serious warning for Muslims to keep themselves away from both Macron & Pen. Both have extremist concepts about Islam & they’re not secular anymore.
