A unit under the leadership of the interdepartmental committee for the prevention of delinquency and radicalization is responsible for counteracting “the jihadosphere” on the web, dominant socialization space of the youth.
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Among the many measures taken by the government in the wake of the assassination of Samuel Paty, on October 16, 2020 – amendments specific to the “separatism” bill, strengthening the Pharos Platform from twenty-four to Fifty agents, setting up a specialized cluster against the online hatred of Paris and Dialogue Enhanced with digital giants (GAFA) -, is in good position the Republican counter-speech unit, placed under the leadership of the interdepartmental committee for the prevention of delinquency and radicalization (CIPDR).
Starting from the finding that Abdouallakh Anzorov, the 18-year-old Chechen refugee author of the assassination of the Professor of History-Geography of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines), had been radicalized online, which he had found its target on the internet and had broadcast its attack on social networks, Marlène Schiappa, Minister responsible for Citizenship, insists on the urgency to thwart “the jihadosphere” on the web, which is the dominant space of socialization of the Youth.
“We are not naive, believes the minister, who, on Friday, fired a review of the action of the Republican counter-speech unity. We do not think that radical Islamism will be defeated by three Tweets. But we must counter the discourses of radicalization and victimization of the Muslim community that develop on the internet. “” Our desire is to instill doubt with the young audience by systematically responding to the allegations of Islamophobia of State “, continues m me schiappa. “Our response is to respond to slander and lie, says Christian Gravel, Secretary-General of CIPDR. It is important that the government assume its answers unveiled and assumed.”
Left to sometimes pass the attack on particularly influential individuals like Marwan Muhammad, the former director of the collective against Islamophobia in France, or Idriss Sihamedi, the former NGO official Barakacity. Two dissolved structures after the conflict attack. Mr. Gravel figured twenty the most listened influencers on the Islamist “Webosphere”.
Make room to Salafist speech
But the Republican counter-speech unit does not just respond, the structure of about fifteen people (former journalists, Community Managers, Analysts) proposes own content on the values of the Republic. They treat, in the form of short informative modules, of notions like “freedom of expression”, the distinguished between “Islam and Islamism”, the “separatism”, the “French secularism”, etc. “Sizes” as the Politologist Gilles Kepel, the Monique Canto-Sperber philosopher or the lawyer Richard Malka are involved. It’s about making the Salafist speech, become hegemonic in the online Muslim speech.
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