French establishment shifted from denouncing to embracing the Muhammad cartoons by 2020

Evidence

The anti-Muslim virus that had torn up the streets of Bondy years earlier spread through France’s sickened political body and popular discourse. Early on, leaders along every plot of the ideological spectrum dubbed the hijab a “marker of difference” and an “affront to civilization,” sound bytes that infected the political discourse and invited bigoted extremists into French corridors of power. Fringe populist political parties were now front and center, and the explicit Islamophobic rhetoric that once conflicted with French political sensibilities was now mainstream. — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 708 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The French concept of laïcité is a strict form of hyper-secularism which is designed to keep religion completely out of public life. This principle has been more or less entrenched within French culture from around 1905 to the present. Historically, it is generally agreed that it was adopted to quell the influence of the Roman Catholic Church over a century ago. However, today the religious lines are beginning to become blurred in regards to this concept. I believe that laïcité remains, but that its focus has shifted almost exclusively to Muslim identity in France, pure and simple. — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 496 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Islamophobic rhetoric moved from fringe into mainstream French politics — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 708; French mainstream parties mainstreamed fringe Islamophobic rhetoric about the hijab; France’s laïcité secularism now targets Muslim identity almost exclusively — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 496

Broader Connections

• Islamophobic rhetoric moved from fringe into mainstream French politics #corroborates (0.80) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 708
• French mainstream parties mainstreamed fringe Islamophobic rhetoric about the hijab #expands (0.78)
• France’s laïcité secularism now targets Muslim identity almost exclusively #corroborates (0.72) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 496