Le Pen Plays Islamist Card Linking Attacks to Immigration

Le Pen Plays Islamist Card Linking Attacks to Immigration

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France’s Front National leader Marine Le Pen pinned the blame for the killing of 12 people in Paris today on Islamic radicals, as mainstream leaders tried to downplay the religious dimension of the attack. 

While President Francois Hollande called for national unity in an attempt to deter the public from demonizing the country’s 5-million strong Muslim community, Le Pen said France has to confront the beliefs of the gunmen who stormed the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo this morning. 

“Time’s up for denial and hypocrisy,” Le Pen, who has railed against immigration, said in a video posted on her party’s website today. “The absolute rejection of Islamic fundamentalism must be proclaimed loudly and clearly.” 

The lessons voters’ draw from the deadliest attack on French soil since World War II will shape the political debate as the country looks toward the 2017 election. Hollande, the most unpopular president in modern history, is struggling to make up ground on Le Pen, who’s seen her support surge as she blames immigrants for France’s near-record unemployment and deepening inequalities. 

2012 Precedent

“Of all political parties, the Front National stands to gain most from this atrocity,” Jim Shields, head of French studies at Aston University in Birmingham, England, said in an interview. “Public agreement with the FN’s ideas has been rising steadily and this event will play into the party’s anti-immigration, anti-Islam agenda.” 

When the Islamist terrorist Mohammed Merah carried out deadly attacks in Toulouse and Montauban in 2012, Le Pen was the presidential candidate who benefited most, Shields said. 

The French government is trying to damp fears that the growing influence of Islam is eroding social cohesion. Le Pen led Hollande by as much as 15 percentage points in a September survey of voting intentions by Ifop for Le Figaro newspaper. The Front National topped Hollande’s Socialists and their predecessors, the UMP, in last year’s European elections. 

Hollande, who Le Pen has previously attacked for underestimating the terrorist threat, today put the country on its highest alert while appealing to his countrymen to transcend their ethnic and religious divisions. 

5 Million Muslims 

“We’ll stick together and show that France is a country that knows how to react appropriately, showing firmness and national unity,” the president told reporters in eastern Paris, near the scene of the attack. 

France is home to Europe’s largest Muslim community, making up about 7.7 percent of the population, and their numbers have been growing with children and grandchildren of those who arrived from the country’s former colonies in North Africa during the 20th century. Very few Muslims have reached top-level jobs in France, while second-and- third-generation French people of Arab descent say they often face discrimination. 

Faced with rising anti-immigrant sentiment as unemployment surged in the 1980s, governments have sought to curb the influence of religion, banning symbols such as the Muslim scarf from schools and face-covering garments in public spaces. Both measures were passed by UMP governments though they rallied support from other parties. 

The French Muslim council condemned the attack today. 

“In a context of international political tension fueled by bouts of delirium from terrorist groups which wrongly speak in the name of Islam, we are calling on all those who care about the Republic and democracy to avoid provocations that can only pour oil on the fire,” it said in a statement. 

Merkel’s Stance

Most of today’s victims worked in Charlie Hebdo’s newsroom, which has run a series of covers lampooning religious leaders of different faiths. Staff were already under police protection because the offices had been attacked and threatened after publishing a special edition featuring the Prophet Muhammad as a “guest editor” in 2011. 

The attacks will make it politically treacherous for Hollande to match German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s efforts to shield the Muslim community against prejudice, according to Anand Menon, Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at Kings College London. 

“After something like this, I don’t think Hollande could really ‘do a Merkel’ and make a strong stand against Islamophobia,” Menon said. 

Sarkozy’s Opportunity

While Le Pen is poised to benefit from whatever stance the French Socialists adopt, it offers opposition leader Nicolas Sarkozy a chance to appeal to more moderate voters, he said. 

The former president today called on the French not to “fall into the trap of confusing different issues” while urging the government to take strong measures against terrorism. 

“This might give Sarkozy a chance to show that he is the one who can help the center right take on the Front National,” Menon said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Angeline Benoit in Paris at abenoit4@bloomberg.net; Sandrine Rastello in Mumbai at srastello@bloomberg.net; Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jerrold Colten at jcolten@bloomberg.net; Vidya Root at vroot@bloomberg.net; Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net Ben Sills, Alan Crawford