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February 6, 2012 (Alarabiya)
French Interior Minister, Claude Guéant, has revived the controversy surrounding the clash of civilizations and anti-Islamism by stating that “all cultures are not of equal value” under his ruling party’s republican principles.
Guéant, who is a member of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement, told a symposium organized by a right-leaning student group at the National Assembly on Saturday that “contrary to what the left’s relativist ideology says, for us, all civilizations are not of equal value.”
He criticized the French Socialist Party for not having voted for a legislation that banned the Muslim face veil.
“The majority voted to ban the full veil and the Socialist Party did not vote,” the French daily Le Monde quoted him as saying.
“Another example is street prayer. I heard a very important socialist leader saying that this didn’t bother anyone, but it does bother a lot of the French, it bothers a particular principle of secularism. And we banned prayer in the street [and this is] an expression of civilization,” Guéant said.
“In regard to the values held by France and I believe by all republican parties in France, there are civilizations that we prefer.”
In an attack on the socialist party, which has nominated François Hollande as its candidate for the 2012 presidential elections, Guéant said: “Does the Socialist Party find a civilization that enslaves woman, violates personal and political freedoms, and allows tyranny a civilization that has the same value as ours?”
“Those who defend liberty, equality and fraternity, seem to us superior to those who accept tyranny, the subservience of women, social and ethnic hatred,” Guéant added, according to French media.
While Guéant’s statements appear to be mere political rhetoric meant to attract far right voters, they are likely to instigate the anger of the French Muslim population, estimated at more than five million.
As the head of the French far right Front National party, Marine Le Pen, has struggled to obtain the 500 signatures required to run for presidency, Guéant and his ruling party are trying to tap into her camp.
