In 2018, against the backdrop of the «yellow vest» protests in France and the participation of some active Muslims in them, we published an optimistic article in support of such Muslim protest activity, titled «Hijab as a Symbol of the Future French Revolution?» (https://golosislama.com/news.php?id=34655). Someone who hasn’t read this article, or who has read it inattentively, might decide, based on its title alone, that the events currently taking place in France confirm its predictions.
But quite the opposite is true — what is happening now in France, which is often associated with the Muslim factor only on ethnic grounds or because of the chanting of takbirs, completely discredits and undermines it politically.
In that article, we wrote about how a young French Muslim woman became a symbol of the struggle for the rights of her peers in the student movement, and was in turn supported by them against attacks because she wears a hijab, which her opponents portrayed as a «threat to the Republic». At the time, we wrote: «…in a new chapter of history, the hijab could indeed become a symbol of the future French revolution, and Muslims — its active participants. If, of course, instead of opposing the French, they do what, as this story has shown, their enemies fear most — actively participate in civic life and struggle alongside them.»
Unfortunately, what we are seeing in France today is precisely an example of the opposition between the Muslim factor and French society, because vandals who destroy public and private property and pose a threat to the lives and safety of ordinary people are often perceived as Muslims. Yes, the reason for all this was the killing of an Arab teenager by policemen who refused to identify themselves. Can this serve as a basis for street protests? Undoubtedly. For attacks on police stations and government offices? That is not ruled out either, and it could be seen as an expression of outrage by those protesting against the entire state system.
But when mobs start vandalizing and setting fire to libraries, bus stops, private and public transportation, looting shops, and attacking passersby, causing harm not to the police or government officials, but to society as a whole, to ordinary people, all this is nothing but vandalism. And when this vandalism is accompanied by the shouting of religious slogans, it becomes vandalism that discredits religion and its representatives.
Of course, this has nothing to do with revolution. The axiom of revolution is that it begins with the emergence of political leadership and demands, and when it takes a violent form, it involves the political administration of that violence. Therefore, when a violent revolution begins, its leadership seeks to exercise control over those who carry out the revolutionary violence and to suppress the anarchic gangs that do not want to comply.
The suppression of marauding by the revolutionary forces is one of the conditions for the success of a revolution, without which it degenerates into chaos and vandalism, completely discrediting the protests and justifying the subsequent dictatorship that may follow as a reaction to them.
In this case, we see only this — there are no political goals, no political leadership, no political management of violence, only chaos and vandalism that turn society against itself. No sane Muslim should be in solidarity with such a «struggle», although it is understandable that the fact that this is happening in France may bring satisfaction to those who, not without reason, consider this state to be Islamophobic. However, if it is destined to be torn apart by internal turmoil due to the legacy of its colonial policy, which continues to this day, it should not be presented as an expression of «political Islam».
There is nothing political or Islamic about it, and it is not advisable to associate with these Muslims.