By James McAuley and Rokhaya Diallo
October 9, 2023 at 7:15 a.m. EDT
PARIS — Post Opinion columnist Rokhaya Diallo, a French civil rights advocate, recently became part of a news story in France, after she endured harassment on social media by French people who objected to her role in what’s known as the Fonds Marianne scandal. This had to do with the misuse of French government money that was meant to fight radicalism but ended up being used to harass government critics — including Diallo — online.
For Diallo, a Black Muslim, this reflected a deeper problem in France: intolerance of criticism, especially from minority voices.
In recent years, France, more than any other European country, has struggled with a wave of Islamist violence that has led to the death of more than 230 people. One response to these attacks from the political right and the center-left has been a rhetorical hardening on Islam and its place in French society. But many French Muslims and other minority voices say this hardening has often stifled good-faith criticism of government policies. Diallo discusses the recent controversy with The Post’s James McAuley.
