This is a conversation with Rim-Sarah Alouane. She’s a French legal academic, commentator, and PhD candidate in law researching religious freedom, human rights, and civil liberties in France, Europe & North America.

We spoke about a recent piece she wrote entitled ‘A Spectre in France’s Public Debate: Islamo-Leftism‘ for Reset Dialogues.

Topics Discussed

• What the fuck is ‘Islamo-leftism’
• How fringe conspiracy theories are being mainstreamed in France
• The role of anti-American sentiments in propagating these phenomena
• Understanding the specificity of French laicité/secularism
• The youth being more comfortable with multi-culturalism, which is provoking a conservative backlash
• The slippery slope of what’s being normalized (including security laws)
• The links between antisemitism and islamophobia, in terms of political rhetoric especially
• The legacy of colonial thinking
• The personal cost of rising authoritarianism in France

Recommended Books

• Islam, Secularism, and Liberal Democracy: Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies by Nader Hashemi
• Illégitimes by Nesrine Slaoui
• Les Incasables by Rachid Zerrouki

Episodes mentioned:

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Music by Tarabeat.