Tariq Ramadan Press Release, March 30th

Reply to Cabinet Ministers Alain Juppé and Claude Guéant
The French Foreign and Interior Ministers have just announced their decision to ban four leading Muslim religious figures, Akrima Sabri, Ayed Bin Abdallah al-Qarni, Safwat al-Hijazi and Abdallah Basfar, from entering France, shortly after a similar ban on Mr. Yousef al-Qaradawi and Mr. Ahmed al-Masri.

The decisions make up in symbolism what they lack in logic or coherence. In its apparent show of resolve, the French government has committed two critical errors. First, it has credited the tendentious linkage between world-renowned Islamic scholars and the violent and extremist actions of the tiny groups that those very scholars have condemned. One of those barred from France is one of the world’s most celebrated reciters of the Qur’an, a man who has consistently refused to engage in politics. Second, the resulting confusion plays directly into the populist hands of the National Front (FN) and a section of the UMP, France’s majority party (not to mention the Socialist Party). Not only does the ministerial decision stoke the fires of populism; it normalizes the toxic atmosphere that shrouds French public life, where it is better not to be a Muslim, or even an Arab “who looks like a Muslim.” (to quote the President Sarkozy)

The two ministers go on to regret my presence in France, arguing that I propound values contrary to those of the Republic. Not only would I like to know exactly when I have expressed anti-Republican views, I wish to challenge Mr. Juppé and Mr. Guéant’s loyalty to the principles of the Republic they claim to protect. Does the spirit of the Enlightenment, and that of the Republic, not protect free and critical speech? Does it not stand for the equality and respect for the dignity of all citizens? Why then, Mr. Juppé, did you travel to Israel but not to Morocco to attend the funerals of your fellow citizens murdered in Montauban and Toulouse? In the name of what version of republican equality? And you, Mr. Guéant, would you please explain why your intelligence services systematically attempt to forbid me from speaking in the “homeland of human rights.” The pressure exerted by your agents on municipal officials and the proprietors of public venues has become a ritual as familiar as it is effective—up to and including your attempts to block me from speaking on Saturday, March 31, at Bagnolet.

These are petty political maneuvers unworthy of the French Republic. Now, with the presidential election only weeks away, we are witnessing a downward spiral of threat and fear mongering of the very kind the Interior Minister has practiced over the last months. Were Mr. Sarkozy to win reelection by playing so crudely to the National Front’s electoral base, his victory would be stained by a verbal outrage as shameful as it is shocking.

After the shootings of Montauban and Toulouse, France’s political class appealed for dignity. Now there are rumors of a third man; we can only hope that further tragedy is not added to the horrors of recent weeks. In this tense atmosphere, it would be more appropriate if politicians demonstrated their dignity not only in mourning, but also in the course of the presidential campaign. Yes, their future is at stake; but it would be better for them to keep their political egos under control and to think of the future of France’s pluralistic society, which is in sore need of everything but wild gesticulation and demeaning political declarations.

I abhor the rush to the bottom; each day, I strive to maintain a dignified and constructive position, even while being critical. For twenty-five years now, I have called upon French Muslims to love and to serve France, even though the behavior and speech of certain intellectuals and politicians is enough to make anyone loose heart.

As citizens, we must stand firm in the face of the politicians who invoke republican ideals the better to betray them.
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