Collective identity and social cohesion are hot political topics; in France, the attacks in Paris on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket this January have reignited discussion on these questions. Ten years after violent unrest erupted in French suburbs, public attention is once more focused on French integration policy, on the resilience of the much invoked “republican model,” and on the place of Islam in France. As a result, many politicians and intellectuals are invoking such old republican chestnuts as the principle of laïcité – the French term for state secularism, or the separation of church and state. But even if many of the answers are not new, the January attacks have led to an increased collective awareness and to profound reflection.
In the months after millions of citizens responded to the attacks by taking part in the “march against terror” on January 11, 2015, numerous experts, politicians, and representatives of civil society have been involved in a debate in France that is as lively as it is controversial. Topics under discussion include the danger that young Muslim men and women are being radicalized, the fight against discrimination of all kinds, and the need for new forms of social participation. The outcome of the debate is open; it is possible that it will be rejected, but in “giving release to the unspoken,”it also opens up the opportunity for a more honest and more topical definition of community life in France.
This analysis examines the three fundamental questions that have shaped discussion since the attacks: What makes France French – and does French national identity have a future? What can and should be the role of religion in French society? And does France need new rules for a peaceful community life?
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