Offensive remarks

French President Emmanuel Macron has drawn condemnation from across the Muslim world for his comments regarding the publication of the blasphemous cartoons. Some of those criticisms were constructive, such as PM Imran Khan’s message that Macron had squandered an opportunity to unite and heal while denying “space to extremists rather than creating further polarisation & marginalisation that inevitably leads to radicalization”. Others were more undiplomatically blunt, such as Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan, who said Macron needs “mental checks”. While we may not support Erdogan’s choice of words, we do understand the sentiment behind them. Macron is free to condemn vigilantism and extremism, but he can’t attack almost two billion people and not expect any fallout. The French have had ample time to walk back the comments. Sadly, the only ‘clarification’ forthcoming has been to criticise Erdogan’s unfortunate choice of words, rather than their own president’s.

People in Muslim countries are already putting their money where their mouth is — boycotts of French food products and commercial goods have begun. Unfortunately, we are unlikely to see governments do the same. This is because France is one of the biggest arms dealers in the world. In 2018, France sold $10 billion worth of weapons, and about half of that was to Muslim countries. About $2.7 billion worth of weapons were sold to Qatar alone, while another billion dollars worth of military hardware went to Saudi Arabia. Egypt, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Indonesia were also among France’s top clients, buying between $324 million and $129 million in weapons. Non-military hardware is also a major French export, and countries could easily stop buying those as well, but it is also unlikely. That is because these products, unlike foodstuff in grocery stores, are largely invisible to the offended masses, and the importers and vendors making millions off their sales know this.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2020.

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