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| Europe |
| Details on the French Muslim Council... |
| 2002-12-24 |
| The pact, sealed on Friday, is the culmination of a decade of efforts to overcome intense rivalries among the different Muslim communities in France. It was reached only after pressure from Nicholas Sarkozy, the interior minister, who organised a closed door conference in a château outside Paris and insisted the meeting could not end until agreement had been reached. Mr Sarkozy, who is spear-heading a crackdown on crime, has been anxious to bring the Muslim community into formal policy-making on issues that impinge on security and which affect social tensions. Behind this lies a concern that the French authorities have allowed mosques to spring up all over the country financed by individual groups and foreign governments. Successive governments held back from blocking the spread of mosques for fear of being seen to interfere in religious matters when the French republic is wedded to secular principles. Furthermore, with Algeria, Morocco and Saudi Arabia the main sources of finance, the authorities were reluctant to be seen exercising controls that might antagonise these governments. Already the Algerian-Moroccan rivalries have created frictions in the running of mosques. The council's composition reflects the importance of the Algerian community, which controls the main mosque in Paris, funded by the Algerian government. The 64-person council will be presided over by a 16-strong executive headed by Dalil Boubakeur, the rector of the Paris mosque. The other main presence is provided by representatives from the Moroccan-backed National Muslim Federation (FNMF) and the Saudi-funded Union of Muslim Organisations (UOIF). One-third of the council members will be co-opted, allowing the state a measure of control. There will also be a 197-member consultative assembly with two-thirds elected. Critics of the agreement maintain the council is being created to suit government security policy rather than improve relations between French Muslims and the rest of society. They also claim the deal fails to embrace the more radical mosques and could exacerbate the divide between moderates and militants. I don't think the deal was supposed to embrace the "more radical mosques," and the purpose is more to suit the government than to "improve relations between French Muslims and the rest of society." Islamists will regard it as a camel's nose into the tent of power — and it could be. The Leftoids will regard it as a Kumbaya-driven crack in the already crumbling facade of Euroculture, and will expect society to actually benefit from it. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |