What s happening in France, how does the US media see it and its significance for Turkey

Sunday, November 13, 2005

No matter what the liberals claim, what’s currently happening in France is neither a manifestation of class struggle nor an uprising by the oppressed. Rather it is a war of religions, blast the conservative radio stations in the United States

  “No matter what the liberals claim, what s currently happening in France is neither a manifestation of class struggle nor an uprising by the oppressed. Rather it is a war of religions,” blast the conservative radio stations in the United States. “What we need to do now is not to grant more freedom to these mutineers but to bring into being a new hero, a new Charles Martel, who will stop all of them. Where are the Martels of today?”

  Known as “Charles the Hammer,” Charles Martel is a national hero for the French. He is famous for his victory over the armies of Cordoba from the Iberian Peninsula at the Battle of Tours in 732. In short, he is praised as “The leader who prevented Islam s invasion of France and the Europe that lay beyond.” It therefore comes as no surprise that the ultra-conservative media in the United States is calling for another Martel today. These people see the incidents in France as the “War between Christianity and Islam.” They share Jean-Marie Le Pen s stance. Your past might have been imprinted by French colonialism, your family might have arrived in France three generations ago or you might have been born in France and see yourself as French, it makes no difference: In the final analysis it is the color of your skin, your family roots and that “foreign” sound of your name that precludes you from being a part of France. You don t belong here but there is no “elsewhere.”

  It is assumed that the number of Muslim immigrants in France, most of whom are Arabs, is approaching 7 million. In other words, they constitute around 10 percent of the population, but they have no representatives in Parliament nor do they have equal labor opportunities. The system has been forcing them into ghettos for years. Their cultural differences are not openly acknowledged, let alone respected. They are neither “French enough” nor complete outsiders. They have makeshift lives and constantly face some form of tacit racism. Under these circumstances, the only thing those who are torching cars today on the streets can fear to lose is their clean criminal record.

  The consequences yielded by centralist, assimilationist Republicanism reflect first and foremost the yawning gap between “political theory” and “social practice.” In theory and on paper, all citizens are recognized as “equal,” no matter what their religious, ethnic or cultural background. That s why in population censuses, no one is asked about their ethnic roots. At first glance, the French model appears as quite an egalitarian practice, but in social practice it generates just the opposite effect, strengthening the ongoing discrimination against the minorities.

  The social agony caused by the systematic uni-culturalism forced by the French political structure is of special importance for Turkey. After all, Turkey modeled so many elements of its centralist state after France. We imported the principle of laicism and uni-culturalism, the idea of denouncing any mention of ethnic roots, the prolonged failure to come to grips with the concept of “minority” and many aspects along the formation of our nation-state directly from France. Between Turkey s Kemalist Republican elite and France s Jacobinist/reformist elite there have been important similarities.

  Turkish politicians should not watch the ongoing events from a distance but rather grasp their relevance for them. Turkey has to speed up its process of transformation from uniculturalism to multiculturalism. Turkey needs to embrace its ethnic diversity. A multicultural and democratic Turkey that is not alarmed about or frightened of its minorities and is at peace with itself and has finally come to grips with its history is the best answer that can be given to the “Islam-phobia” that is gradually spreading all over the world. What Europe needs today is not yet another “Hammer Martel,” but to join forces with a politically, culturally and religiously diverse Turkey that will render the clash of religions thesis void.