Racial Capitalism and the Campaign Against “Islamo-Gauchisme” in France, by Muriam Haleh Davis – 14 August 2018

From Jadaliyya

Over the last few decades a new term has emerged in France to indicate a form of dangerous leftist politics: (roughly–and awkwardly–translated as “Islamic-Leftism”). The term is not limited to those who identify with Muslim beliefs or practices. Rather, the accusation can be wielded against those who seemed a bit too eager to defend the right to wear the veil in public spaces, were sympathetic to complaints of Islamophobia, or not quite ready to embrace the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie. The phrase thus describes a “sphere” of influence that includes institutions, intellectuals, publishing houses (notably La Fabrique), and musicians (see figure 1). The right-leaning paper Le Figaro has thus described an “Islamosphere” (see figure 2), thereby reproducing an unsettling image reminiscent of the specter of a global Jewish conspiracy that once incited the myth of “Judeo-Bolshevism.” The term combines two historical enemies of the Fifth Republic, killing two ideological birds with one hyphenated stone.

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Muriam Haleh Davis is an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she directs the Center for the Middle East and North Africa.

Racial Capitalism and the Campaign Against “Islamo-Gauchisme” in France, by Muriam Haleh Davis – 14 August 2018

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