What is at stake for Muslims in the French elections

Nothing is foreign28: 00What is at stake for Muslims in the French elections

France is electing a new president this weekend – and once again the cultural war against Islam is at the forefront and at the center. Marine Le Pen, the far-right candidate, has proposed banning Muslim women from wearing headscarves in public, and it is a striking distance to upset Emmanuel Macron, France’s current centrist president. After the debate over French identity and violent Islamophobia flares up again, our guest Rome-Sara Alluan, a French lawyer, says it is “exhausting” to feel like a French Muslim, that “you are never enough”. So what does this moment mean for the largest Muslim population in Western Europe? And how close is France to the brink of the far right? Starring: Rome-Sara Alluan, French lawyer and civil liberties expert. 28:00

France is electing a new president this weekend – and once again the cultural war against Islam is at the forefront and at the center.

Marine Le Pen, the far-right candidate, has proposed banning Muslim women from wearing headscarves in public, and it is a striking distance to upset Emmanuel Macron, France’s current centrist president.

After the debate over French identity and violent Islamophobia flares up again, our guest Rome-Sara Alluan, a French lawyer, says it is “exhausting” to feel like a French Muslim, that “you are never enough”.

So what does this moment mean for the largest Muslim population in Western Europe? And how close is France to the brink of the far right?

featuring:

• Rome-Sara Alluan, French lawyer and civil liberties expert.

Nothing New is a new podcast from CBC News and CBC Podcasts. A weekly trip to the place where the story takes place. The host is Tamara Handaker.