The tenth anniversary of the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo has reopened old political wounds. The intense debates that marked the aftermath of the massacre on the Left have resurfaced with renewed vigour amidst the unanimous tributes to the victims. On one side are those staunchly loyal to the “spirit of Charlie”, who self-identify as the “secularist movement” and advocate a “militant secularism” they believe is necessary to counter the threat posed by radical Islam.
On the other side is the French Left, initially represented by the radical-left La France Insoumise (LFI) but no longer exclusively, which defends freedom of expression while criticising the editorial direction the satirical Charlie Hebdo has taken in recent years. This faction opposed the 2021 'law on separatism' and warns against the misuse of secularism to discriminate against Muslims. While this group condemns widespread Islamophobia, the other - represented in the past by politician Manuel Valls in particular - categorically refuses to use the term and denies the phenomenon it describes.
Valls's recent return to government – he was prime minister under socialist president François Hollande and is now minister for overseas territories under Emmanuel Macron - has given him a chance to revive accusations of “Islamo-Leftism” against parts of the Left. In doing so he has relied on a poll whose interpretation has been misrepresented (see box below). Back in 2017, as a Macron-supporting MP, Manuel Valls was already talking about a so-called “Islamo-Leftist drift”, criticising groups such as LFI, the Bondy Blog, Les Inrockuptibles magazine and even Edwy Plenel, then the publishing editor of Mediapart, whose editors he wanted to “pay for it”.
Enlargement : Illustration 1
Ten years on, the lines have shifted, and the attacks have broadened against the Left, and now extend to the Socialist Party (PS), whose supposed “drift” on the issue of secularism Manuel Valls has attacked. “There are many accomplices, useful idiots, employing the infamous 'yes, but': [...] a section of the Left, the press, intellectuals, those who do not support Boualem Sansal [editor's note, a writer imprisoned in Algeria], those who target Sophia Aram [editor's note, a resident comedian on France Inter public radio station], those who consider that fighting Islamism and radical Islam equates to being 'Islamophobic',” he said on January 7th.
Extending secularism
Following his lead, criticism no longer focuses solely on Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who reposted on his blog his tribute to murdered Charlie editor Stéphane Charbonnier or 'Charb'. “Charlie will live on; laicity that is mocked and secularists who are ridiculed have been vindicated by what happened to Charb,” the LFI founder wrote, seemingly denying the U-turn for which he is often criticised.
Instead, criticism from secularists also now targets Green politicians and the Socialist Party's first secretary, Olivier Faure. “Many people within the PS and the Greens are now lumped into the same category as LFI by these secularists, who keep claiming the Left has betrayed laicity,” observes Nicolas Cadène, former rapporteur of the secular monitoring body the Observatoire de la Laïcité (ODL) and a Green candidate at the last parliamentary elections, who was himself long the subject of attacks by self-proclaimed “secular militants”.
During the recent holiday period, Olivier Faure incurred the wrath of the ecosystem that is close to Printemps Républicain – a secular movement created in 2016 by two former allies of Manuel Valls, Gilles Clavreul and the late Laurent Bouvet – for daring to criticise essayist Caroline Fourest and radio comedian Sophia Aram. Both had referred to the LFI Member of Parliament Aymeric Caron as “Abou Aymeric el Versailly”, a label that Olivier Faure denounced at the time as “bordering on racism”. The humorist had mockingly given Caron this jihadist-style name after the latter's outspoken criticism of the “genocidal” Israeli government.
This intervention by Faure prompted a storm of criticism, first from contributors to the publication Franc-Tireur, edited by Caroline Fourest. “That a far-left crowd, Soral-esque and Dieudonné-fied [editor's note a reference to Alain Soral, the anti-Semitic publisher, and the comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala] to the core, should set about lynching a comedian days before the tenth anniversary of the attack on Charlie Hebdo, is predictable, almost expected. But for the Socialist Party, through its pathetic first secretary, to follow in the footsteps of these trash will leave (yet another) indelible stain,” reacted columnist Raphaël Enthoven on X (formerly Twitter).
The spirit of Charlie is about freedom of expression, but also the freedom to criticise.
But Olivier Faure has also faced some internal dissent, which is probably not unrelated to the upcoming PS congress later this year. Aurélien Rousseau, an MP from the political group 'Place publique' (which is affiliated with the PS), socialist MP Jérôme Guedj, the mayor of southern city Montpellier Michaël Delafosse, and the president of the Occitanie region Carole Delga have all expressed their support for Sophia Aram in recent days, using language similar to that of the secular ecosystem that thrives primarily on social media.
“I spoke out because it's unacceptable to dismiss comments about Gaza without proper arguments,” Olivier Faure explained when contacted by Mediapart. “This is very important to me, as what is at stake now is the de-legitimisation of international law, which is increasingly perceived as selectively applied, according to Western interests. Equating all those who are outraged with jihadists is a way of closing down the debate.”
“I found it crazy that Olivier Faure was targeted for saying that,” responded Manuel Bompard, national coordinator for La France Insoumise. “There’s a small core of propagandists from Printemps Républicain, increasingly close to the far-right, who attack anyone who does not follow their ideas to the letter. The spirit of Charlie is about freedom of expression but also the freedom to criticise.”
Pressure on the PS
One of those supporters of Sophia Aram, Carole Delga, has launched a major campaign entitled 'Charlie pour la vie' ('Charlie for life') as part of the commemorations, featuring a programme of conferences, gatherings and screenings around her regional headquarters. These are being attended by Étienne Gernelle, editorial director of the weekly news magazine Le Point, and former Le Monde cartoonist Xavier Gorce. “It’s more an act of conviction than internal opposition within the party,” explain Delga's team, though they acknowledge that “on several occasions [she] has criticised the PS leadership for not addressing certain excesses [from LFI]”.
