Naissance médiatique de l'intellectuel musulman en France (1989-2005)

IV. The leader Moslem socio-policy

The last category of Moslem intellectuals which emerges on the French media scene is that of the Moslem leader to the head of the social and political fights. There still, the date of 1989 seems revolving major, the first « business of the veil » having created a scission within associations antiracists and feminists. Since this date, we attend with a new cleavage and a certain centering of the traditional social debates, relating to integration in particular, around the religious problems. We will initially study this evolution noted before analyzing there how this one allowed still the creation of a new category of intellectuals, intellectuals who in common have the point with the three other types clarified previously to be able to be qualified Moslem intellectuals, but who are characterized some by their process of legitimation. Lastly, we will be able in a third point to observe that it is carried out in parallel, since about fifteen years, one « Islamization » relative of the French political life, these new politicians or top-civils servant defined as Islamic contributing to the birth médiatiquement visible of a Moslem intelligentsia.

With) The Islamic turning of the social fights

The observation of the religious turning of the social fights on behalf of the movements resulting from immigration rests on a certain number of presupposed largely relayed by the media. According to the image abundantly spread by the French press, the laic movements of Beurs failed in their mission of integration in the years 1980, in particular because of the lapse of memory of the religious problems. For this reason one attends a reislamisation of the suburbs since 1990. Admittedly, this vision is not unanimous and is sometimes disputed^203(*). But failing to have the historical retreat necessary to consider reality social of such an evolution, we can affirm without encumber that the Islamic turning of the social fights is indeed a media reality. In the same way, it is undeniable that the principal associative leaders of years 1980 are led the following decade to reconsider their engagement in particular around the problems of Islam.

The event detonator which launches the scission of the movement bor is the first business of the veil in 1989. If associations laic antiracists had more or less avoided the religious problems at their beginnings, they are consequently obliged to confront itself with it. Within associations of young immigrants, creates for itself first line of fracture between « pro-scarves » and « anti-scarves ». Harlem Desire, president of S.O.S-Racism and emblematic figure of the walk of Beurs, are one of the first to condemn the exclusion of the buckled girls. With the media racing, the standpoint of association appears as a questioning of the French model of republican integration to the profit of a Community integration of Anglo-Saxon type :

« The persons in charge for association had not provided that the debate would become such extensive and would focus the interests of as many politicians, journalists and intellectuals nor that the general tonality of the debate in the press would be clearly against the port of the scarf and the position of S.O.S. Whereas the arguments of S.O.S indicated that the goal to reach was integration by the school of «immigrant of second generation» and thus raised of a realistic concern of education «laic and republican» of the whole of the pupils, association seemed defendant more or less the «right to the difference» of the immigrants^204(*) ».

The eternal controversy between « integrationists » and « assimilationnists » centers itself consequently symbolically around a sign of a religious nature. The premises of a binary debate between the partisans of a tolerant attitude take shape thus- laxist will say some- with regard to Islam and holding them of a firm secularity.

But the other event which has the appearance of a new data and which causes new divisions at the charismatic figures of associations of defense of the immigrants is the war of the Gulf. There still, S.O.S-Racism goes to counter-current of the majority opinion by condemning the armed intervention in Iraq. This standpoint improves its image in the suburbs but moves away it much from its old supports. Pierre-Andre Taguieff for example, who had been a large support of S.O.S-Racism a long time^205(*), takes his distances after the war and attacks then « the antiracism differentialist^206(*) ».

At the beginning of the years 1990, the quasi unanimous benevolence of media elite with regard to the movements antiracists is thus broken. And the true line of fracture, which very often hides behind the problems of the right to the difference, is clearly around the attitude to adopt vis-a-vis Islam. This religious turning of the question of integration is also obvious at the feminist movements. Forced to come to a conclusion about the veil, some preach firmness, others call upon the freedom of choice. Emerge then slowly a line of « neofeminists »^207(*), preaching a laic Moslem feminism from now on which incarnated by the movement NPNS (Neither Subjected Whores Nor), which turns into to veil its war-horse and Islam the principal enemy of the equality between men and women. In 2003, the newspaper the World publishes a platform under the title « «Laïcardes», since feminists^208(*) ». A whole symbol : the two problems are from now on dependant.

