Patrick Karam has a doctorate in political science and vice-president of the Ile-de-France Regional Council in charge of Sports, Leisure, Youth, Citizenship and Community life. His next book
The Black Book of Sport
comes out next Thursday.
Lagging behind in the defense of the values of the Republic and the fight against radicalization, the government finally plans to catch up by working on the establishment of a "charter of secularism and values of the Republic Which would regulate the financing of associations.
However, this device has already existed since 2017 at the Ile-de-France Regional Council.
Indeed, at the request of Valérie Pécresse, I had worked in 2016 on the drafting and implementation of a charter which conditions the granting of subsidies on the respect of republican principles.
Since then we have not ceased to invite the State to copy this device and to generalize it at the national level.
However, the charter alone is not enough to deal with separatism of all kinds, it must also be accompanied by other measures such as the upstream verification of the integrity of representatives of associations requesting subsidies, monitoring compliance with the charter. , the training of associative actors in the detection of weak signals, these are all measures that the Region has already put in place with its various partners, particularly those of the sports movement who are confronted with the extremely worrying phenomenon of radicalization.
Indeed, 12.5% of radicalized people registered on the file of alerts for the prevention of terrorist radicalization (FSPRT) are in clubs or sports associations, either as members, or as supervisors or leaders.
In some clubs, communitarianism is developing which sometimes precedes radicalization.
Certain weak signals can and should alert and lead to urgent intervention, especially when they accumulate.
In some clubs, communitarianism is developing which sometimes precedes radicalization.
Certain weak signals can and should alert and lead to urgent intervention, especially when they accumulate.
The refusal, for example, to have a female educator, to shake hands with women or to train with them, (or vice versa).
Clothing covering the body for women as for men or the wearing of the veil, the refusal of the shower or the refusal of nudity in the shower and sometimes by imposing it on other practitioners, prayers in the field or in changing rooms, even in rooms specially made available, modification of training times for Ramadan or for Friday prayers, exclusion or marginalization of women or non-Muslims, refusal to greet the founder of the discipline in judo for example ...
However, it would be dangerous to mix up the phenomena and to confuse what is a spiritual aspiration, which can manifest itself at some point in life and which sometimes pushes to undermine the values of the Republic, with another more serious phenomenon. , this one: Islamist radicalization.
They are two different phenomena and the answer cannot be the same.
All these phenomena must be combated while taking care not to stigmatize a religion.
Faced with this diffuse and multifaceted phenomenon, the government had until now contented itself with timid measures insufficient to respond to the gravity of the situation.
The few closed sports clubs or associations are closed under pretexts invoking the sports code as the lack of hygiene or problems related to the safety of practitioners when it is urgent to face this problem without going through subterfuge that do not solve anything.
Just as there is a ban on sex offenders from performing certain functions in a club to protect minors, it is imperative that a similar ban be put in place by law for radicalized Islamists registered on the FSPRT file.
It is paradoxical that what is forbidden for sex offenders is allowed for radicalized Islamists. Just as there is a ban on sex offenders from performing certain functions in a club to protect minors, it is imperative that this be in place. by law a similar ban for radicalized Islamists registered on the FSPRT file, in particular for professional and voluntary sports leaders or educators, even when they have not yet been convicted.
The verification of their repute must be compulsory for professional sports educators, renewed every year and extended to amateur sports educators in the following years.
In addition, it is necessary to reinstate the obligation of authorization issued by the prefects, abolished in 2015, which would make it possible to prevent the opening of an establishment whose withdrawal is a chopper.
With Valérie Pécresse, president of the Ile-de-France Regional Council, we have committed the Region to a resolute approach to fight against the phenomenon of radicalization.
In 2017, we set up a unique and ambitious system based on regional sports leagues and committees, which we have trained and mobilized to set up an alert network for attempts at radicalization or attacks on secularism.
Under our leadership our 78 leagues representing 19,300 clubs and 2.4 million licensees have appointed a regional referent "values of the Republic, secularism and prevention of radicalization" whose role is to break the loneliness of associations and clubs in the face of radicalization that can affect educators as well as leaders or licensees.
We have set up specific training for these referents.
This involves providing them with knowledge of the mechanisms of radicalization and enabling them, by means of simulation exercises in particular, to identify weak signals allowing them to prevent and act within their network, including by making reports when problematic situations are identified.
In early 2020, we launched a training and support program in the prevention of radicalization.
This program, slowed down by the health crisis, provides for new training sessions for referents from regional sports leagues or committees but also deputies to the mayor in charge of sport, maintenance staff or guards of gymnasiums or halls, sports educators graduates, popular education networks, staff from regional leisure islands.
The defense of the values of the Republic and the fight against radicalization necessarily require the setting up of ambitious measures to fight step by step against phenomena to which the State has until now provided only superficial responses.
