My fave pundits on France are the ones who complete disregard not just a history of colonial destruction, and what role that's played in citizenry identity formation/relations, but also the existence of institutionalized racism and Islamophobia, central to French nationalism.

Just take the example of the Algerian War of Independence. If you don't know what role being defeated by the great Algerian resistance has played in the evolution of French identity & politics, you shouldn't be sounding off on "clash of civilizations" on Twitter right now.

If you don't know about the Paris Massacre of 1961 (and when/how the French government responded to it), about how immigration from 'former' colonial states to France worked, the socio-economic history/realities of Arab, Black, Muslim communities, even the 2005 "riots"..

And to talk about France right now - whilst ignoring the French crackdown on Muslim communities, organizations, mosques, the doubling down on Islamophobia - is to reiterate that Islam and Muslims are incompatible with "civilization" as "we" see fit.

We can discuss individual acts of violence without ignoring the entirety of the system of violence that occupies the French politic.

An example of that violence that reiterates that there are tiers of citizenship and who is "French":

This is the same country where wearing a mask is mandate because of COVID-19 but wearing a niqab, a Muslim woman's half face covering, is still illegal (10 years now).

If you’re gonna ask me or any Muslim to “condemn” two murders in France (even if you’re Muslim yourself), ask yourself why you’re asking us and how the implication is that w/o explicit condemnation the default is agreement.

some are (purposely) reading this thread as a *justification* of the murders in France - versus a critique of the way in which France is discussed by media pundits (see: first tweet). Almost as though a Muslim can't say anything on this w/o being indicted of being violent.