Tariq Ramadan and how French feminism dies

Youtube screenshot  from a conference at UOIF - French Muslim Brotherhood org

Thanks to the MeToo movement and its French version BalanceTonporc, several women spoke of  alleged rape and abuse from Tariq Ramadan, a famous Muslim scholar. Two of them sued him and now he's under investigation and detained in France.

This movement sparked a debate, or should we say many debates that went from Twitter to TV shows and back to Twitter again. At last, sexual abuse was not a subject for feminists and activists only.

Believe women unless they are Muslim women

All this ruckus suddenly becomes silence as soon as some women really take legal action. 

Not all women. When a woman sued Gérald Darmanin, French Minister of Public Action and Accounts, no one cared about how this would go to court or not. It was a chance to undermine Emmanuel Macron's government. It was an opportunity to put Marlene Schiappa in a difficult position as a French Minister of womens rights and equality who had been so vocal and unusually straightforward on controversial matters so far.

The investigation was closed a few weeks later. In the meantime, Caroline de Haas appeared in several TV news shows to discuss the case against the French Minsiter of Public Action ad Accounts since she is a French feminist who became the French ambassador of MeToo and BalanceTonPorc. 

We should believe women, all women, no matter what. But as soon as these women are Muslim women there is no one to stand by them : they are suing a Muslim scholar and no matter what, even saying that we should wait for due process could sound islamophobic. Or maybe it could mean some losses in polls.

Muslim people are treated like they can't think as individuals or think at all. 

How insulting could this be to all Muslim people and to the women who dared to speak up ?

Alleged victims are left to face harassment and retaliation by themselves

First noises of harassment and intimidation came from Switzerland. Four women talked about alleged sexual abuse from Tariq Ramadan and his lawyer publicly stated that he would track them down. This statement encouraged Congresswoman Anne-Marie Von Arx to set up a support comittee to help protecting these women. Von Arx has been fighting against human trafficking for years and she takes part in several charities and foundations such as Afghan women and children, APS and a center to provide therapy to domestic abusers.

One of the French women remained anonymous after taking legal action. Many Ramadan's fans say that the other alleged victim is too ugly to be raped or that she should feel honored if Ramadan granted her with some attention and they claim that she lied.

Other Ramadan's fans just keep up with the islamic patriarchy : a man is a leader, the head of family, a guardian. His word and his reputation are is honor. A woman's honor is to be and to stay pure.

According to them, rape dishonors a woman and she should not talk about it.

Several Muslim organizations, scholars, imams, voiced their support to Tariq Ramadan in France Switzerland, Morocco, in the United States... They use #FreeTariqRamadan to support him as a political prisoner enduring islamophobia. Some of them compare him to Nelson Mandela. If this is a political emprisonment to them, does it mean that islam is a political project ?

Legal fees in France are not like in the United States at all, and Oxford University still has Tariq Ramadan on its payroll for 4,500 € a month. Still, a support crowdfunding campaign went up to 100, 000 € within 3 days.

#FreeTariqRamadan is also denying the plaintiffs the legal action they filed for. The French Committee Against  islamophobia asked for Tariq Ramadan's immediate release. How can he face islamophobia in a case against several Muslim alleged victims ? This Committee makes it clear that it doesn't support the alleged victims so if they feel that they experience religious discrimination they are on their own. This sounds more political than ethical antiracist policy.

These women could use some help from the Muslim community though. No prominous feminist or organization tries to help them to cope with what the've been facing from day one : harassment and hate, mass reporting of their Twitter accounts to shut them down, even mass reporting of their crowdfunding campaign to prevent them from collecting money to help with their legal fees.
Prosecutors say Tariq Ramadan is being detained to avoid any pressures on his alleged victims, but his fans are doing just that.

Here is a screenshot of someone thanking other fans for their help in threatening one of the alleged victims and closing her crowdfunding campaign (it was a temporary shutdown).

1.  

Every week there's a new development and a new conspiracy theory smearing the plaintiffs, claiming that evidence was lost, and so on. Every other week there are news undermining these theories, more revelations about misconduct or news about an American testimony after another alleged victim spoke.
All these fuels pro Ramadan and anti Ramadan opinions but it doesn't protect the judicial process and the women who sued Tariq Ramadan.
Prosecutors and lawyers are the only ones who really know this file through and through. Even them can't say how this will eventually play out if the case gos to court. How is it possible that the women who came forward are being mowed down before any trial and no feminist comes to the rescue ?

This silence is a testament of how much feminists we heard so much about in France thought about making a career out of feminism rather than supporting women. It also shows that equal justice, as stated in our principles and laws, is far from being real. Despite the "affordable" cost of legal representation and judicial process in France, a rich and famous Muslim cleric outweights women.

But please rest assured, feminists still fight for gender-neutral French.