Why French Muslims Muted Their Cartoon Protests

Evening prayers are coming to an end in the former car repair shop that houses the green-walled, low-ceilinged Tawba mosque in the Paris suburb of Pre-Saint-Gervais. But not everyone is going home. A group of young men gather in an adjacent room to discuss reaction to the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad published by newspapers across Europe this month, including two in France. But the talk here is not of revenge. Instead, bearded faces smile, and talk is cordial as M'hammed Henniche discusses the march the group headed in central Paris over the weekend, which drew more than 7,000 people of varying faiths behind the slogan "Respect for Religions In the Name of Free Speech." Despite the considerable tensions raised in France by the cartoons, the demonstration attracted a larger than expected crowd with calls to "come in large numbers and with your families," to carry the flag of France, and to "offer a good image of French Muslims."

Can this civic message really be the dominant tone in the region north of Paris that saw some of the worst suburban rioting last November?

Absolutely, Henniche responds, noting his Union of Muslim Associations (UAM 93) worked hard to keep last Saturday's protest focused on decrying the insult the caricatures represented for Muslims — not providing an excuse for youngsters looking for more opportunities to battle cops. "These flag-waving families of Muslims proud to be French is exactly the kind of crowd trouble-makers want to avoid," says Henniche, the 37-year-old secretary general of the UAM 93, which represents 23 mosques and organizations in the Seine-Saint-Denis department. UAM 93 member Samir Djedjek warns against confusing the November riots with French Muslim reaction to the cartoons. "The rioting was about economic and social injustice," Samir notes. "This is about respecting people and their beliefs — in this case Muslims. And I think the calm and reflection in which the Muslim community responded and even protested was a nice surprise to a lot of people who've come to equate us with the same people who were rioting in November. I think they've suddenly realized we're a far more responsible and mature community than they reckoned."

The violent outcry in the Middle East over the caricatures contrasts dramatically with the subdued reaction by Muslim communities in the very European countries where they were published. And the composure of French Muslims is a measure of efforts by groups like UAM 93, says Henniche. "We encourage Muslims to start identifying themselves and acting as French citizens and voters who happen to be Muslim," he says, "not exclusively [as] Muslims, as has been the case before." More productive than rage, Henniche remarks, were the legal actions, editorials, petitions and peaceful demonstrations organized by groups such as UAM 93. "We're French; we have rights and freedoms to exercise as citizens when we feel our rights and freedoms as Muslims are at risk," Henniche says. One result of that effort: non-Muslims and French politicians joining the UAM 93 march. Just days before, President Jacques Chirac decried "obviously provocative" forms of free speech for "dangerously fanning passions" and being offensive "in particular to religious convictions." A French poll last week, meanwhile, found that 54% believe the papers were wrong to print the caricature, and 72% saying they understood the indignation they prompted among Muslims.

Still, some argue that the repeated publication of the caricatures reflects an attitude present in many European societies that views Islam as a foreign, potentially sinister force, and regards even European-born Muslims with disdain. "Beyond the strictly religious affront, Muslims responded to the repeated publication of these drawings thinking, 'Okay, here we go again — let's bait the Arab,'" charges Said Branine, editor of Oumma.com, a clearinghouse of French-language news and opinion on Islamic topics. Email response from Oumma.com's 12 million monthly visitors and 540,000 newsletter subscribers, Brannine reports, overwhelmingly interpreted the publication of the cartoons as "racist in its inspiration, using Islamophobia as a vehicle." Henniche agrees, and says while "while two, and only two, of the 12 caricatures shocked us," they hurt most in "associating all of Islam and all Muslims, via the Prophet, to terrorism." The implication of the cartoons, Branine says, was that "devout or not, Muslims are dangerous not to be trusted." If so, Muslim reaction in France and across Europe may have proved that notion mercifully wrong.