French anti-racist groups dispute whether Islamophobia deserves recognition as racism

Evidence

Thus, while antisemitism and Islamophobia have both been realities in modern France, so have struggles against them. Moreover, those struggles do not have to be considered as zero-sum games. Rather, at their best, they have gone together. Broadly this study supports Hargreaves’ contention that, recent narrow factionalism notwithstanding, ethnic separatism is weak in France. A strong universalist thread runs through the histories of many of the movements considered here. In particular, there is a strong emphasis within many of these histories on altruism, rather than self-­interested identity politics. While it is easy to criticise this universalist approach as paternalistic and, as we have seen, often open to political manipulation, we might also ask: Is there not something admirable in its refusal to see the world in ethnic categories? What, in short, is wrong with altruism? — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 1400 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: French anti-racist activism linked antisemitism to Islamophobia beneath surface divisions; French antisemitism and Islamophobia share a longer tradition of xenophobia aimed at multiple groups — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in…, 1334; Anti-Muslim bias in France stems more from felt threat than from beliefs — Erik Bleich, Defining and Researching Islamophobia, 65 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• French antiracist struggles against antisemitism and Islamophobia have often advanced together, not as rivals. #complicates (0.78) — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 1400
• Apparent ethnic splits in French antiracism are really organizational competition #complicates (0.73)