TEHRAN – A series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November has rattled the French society.

So far, most Attackers have been identified as young French people of Arab origin.
Some analysts say France has failed to embrace the Muslim community whose number is about five million. They note this socio-economically ostracized population is prone to extremism.

Nader Entessar, a professor of South Alabama University, is of the opinion that “the prominence of laicite in French political culture has always been a major obstacle to the integration of Muslim communities in French society.”

“One should not underestimate the importance of laicite and France’s hostility to those citizens and permanent residents who do not fully embrace it,” Entessar says in an interview with the Tehran Times.

Following is the text of the interview:

Q: Why Muslims in the French society are socio-politically more prone to extremism?

A: France has one of the largest Muslim diaspora communities in the Western world.  The Algerian community in France numbers some 5 million, and many of them live in the slums of Saint-Denis and other Algerian slums around Paris.  There is no other European country that has such a large marginalized Muslim community.  The sheer size of the sociopolitically ostracized and economically marginalized Muslims in France places that country in a league by itself.

Q: Why religious minorities in a society like France’s do not integrate into the dominant culture? Don’t you think that this is one of the reasons behind terrorist attacks in Paris?

A: The prominence of laicite in French political culture has always been a major obstacle to the integration of Muslim communities in French society.  One should not underestimate the importance of laicite and France’s hostility to those citizens and permanent residents who do not fully embrace it.  

Q: Some believe that religious and ethnic minorities do not easily get integrated into a society like that of France because the nature of French democracy which is rigidly secular in contrast to American democracy which does not sideline minorities. What is your view?

A: Unlike France, religion plays an important role in American political culture, and the issue of religious liberty is not only valued in American sociocultural discourse but is is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  In France, on the other hand, everybody is forced to accept the concept of laicite in totality or become marginalized.  Also, because the United States has been a nation of immigrants, it is easier for ethnic and religious minorities to become accepted as full members of the society than is the case in Europe.

Q: Comparatively, the Socialists in France have been more open to minorities but do not you think that the people would turn to the right-wing parties who are less receptive to migrants?

A: Every time there is a terrorist action in Europe, it gives the right-wing anti-immigrant parties a platform to recruit more supporters to their cause.  We have seen this trend in France, the Netherlands, and the other parts of Europe.  

Q: Isn’t there a fear of more extremism in France if rightists take the power in France?

A: Right-wing parties appeal to the fear of the unknown.  In times of crisis, they provide simplistic answers to complex problems and promise law and order as well as security to their people.  We have seen this trend throughout the 20th century in Europe, and we are witnessing it again now.

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“In times of crisis, they (right-wing parties) provide simplistic answers to complex problems and promise law and order as well as security to their people,” Nader Entessar says