Posted on 05/08/2006 7:41:05 PM PDT by ncountylee
Bourget, 8 May (AKI) - Ahead of the French parliament's Tuesday vote on an immigration bill that will make it harder for foreigners to work in France, the Union of Islamic Organisations in France (UOIF) vice-president, Fouad Alaoui, has slammed the legislation, claiming it targets "Muslims in general," rather than extremists. "Right up until the 2007 presidential election, things are just going to get worse for Muslims," Alauoi said, quoted by French daily Le Monde. He was attending UOIF's annual meeting.
UOIF's leadership contends that after creating the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) - of which UOIF is one of the largest member organisations - as an official interlocutor for the government on Muslim issues, Sarkozy has turned his back on the body. "On the basis of studies it has carried out, the interior ministry is convinced there is no Muslim vote [for Sarkozy's ruling centre-right UMP party]... and so the stakes are non-existent," said Alaoui.
"This is why Sarkozy is asking us to accept the publication of cartoons satirising the Prophet Mohammed, to pose bare-headed for photos for our identity cards and for a husband to allow his wife to be examined by a male doctor," Alaoui continued, emphasising that UOIF rejects all three demands.
No French party currently represents French Muslims, the UOIF leadership said. "There have already been some important developments over the past ten years, " said UOIF president, Laj Thami Breze, who urged Muslims to "adapt their practices, to take more responsibility, and play the victim less, to avoid clashes with French society." UOIF, which groups some 300 organisations, is considered to present a progressive view of French Islam; some of its members are close to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
Sarkozy's controversial blueprint for what he has termed "selected immigration" aims to attract skilled newcomers while keeping poorer ones and their families out. The bill has drawn criticsm from left-wing parties and religious leaders. It has also prompted France's far right - whose leader, Jean Marie Le Pen, last week announced he will in 2007 run against Sarkozy for the French presidency - to step up its stridently anti-immigrant line.
MPs have filed more than 400 amendments to the bill, which also makes it harder for immigrants to bring their families to France and ends their automatic right to a long-term residence permit after ten years. Most of France's five million Muslims are immigrants from North Africa or their descendants.
The anti illegal immigration movement is a growing worldwide phenomenon and it's about time.
The cardinal difference is that France is actually doing something about it.
America is doing absolutely nothing.
UNDERSTAND THIS GW? Hell no!!! It's a religion of peace.
Listen up Frogs, the boss is speakin'.
Like the lefties they are, they will probably listen to these groups...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.