Celebrating Muslims’ contributions to the French culture, a new campaign has been launched following Paris Attacks to correct the image of the religious minority in the European country.
“I felt that our very existence [as Muslims in France] will be put into question," Laila Fathi, who is currently a Phd student in Law at SOAS university in London.
Facing fierce backlash over the past weeks, Fathi is one of millions of French Muslims who found it imperative to apologize for Paris attacks that were committed in the name of their faith.
Aiming to defend their faith, Fathi along with other Muslims from different professions launched an online campaign that aims to highlight the contributions of Muslims in the French culture.
Called #JeSuisNous, which translates as “I am we”, the campaign aims to boost the peaceful cohesion and promote diversity in France.
The objectives of the campaign are: “Valorize actions of Muslims citizens...[by talking] about our individual stories...and promoting French Muslims contributions to [French] community, culture, art…," #JesuisNous’s project manager, Suhail Najmi, who’s also a journalist for the niche Muslim channel Oumma TV, said.
Besides launching a Facebook page, a monthly YouTube channel was also dedicated to the campaign which aims to develop a digital platform “working towards enriching the influence of the Muslim community...but it is also about the community without the ‘communautarism” exclaims Fathi.
“So basically, creating events by which Muslims will feel more confident in their French identity...bridging between the different actors of French civil society.”
The choice of the campaign name, whose page got more than 2000 likes on Facebook so far, is "sophisticated", according to Fathi.
“It is a shout, that means to overcome the divide #JeSuisCharlie created. It brings together those who were appalled by the attack against the magazine," she said.
But moreover, “it is an assertion of a French identity that does not tick one box...it is a plurality all conjoined by the belief in values of liberty equality and fraternity. Values that have lost their meaning in the past ten years.”
France is home to a Muslim community of nearly six million, the largest in Europe.
