By Taslima Nasrin
France today confronts an uncomfortable question. The very country that once held up before the modern world the ideals of liberty, equality, fraternity, secularism, and individual freedom is now seeing rising concern over political polarization, social discontent, and violence.
In this situation, it is necessary to raise questions about the politics of a section of the extreme left.
The historical commitment of the left was against exploitation, against inequality, and in favour of human liberation. Establishing equal rights for every human being—regardless of religion, race, caste, or gender—was the moral foundation of that politics. Yet, in some cases, by entering into strategic alliances with Islamic jihadist forces, sections of the left are weakening their own fundamental principles.
Fighting one injustice while supporting another is not the politics of liberation.
Islamists want to restrict women’s freedom, control individuals’ clothing and sexuality, and deny the right to leave Islam or criticize it. Will a leftist support every demand of that group merely because it is a minority? Will a feminist stop criticizing the restrictions imposed on women because of religious identity? Will a secular person stop speaking out against religious authority for the sake of political convenience?
If the answer is yes, then that politics is no longer the politics of liberation. It becomes a calculation of identity-based power.
One thing needs to be made clear here. Being Muslim and being Islamist are not the same. Protecting the equal rights of Muslim citizens is not equivalent to supporting religious fundamentalism. Rather, standing beside anyone who faces discrimination because of their religious identity is a demand of secularism itself.
But if, behind the shield of religious identity, there is misogyny, opposition to freedom of expression, or an attempt to control others’ lives through religious law, then the right to criticize that must also be equally protected.
Here lies the potential mistake of the extreme left: they sometimes simplify political opposition so much that they automatically regard any force opposing the Western state or the majority society as progressive. Yet opposing Western imperialism does not automatically make a force supportive of women’s freedom, free speech, or secularism.
An ideology must be judged by its own principles, its behaviour, and what it intends to do when it gains power—not merely by who its enemy is.
The left in France therefore needs to ask itself a question: are they on the side of human liberation, or only on the side of defeating their political opponents? If the first is the goal, then they must stand with equal firmness against religious fundamentalism, racism, misogyny, and authoritarianism—all of them.
According to France’s republican ideals, the primary identity of a citizen in the eyes of the state is that of a citizen, not that of a member of any religious community. To protect this ideal, right-wing nationalism is open to criticism, and left-wing opportunism cannot remain above questioning either.
If freedom is not for everyone, it is not freedom. If secularism changes according to political convenience, it is not secularism. And if women’s liberation repeatedly surrenders to religious sentiment, then that politics of liberation ultimately harms women themselves.
The sooner the left realizes this truth, the better.
Taslima Narsin is an exiled poet and novelist.