French intelligence services published a study that echoes widely in Europe. Although censored, the paper reveals alarming information about the muslim influences of organisations in Europe, especially those associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The main findings of the study show the intensive lobbying activity of these organisations in the institutions of the European Union, their desire to change the definition of spiritual freedom and their impact on the improvement of migration and integration policies in Europe. 1 of the most crucial conclusions is that the Muslim Brotherhood, utilizing organizations that favour its ideologies, seeks to change European policies for values contrary to the fundamental principles of the secular state, which are 1 of the foundations of the French system.
The study describes in item the activities of organisations specified as the Council of European Muslims (CEM) and the Forum of European Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO). The paper shows that these organisations, financed by states specified as Qatar and Kuwait, are lobbying for changes in European Union legislation, including the criminalisation of blasphemy and the designation of a peculiar imagination of spiritual freedom, which differs from the secular model in force in France. The study besides claims that these organisations are trying to manipulate the notion of Islamophobia in order to gain greater influence on Union policy.
France, as a country with a profoundly rooted model of secularism, has become 1 of the main objectives for these organisations. The study draws attention to the inefficiency of the French government in countering these influences, which is the starting point for wider criticism of negligence that has occurred in fresh decades.
The Muslim Brotherhood and its influence in Europe
The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928 by Hasan al-Banna in Egypt, from the very beginning was intended to establish a state based on muslim law. It is besides a religious, political, and social organization that, despite many bans and persecutions, has managed to make its activities worldwide. His ideology is coherent and strives to realize 1 vision—the creation of an muslim state that will regulation according to Sharia. Despite various forms of force and changing political conditions, For decades the Brotherhood has improved its strategies of infiltration and gaining influence, effectively expanding its presence on the global arena.
Over the years, the Brotherhood has gained many allies in the form of muslim organizations that supported its goals. In Europe, in peculiar after the 1970s and 1980s, these organisations began to play an increasingly crucial function in the fight for the rights of Muslim minorities, but also, more controversially, in lobbying for a circumstantial imagination of spiritual freedom. This vision, which promotes, among others, the regulation of freedom of speech in the name of the protection of religion, as well as the impact on state policy, contradicts the conventional values of Western states.
Organizations associated with the Brotherhood, specified as CEM and FEMYSO, began to actively lobby for their ideas, utilizing the privileges afforded them to belong to democratic societies. Their aim was not only to guarantee better integration of Muslims in Europe, but besides to manipulate European policies to make a climate conducive to the spread of muslim ideology. The study reveals that these organisations have strong links with backing from countries specified as Qatar, allowing them to influence EU migration policy and combat Islamophobia.
Organisations specified as the Council of European Muslims (CEM) and the Forum of European Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO) are key actors in lobbying politics of the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. The CEM, aimed at representing the interests of Muslims in Europe, conducts extended activities in the protection of the rights of Muslim minorities. However, as the study reveals, this organisation not only seeks to advance number rights, but besides engages in actions aimed at changing the interior policies of the associate States of the Union, as well as influencing European Union law.
FEMYSO, in turn, aims to integrate Muslim youth in Europe. However, according to the report, this organization is besides utilized by the Muslim Brotherhood as a "training structure" for its activists. FEMYSO conducts campaigns to advance values that conflict with the European model of a secular state. 1 example is their support for the run against Islamophobia and calling for the designation of Muslim religion to be inviolable in public space, which would mean limiting freedom of expression.
These organisations have influenced respective key decisions of the European Union. The study shows that their lobbying has affected changes in European law, including the definition of "religious freedom", which in many cases starts to match the protection of 1 religion at the expense of others. These campaigns usage the concept of "fight against Islamophobia" as a tool for achieving political goals specified as promoting the prohibition of blasphemy or establishing peculiar rights for Muslims.
France influenced by muslim organizations
France, as 1 of the first European countries to adopt the model of laicism, was an ideological battlefield for the Muslim Brotherhood. France, with its strict separation of the Church from the State, was initially seen as a bastion for defending the values of the secular order. However, after respective decades of immigration and integration policy, serious problems began to arise. The deficiency of effective integration policies and the weakening of conventional laity values enabled muslim organizations associated with the Brotherhood to gain influence in different social structures.
France has long ignored the increasing threat. Although she was aware of the presence of organizations related to the Brotherhood, she did not take effective action to destruct them. Instead, the French government sought to keep a balance between defending the secular state and respecting the rights of spiritual minorities, although it was alternatively non-Catholic. This policy proved besides naive and opened the door to the activities of Islamist organisations, which, in this case, utilized European democracy for their own purposes.
The neglect of issues related to the integration and control of Muslim organizations led to a kind of chaos in which the Muslim Brotherhood and its associated organizations could operate freely. Over the years, the French governments have not taken decisive action to reduce the influence of these organisations, nor have they adapted the policy of laicism to fresh challenges. Instead, they kept to their usual patterns, which in fact proved insufficient to counteract the increasing wave of Islamism in the country.
French secularism, which was to defend against spiritual interference in politics, has become more ideology than reality. On the 1 hand, the state could not full implement the rule of laicism, allowing the improvement of muslim structures. On the another hand, the deficiency of an effective integration policy and the ignoring of the increasing influence of organisations associated with the Muslim Brotherhood led to a situation where these organisations were free to act, not only in public space but besides in state institutions.
Laicism trapped: France at a crossroads
Many experts indicate that the French model of laicism, alternatively of protecting against Islamism, created space for its development. 1 of the main problems is that laicism in France has become an ideology that has not been able to respond to contemporary challenges. Although French laicism was to defend against spiritual extremism, it was besides rigid and inflexible in the face of social changes in the country as a consequence of mass migration. The model of secularism, which did not presume active control of spiritual organizations, allowed for their development, especially in the case of organisations which had in their programme the promotion of values contrary to the French tradition of laicism.
Laicism, which was to defend individual freedom, became a tool in the hands of Islamists. alternatively of strengthening the secular identity of the state, he began weakening it due to the fact that he did not foresee effective mechanisms controlling spiritual organizations. The deficiency of a coherent integration policy and the consequence to the increasing muslim threat made the Muslim Brotherhood able to benefit from this situation and influence not only France's policies, but besides the European Union as a whole. Laicism is besides utilized by a large part of the ruling elite as a weapon against Catholicism. It is no secret that masonry has powerful influences and laicism in this country – although it fights the Church, it repeatedly indulges Islam, most likely treating it as a silent ally in this fight.