They suddenly are paying attention

[Ms DD]

French vote: Musilm vote 'could tip the scales'

 

18-04-2007

 

 

Paris, (AKI) - The 1.5 million Muslims eligible to vote in Sunday's presidential election - three percent of the electorate - could make or break contenders in the race, according to a spokesman for France's largest conservative Muslim group, UOIF. And Muslim voters' recollection of candidates' statement or actions that have offended Islam will in large part determine who they back , UOIF's press spokesman, Boukhazar al-Bashir, told Adnkronos International (AKI).

 

Current presidential frontrunner, the rightwing UMP party candidate and former interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy initially gained the confidence of Muslims, declaring that "our Muslim citizens have the same rights enjoyed by others."

 

The French government in which Sarkozy served set up the The French Council for the Muslim Faith (CFCM) to give it a single official interlocutor for France's five million-strong Muslim community and to discourage what France's interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy has called "the Islam of basements and garages".

 

The CFCM has become a recognised public institution, with responsibility for the funding and planning of mosques, allocation of space in cemeteries, and the appointment of clerics in prisons and the armed forces. He also sought to give public funding to mosque building and training of local imams to remove control of these by hardliners.

 

However Sarkozy's popularity with Muslims fell after he made remarks on French television saying: "In France, we don't slaughter sheep in the bathroom sink." More recently his public support for the editor of satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo who Muslim groups failed to sue for publishing cartoon satirising the Prophet Mohammed angered Muslims .

 

"Muslims will not vote for people who have offended them," UOIF president Thami Breze told AKI.

 

France's Socialist party candidate Segolene Royal also riled Muslims when in a television address she likened women wearing the face-veil to victims of rape and domestic violence and declared: "Islam runs contrary to the values of the French Republic and human rights." Since her remarks, made in December - when 55 percent of Muslims said they would vote for her according to an opion poll published around that time - Royal's popularity has dropped.

 

In his address to UOIF's 24th annual meeting last weekend, UOIF vice-president Fuad Alawi urged thousands of Muslims attending the conference not to vote for Sarkozy or Royal or other "extremist candidates." Muslims should however exercise their right to vote, he said.

 

Royal is currently running second in opinion polls, behind Sarkozy and ahead of centrist UDF party candidate and far-right anti-immigrant National Front party candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen. There are a total 12 hopefuls running for president. No candidate is expected to obtain a majority in the first round of voting and Sarkozy and Royal are predicted to vie in a 6 May run-off.

 

Bayrou's religious faith is seen by many Muslims as a "positive factor" and they have "bonded spiritually" with him, believing he may be better able to understand their community's needs. Bayrou did not back the 2003 French law forbidding the veil and othe religious symbols in French schools and public offices, one of Bayrou's advisors, Aziz Sunni, told AKI. Moreover, he is not opposed to Muslim senior schools in France. Sunni said.

 

Disillusionment with Socialist and UMP parties and fear of extremism is driving many Muslims into the arms of the centrist candidate. Although Bayrou does not hide his Catholic faith, he has stressed his respect for all religions. In a recent interview with La Croix newspaper, Bayrou said: "The state must assist in the creation of a French Islam if Muslims request this. If a new family arrives in the village it should not be rejected."

 

French Muslims generally feel frustrated at the failure of French politics - on the right and the left - to deliver on many of its promises. There is still not a single Muslim politician in in the French parliament, athough there are three Muslim senators. This figure is however "inadequate," French Muslim senator Halima Boumedienne, told AKI.

 

Boumedienne appealed to more Muslims to join political parties to "enable them to take part in the country's political life. "The Muslim or the Arab vote doesn't exist in France, but rather that of marginalised people whose rights have been denied," she said.

 

The few Muslims who support Le Pen do so "to express their rejection of the current system," said women's rights activiist Hamida Ben Saida. "Le Pen wants to destroy everything and some back him as an act of revenge against the left and the right - without questioning his racism," she said.

 

National Front vice-president and Euro MP Marine Le Pen told AKI she didn't think her father's campaign needed "dialogue with Muslims." Religion should remain within the private sphere and the state should not interfere in religious matters or fund religious institutions, she said. "The veil is a matter of personal freedom and I do not believe it should be banned in public places."

 

None of the presidential candidates has in their campaign proposed amending France's 1905 legislation separating Church and State, which some have criticised for omitting references to the Muslim faith. Sarkozy has however called for "receptive secularism."

 

http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/news/news.php?article=12622

[BOB]

Salam Aleikum W.W

 

 

Whenever the elections come around they suddenly stop calling us all those degrading and offensive names especially when our vote is considered "Vital" and we're treated as first class citizens when all we ever want is to be given a fair chance just like our fellow countrymen/women but as soon as our ticked paper goes into that ballot box we're back to square one or third class citizens if you will and the next day you find the headlines of the best selling newspaper (owned by Jews obviously) screaming "Terrorists" just because a little girl insisted on wearing her headscarf to school PURELY based on her religious beleifs!

 

Whether we like it or not it's the way its and nothing will ever change as long as our first or last names consist with Muhammad and if I was a French Muslim I would boycott that election altogether after all why would I help another racist and Islamophobic into power only for him to massacre my people.

 

My Sister Cambaro, once again nice topic as always...I enjoyed reading it thoroughly..Thanks for the reminder.

 

 

Salam Aleikum W.W

 

 

Peace, Love & Unity.

[Qandalawi]

^Wa Alaykum Salaam brother BOB, Are you Sheikh by any chance?

 

You on spot, the only way to deal with this kind of systems is to boycot their elections.

[BOB]

No brother I'm not anywhere near a Shiekh but I try to be the best Muslim that i can be just like you and hope and pray that Allah s.w forgives us for all our sins and guides us all through the righteous path Insha Allah.

 

Salam Aleikum W.W

 

 

Peace, Love & Unity.

[Qandalawi]

^Masha'alaah thats good reply, it's just the way you approach discussions, I like it and Aamiin Duaa.