This initiative by the president of the Occitanie region coincides with efforts by proponents of a maximalist interpretation of secularism to steer the PS back to the “righteous path”. These factions advocate a complete break with LFI, accusing the latter of a “shift towards communitarianism” following its participation in the march against Islamophobia in November 2019, just weeks after a mosque was attacked at Bayonne in the south-west of the country.
Bernard Cazeneuve, one of François Hollande's former prime ministers who is most favourably viewed by the Right, added to this critique in a recent interview. “A segment of the far-left cynically sees Muslims as an electoral clientele to be courted, not as full-fledged citizens,” he claimed. Meanwhile Caroline Fourest wrote in Franc-Tireur: “It isn't Valls who betrayed social democracy, but Olivier Faure. He's the one who made a pact with the LFI devil, the one who compromised every principle for a few seats and a meagre benefit.”
Yet secularism is no longer a particularly divisive issue within the PS itself, where the secularists have become a minority, though Olivier Faure maintains his stance as a “deeply committed secularist”. Following the terrorist assassination of schoolteacher Samuel Paty in 2020, the first secretary, who has also refused to use the term Islamophobia, was highly critical of a Left that “sometimes lost its way in communitarian, indigenist, or decolonial thinking”. Meanwhile Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, mayor of Rouen in northern France and deputy first secretary of the PS, and who opposed Olivier Faure at the last party congress, said: “The socialists are clear on laicity.”
“If there's one party that has been clear from the very beginning [editor's note, after the 2015 attacks], it’s been the PS,” echoed PS MP Laurent Baumel. “But there's an obsessive mindset: there are people, some of whom I respect and who were or are friends, who are so obsessed by this issue that if you're not constantly condemning those who are on the 'wrong track' morning, noon, and night, then you yourself are seen as complicit.”
The denial of Islamophobia is very much a minority position on the Left. From this perspective, Printemps Républicain has lost its hold.
When Aurélien Bellanger’s book 'Les Derniers Jours du Parti socialiste' ('The Last Days of the Socialist Party') was published by Seuil in 2024, detailing the influence of Printemps Républicain within the PS, Olivier Faure defended his position on a Mediapart broadcast. He claimed to have found the right balance on the issue and to have left the Valls approach behind. “The theses [of Printemps Républicain] were never dominant in the PS [...]. What Aurélien Bellanger describes is more Macronism,” he argued. Indeed, many secularists had briefly aligned themselves with the Macronist ecosystem before later distancing themselves.
A PS statement issued to mark the tenth anniversary of the January 2015 attacks reflects this evolving approach. While defending the “Charlie spirit” of freedom of expression and satire, the party noted that the principle of laicity is “also threatened by those who do not hesitate to turn it against the Republic, transforming it into a tool of crusade solely against Muslims”.
“The acceptance of the term Islamophobia over the past decade is well established. The denial of Islamophobia is very much a minority position on the Left. From this perspective, Printemps Républicain has lost its hold,” explains political scientist Rémi Lefebvre. While the PS went through a period of compensating for its retreat on economic and social issues with an identity-focused rigidity on laicity, its “alliance with NUPES [editor's note, the 2022 broad-left alliance the Nouvelle Union Populaire Écologique et Sociale] has allowed Olivier Faure to push this agenda into the background,” the researcher concludes.
Rapid rightwards shift
“I had this debate with Laurent Bouvet on a few occasions while he was still alive [editor's note, the co-founder of Printemps Républicain died in 2021]. I told him that he was overemphasising this issue to the point that nothing else mattered. It’s no coincidence that the proponents of this [secular] stance are also social liberals on economic matters,” commented socialist MP Laurent Baumel.
The commemoration of the Charlie Hebdo attack has, in any case, provided an opportunity for the anti-LFI left - and, by extension, those against the successor to NUPES, the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) leftwing alliance - to mobilise and put pressure on the PS. “A segment of the political sphere, that's to say the PS, has made itself compatible with LFI’s anti-Semitism,” declared former Charlie Hebdo director Philippe Val. Lawyer Richard Malka, meanwhile, has taken advantage of his numerous media appearances to criticise Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party LFI. On the 'C à vous' programme on France 5 television, for instance, he accused it of “rejecting freedom of expression even more than the RN [editor's note, the far-right Rassemblement National]”.
Within the PS, such attacks resonate with some opponents of Olivier Faure, reflecting the ongoing shift in the politico-media landscape, which has steadily veered ever rightwards over the past decade.
Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol notes: “While the primary opponent of laicity in this country is the far-right, it is undeniable that, in recent years, a segment of LFI’s leadership has deliberately sought to appeal to a Muslim electoral base, particularly in working-class areas. As part of this strategic choice, it has taken positions that undermine laicity.” He added: “After the PS allied itself with LFI [editor's note, through NUPES then the NFP] it has obviously been subjected to similar criticisms.”
Nevertheless, as political attention now focuses on negotiations between Olivier Faure and the new French government under prime minister François Bayrou over a potential agreement for the PS not to vote against the new administration if it faces a vote of no-confidence, the accusations of PS subservience to LFI are losing their impact. “It would take some doing to hold a congress now and claim we’re subordinate to Jean-Luc Mélenchon,” says Laurent Baumel.
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- The original French version of this article can be found here.
English version by Michael Streeter