“French integration does not work, republican assimilation is necessary”. Exclusive interview with Lydia Guirous
Threatened with death on social media for her positions against radical Islam and the defense of republican values, Lydia Guirous, Franco-Algerian writer and essayist, in her latest book, “Assimilation. En finir avec ce tabou français ” ( Éditions de l'Observatoire ) believes that the French republican institutions must be more firm towards communitarianism and political Islam. The solution is what she herself defines as “republican assimilation”, in an exclusive interview with Atlantico Quotidiano .
MARCO CESARIO: In your latest book, “Assimilation. En finir avec ce tabou français ” , you argue that in the face of separatism and communitarianism there must be a stronger political response, a response that you define as“ republican assimilation ”. Can you explain to us what it consists of?
LYDIA GUIROUS: What we need to understand is that the assimilation / integration debate is not just a semantic debate or a dividing wall between conservatives and progressives. Instead, it is an important issue for the stability of our democracies and the durability of the republican model. In France, we don't live side by side, or worse still, against each other, but “with” each other. This desire for unity is the cement of our republican model and, more generally, the philosophical principle that has animated the French nation throughout its history. Well, only a rigorous republican assimilation policy can achieve this goal, that is, a policy of transmission and unconditional adherence to the values of our country, among the youngest or newcomers from immigration. It's simple: a successful integration can be defined as assimilation, a failed integration instead leads to communitarianism. The latter is the worst enemy of democracy and the Republic, particularly due to the relentless proselytizing of political Islam.
MC: In a column, on the one hand you criticized the "identity" left because it introduced a new concept, the "racialisme" in French society, on the other hand you also criticized the RN ( Rassemblement National ) for having strengthened communitarianism for electoral reasons.
LG: As regards my criticisms of the "identity" left, it is true that today a part of the left feeds on typically Anglo-Saxon thought movements, which are the opposite of our republican model and our humanist values, because in essence, these movements are deeply racist. This "identity" left, against which it is necessary to rise up, for example, organizes "non-mixed" meetings closing them to whites, it is as if it wanted to seek a new proletariat through minorities, even if this means leading to racism or what is called Islamic -gauchisme , that is a form of tacit complicity of a part of the left with political Islam. As for the RN (Marine Le Pen's party, ed ), that's not exactly what I'm saying. I say that the RN's best ally is on the one hand the rise of Islamism and on the other the cowardice of deputies and parliamentarians in the face of the proselytism of political Islam, especially on the issue of the veil. They preferred to close their eyes, which naturally divided society and offered an exceptional viaticum to the RN.
MC: Why do you think “French integration” didn't work?
LG: For two reasons: the post-colonial sense of guilt and the lack of courage. France has gradually allowed itself to be locked up for 50 years, under pressure from the left in particular, in an incredible guilt complex. It was necessary at all costs to welcome, to extend family reunification indefinitely, to obtain the media paradise of the right-thinking … even if this meant parking people who were already poor in miserable ghettos in the cities. What matters, the important thing was to have the thrill of a pseudo-humanism and the feeling of being on the side of the good. We welcome them, but we put them in ghettos far from us … all this was deplorable whatever the angle of analysis but for electoral patronage everything was allowed.
MC: You became a target for Islamists after the publication of your book “Allah est grand, la République aussi” and received death threats. Is there still hope in the civil battle for the defense of secularism?
LG: I am often threatened with death, both on social networks, and at the exit of meetings or sometimes even on the street in Paris, in any neighborhood they are in danger. Sometimes, in the face of such threats, I even get justice in court. But all this does not scare me at all, I feel at war against Islam and in defense of the values of the Republic. In the face of political Islam, we must not be afraid, we must never lower our heads.
MC: Hundreds of French women and children evacuated from the Islamic State are still in the custody of Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria. As an expert on radical Islam, how do you think these families of French nationality should be treated?
LG: With discernment both for children and for underage women in custody at the time of their departure. For the rest of the people, however, it takes the utmost firmness. These families went to jihad to kill us and our values. They would have slaughtered us if they had the chance. We must therefore have no mercy and no facade do-gooders.
MC: The philosopher Elisabeth Badinter cited her among the bravest women of Muslim culture who resist Islamist propaganda. In his book "Ça n'a rien à voir avec Islam!" she harshly criticizes those who trivialize the influence of the Koran on the terrorist acts that have bloodied Europe and France. Do you think Islam is compatible with democracy and the values of the Republic and if so, what should be reformed in your opinion?
LG: Islam is undoubtedly compatible with the values of the Republic, Islamism is not. But Islam, as a religion, will remain compatible with the Republic only if it remains in its place, that is, in the private sphere and without the slightest proselytism and political will and indeed this requires a rewriting and modernization of certain passages of the Koran, which in one radical reading only gives support to the fanatics of Islam, who should instead be neutralized.
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This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/lintegrazione-alla-francese-non-funziona-necessaria-lassimilazione-repubblicana-intervista-esclusiva-a-lydia-guirous/ on Tue, 20 Apr 2021 03:58:00 +0000.