News Analysis: Council of Europe must act so that definition of Islamophobia can be found

"The fight against Islamophobia which is ravaging Europe necessarily must pass by way of a legal definition and the creation of a legal arsenal at the European scale," pleaded Wednesday, in Strasbourg, at the Council of Europe (CoE), the association Organization Racism Islamophobia Watch (ORIW), raising an issue that stirs up polemics among the political ranks as much as within activist associations.

"It is all of our responsibilities, regardless of our beliefs, to fight against a phenomenon which undermines togetherness and saps social cohesion. The CoE, the European Parliament (EP), the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) all have a crucial role to play in order to contribute to a legal definition of Islamophobia. It is an essential condition for the struggle to bear fruit," affirmed islamologist Yanis Mahil during an event organized alongside the summer plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

There is strong consensus in regards to the gravity and the steep increase of anti-Muslim acts, especially since the deadly attacks in Paris that occurred in January of this year.

In the two weeks that followed, France saw as many anti-Muslim acts as during the entire year of 2014, at an increase of 70 percent. Between Jan. 7 and 19, the Interior Ministry counted 116 such acts. For the first time, these figures surpass those of Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), which is often accused of alarmism.

The necessity of a definition of Islamophobia, however, is far from being unanimously supported. Even the usage of the term is disputed. Particularly in France.

"The militant anti-racist of yesterday is in the process of transforming into a hyper specialized shopkeeper. To fight against racism, it is to fight against all racisms; to fight against Islamophobia is to fight against what?" wrote the illustrator Charb, killed during the Jan. 7 attack in his posthumous letter, "To the swindlers of Islamophobia who play the racist game."

A "pseudo-argument," retorts Yanis Mahil who denounces an "ideological agenda."

"Certain people have gone to the point of supporting the idea that the term was invented by the Iranian mullahs in 1979 even though it doesn't exist in either Persian or Arabic, and even though we find it used by French authors since the end of the 19th century," affirmed the islamologist.

"In order to count islamophobic acts, it is clear that it would need to be defined," he argued.

The word "Islamophobia" made its entry into the most recent edition of the French dictionary Le Robert which defined it as a "particular form of racism directed against Islam and Muslims." Its usage since, however, doesn't create any fewer divisions, even at the highest levels of state.

"France fights in an implacable manner against racism, against anti-Semitism, against Islamophobia," declared French President Francois Hollande on Jan. 16.

Beyond the semantic quarrel is hidden a lack of courage from public authorities, affirmed Yanis Mahil, who cites sociologist Abdellali Hajjat, author of a work on Islamophobia published in 2013: "It's usage is revealing of the will, or not, to recognize the existence of racist acts and discourses founded on a supposed affiliation with the Muslim religion."

"Islamophobia has several faces and several forms. It is a group of prejudices, of fears and hatreds against Muslims which translate themselves into acts of violence, discriminations and stigmatizations due to their affiliation real or supposed with Islam," maintains the islamologist.

"Islamophobia is different from a simple anti-religious or anti-immigrant sentiment," interjected the coordinator of the ORIW association which has been working since 2013 for recognition of the term.

"The French Consulting Commission on Human Rights validated the term in 2014. A clear definition at an international level would undeniably allow things to move forward. Recognition by the Council of Europe would help enormously," she added.

It is difficult, however, to study the question of Islamophobia without also taking into consideration the radicalization of young Europeans with Arab-Muslim origins, two phenomena which seem to feed each other. Professor Tahir Abbas, from the Sociology Department of Fatih University of Istanbul, brought it up Tuesday, during a meeting of the Parliamentary Alliance Against Hate, jointly organized by the PACE Committee of Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development.

"In Western Europe, parallel to the resurgence of Islamophobia, radicalization of youth is developing in an alarming manner. They are more and more numerous, those who come from France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands to fight for the Islamic State," said Abbas.

According to the professor, there are multiple causes: "the social and economic transformations linked to globalization, problems of education, employment, and the lack of a future for youth, the system created by the politicians which make it that Muslims are perceived as potential terrorists ..."

To remedy it, Bernard De Vos, general delegate for children's rights for the Wallonia Federation, made recommendations to the Parliamentary Alliance Against Hate launched in January.

"It is necessary, at any cost, to end the confusion between Islam, terrorism and salafism. It is necessary to fight with force against educational segregation: ethnic schools are a veritable bomb for our societies. It is necessary to revalidate the notion of community that is not communitarianism," he affirmed. Endit