AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Issues related to the hijab, food, and immigration in France are increasingly becoming arenas of dispute over France's national identity, especially as far-right discourse intensifies in the country.
According to a report by Al Jazeera Net, the content published in the newspapers Le Monde and La Croix, alongside the stance of the President of the Grand Mosque of Paris, indicates that this dispute is no longer limited to the issue of immigration, but also encompasses manifestations of daily life such as women's dress and what is placed on French dinner tables.
The Hijab; At the Center of the Secularism Dispute
On the issue of the hijab, the French National Rally party's proposal to ban the hijab in the public spaces of the country's cities has brought French secularism to the center of this confrontation.
Shamseddin Hafiz, the President of the Grand Mosque of Paris, in an op-ed published in Le Monde, opposed this approach and emphasized that Muslims in France are citizens of the Republic, not its guests.
Hafiz believes that secularism should not become a tool for erasing religious beliefs, but should guarantee freedom of conscience and equality among citizens.
The Grand Mosque of Paris and the Historical Narrative of Muslim Presence
To defend his position, Hafiz cites the history of the French Republic and recalls that the establishment of the Islamic institute and the Grand Mosque of Paris was historically linked to honoring Muslim soldiers who fought and died under the French flag.
From this perspective, he believes that recognizing the presence of Muslims and their belonging to France is not necessarily in conflict with secularism, but can be part of republican citizenship.
When Food Becomes a Weapon in the Culture War
On the other hand, food has also become a tool in the dispute over identity.
Investigative reports by Le Monde show that some far-right currents have employed traditional French cuisine in opposition to what they call the attack of multiculturalism.
The newspaper, for example, refers to large banquets held by the "French Law" association. Ceremonies where participants gather around each other and display traditional foods and symbols associated with the French countryside and heritage, an effort to reconstruct the image of authentic France.
From Culinary Heritage to the Us and the Other Confrontation
Le Monde, in a report prepared by Anne Chemin titled "When the French Far Right Flaunts the Specter of Great Replacement in Cuisine," believes that these actions can go beyond celebrating cultural heritage and become an emphasis on isolation and creating a distinction between us and the other.
Le Monde also notes that issues such as halal food, kebabs, religious slaughter, and school meals have in recent years entered what are called culture wars.
Thus, food is no longer merely a matter of taste or social habit, but has become a carrier of political concepts, concepts related to the question of who is considered part of French identity and who is considered a newcomer to this identity.
The Real Faces of the National Rally
This issue is complemented by what the newspaper La Croix raised in an editorial by Thibaut Dormard, the newspaper's deputy editor, titled "The Real Faces of the National Rally."
The newspaper establishes a connection between certain racist or extremist incidents and statements and the National Rally's difficulty in presenting itself as a normal political force fully engaged in French republican life.
According to La Croix, efforts to normalize the party's image do not prevent radical discourse from returning to the scene through some of its members or its body.
Here, the debate about immigration and identity becomes part of a broader political struggle within France.
Can the Far Right Follow Republican Rules?
Dormard concludes his article by asking whether a far-right party can remain committed to the rules.
In response, he writes that regardless of its statements, the National Rally feeds on this type of extremism, an extremism that constantly undermines the mask of respectability.
He provides an example and points to Caroline Parmentier, a representative and close ally of Marine Le Pen, who, according to him, continues to make racist and pro-Russian statements.
Also, Louis Aliot, the Vice President of the French National Rally, recently called on the government to cut off its financial support for Ukraine. A position that, according to the article, is a clear sign of his loyalty to the government of Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia.
The Identity Battle Has Moved from Politics to Daily Life
Ultimately, these materials show that the battle over identity in France has gone beyond direct politics and extended to the body, the dinner table, and public space.
The hijab has become a subject for debate about secularism and the rights of Muslim citizens in France, while food has become a symbol of the struggle over culture, immigration, and multiculturalism in the country.
While France's far-right current defends a more exclusionary interpretation of French identity in the country, Shamseddin Hafiz, from his position as the President of the Grand Mosque of Paris, emphasizes that Muslims are part of the French Republic, not a temporary or alien group to it.
And the fundamental question remains whether France can protect its cultural characteristics without turning religious and cultural differences into a criterion for measuring individuals' belonging to national identity.
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