The example of Vénissieux, in the Lyons periphery, illustrates perfectly in the media all this evolution of the suburbs whose inhabitants slip of a combat laic antiracist to a strategy of integration taking of account the religion. In 1983, it is of its district of Minguettes that share celebrates it walk of Beurs. Two decades later, this city makes speak about it only to report the drifts of the Imam salafist Abdelkader Bouziane^209(*). If the Western public saw with sympathy the walk of Beurs, the city of Gaules is quickly indicated like « center of gravity of islamist nebula^210(*) » at the beginning of the years 1990. This local example shows well that, if the problem of integration were considered under a social angle or « ethnic » benevolent in the years 1980, the following decade sees being much less formed a reading of the social problems through a religious prism condescending. This evolution is even palpable in the way in which the State and the local communities changed strategy vis-a-vis the question of integration :

« The way in which the authorities treated integration of the immigrants, then beurs and maintaining Moslems also contributed to set up this identity in data in the field sociopolitic. To name the population resulting in particular from the Maghreb, one thus passed from his social characteristic, «immigrant», with his ethnic characteristic, «bor», and finally with his religious characteristic, «Moslem» (...) finally the identities thus produced by the speech come from there to be lived by the individuals designated like obviousnesses^211(*) ».

By a semantic slip, the press characterizes from now on the young people in search of integration by the qualifier ethno-monk of «arabo-Moslem », thus binding two quite distinct types of identities however. This is a real reflection of the evolution of the company or a pure fabrication « sociologico-media » ? At all events, as Michel Wieviorka underlines it, « by calculate the existence of a communautarism arabo-Moslem, one risks well to create it and encourage it^212(*) . «

If the religious turning of the social fights is médiatiquement obvious, which is the incidence on the positioning of the leaders of these movements ? The answers vis-a-vis the new data having varied according to the people, associations of suburbs then more or less burst but a new figure, that of the Moslem intellectual destroyer of the social injustices is born in parallel.

* ²⁰³ Cf in particular Antoine Sfeir, «  To be Maghrebian in France  », in, Books of the East, 3rd quarter 2003, which affirms that the integration of the Maghrebian community, which counts nearly 800.000 senior executive, function better than it claim the majority of the speeches «  victimisants  ». Cf also the study of Sylvain Brouard and Vincent Tiberj, Report/ratio with the policy of the French resulting from immigration, June 2005, available on http://www.cevipof.msh-paris.fr/publications/enquetes/rapp_fi.pdf, which denies the existence of a phenomenon of reislamisation at the immigrant populations.

* ²⁰⁴ Philippe Juhem, S.O.S-Racism, history of a mobilization «  apolitical  ». Contribution to an analysis of the transformations of the political representations after 1981, Thesis of political science, University Paris X (to dir. Bernard Lacroix), 1998, p. 51.

* ²⁰⁵ It had taken part in «    brain-pals  », structure of sponsorship of association.

* ²⁰⁶ Bertrand Legendre, «  Postmodern racism  », the World, 12/3/1993.

* ²⁰⁷ Term borrowed from Jean Daniel, «  Damnés of the Republic  », the New Observer, 10/3/2005.

* ²⁰⁸ Anne Vigerie & Anne Zelensky, ««Laïcardes», since feminists  », the World, 30/5/2003.

* ²⁰⁹ See in particular Mustapha Kessous, «  Long drift of Vénissieux  », the World, 14/1/2005.

* ²¹⁰ Jacques Giraddon, Vincent Hugeux & Sylviane Stein, «  The Islamist ones  », the Express train, 29/4/1993.

* ²¹¹ Hanane Harrath, «  Moslems and citizens like the others  », in the New Observer, out of the ordinary, «  New thinkers of Islam  », April/May 2004.

* ²¹² Luc Bronner & Xavier Ternisien, «  The bad debate of the communautarism  », the World, 12/4/2003.