why more and more young Muslims are considering leaving France

They can no longer stand this permanent feeling of being singled out: French Muslims confide their discomfort in France to franceinfo, while a book-investigation on this phenomenon is released this Friday in bookstores.

“You love France, but you are leaving it“: this is the title of a book which comes out Friday April 26, 2024 and which “survey of the French Muslim diaspora“These departures to other countries for young French people of Muslim faith, mostly with diplomas, number in the thousands.

Like Naomi, who franceinfo met, they say they can no longer stand this permanent feeling of being singled out. At 25, the original young woman “North African and sub-Saharan“, “mixed“, she summarizes, holder of a bac+5 in human resources and practicing Muslim, confides that she no longer feels at home in her country of birth. “We have this feeling of constant oppression. It’s complicated to practice your spirituality here without being constantly stigmatized. It’s mentally exhausting. It’s just microaggressions on social media.”she confides.

“We’re really not popular here, so I don’t see why I would actually stay.”

Naomi, 25 years old

at franceinfo

Mehdi, also 25 years old, is a multi-graduate wealth manager. He is also preparing his departure from France by 2025 for Morocco. “It’s an accumulation of comments that attack us. I no longer watch television because it’s sickening the media treatment of Muslims every time an event happens, a news item…”he laments.

“Amalgams” and Islamophobia

According to them, there is an anti-Muslim discourse that is only growing. They describe tipping points, like the attacks of 2015-2016. “It was maddening the amalgam that existed, remembers Naomi. We are still compared to terrorists!” And more recently, the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, highlighted by Medhi. “As soon as we questioned a Muslim about October 7, there was always the expectation to see: is he going to make a mistake? We are going to be very attentive to what he says. Why do you do not condemn Hamas? A Muslim was not allowed to say ‘hello’ on a TV set, he had to respond directly.”

It was because he constantly felt stigmatized that Rédouane, with Algerian and Italian roots, left to settle in Morocco 6 years ago. “It is mainly the political speeches, the fear that is generated, all these debates on is Islam compatible with France? Can Muslims live in the Republic ?, he explains. That’s what really hurt me.” In 2018, he said he received death threats after detailing on his X account (Twitter, at the time) the reasons for his departure in a long post.

Leave to feel freer to practice your religion

Departure from France will allow them to practice their faith as they wish. Naomi chose to settle in Japan, where she made several return trips. She is learning the language and thinks her veil will not provoke a reaction there. “In Japan, I will wear it, she says. I was very surprised by their openness towards Islam.” Mehdi chose Morocco, where his parents come from, to feel freer in his practice of religion, even if French secularism protects freedom of worship. “I can practice my religion however I want. No one is going to look at me there because I’m praying. If I fast, no one is going to ask me stupid questions like: can you swallow your saliva? We’re not going to don’t ask me every two minutes: why didn’t you drink alcohol?”

But overall, the first reason given by these candidates for exile is above all to put an end to discrimination, the glass ceiling that they perceive, says Redouane, marketing director for a French multinational in Morocco. He left “for professional opportunities and to be able to bring my skills to a country that really needs me”, he confides. At 33, the expatriate earns a little less than 5,000 euros per month, an opportunity that he did not see himself obtaining by remaining in France.

“A form of brain drain”

Islam is the second largest religion in France. However, it is difficult to measure the extent of the phenomenon, ethnic statistics being prohibited in France. Julien Talpin, one of the authors of the survey on the French Muslim diaspora, You love France but you are leaving it, which comes out Friday, April 26, admits as much. However, the director of political science research at the CNRS speaks of a “brain drain”. “It is relatively certain that this concerns several thousand people and perhaps a few tens of thousands, advances the researcher. What is certain is that it is a form of brain drain. The majority of people who leave are people who are higher education graduates, who have at least a master’s degree, who have attended prestigious universities.”

“It is a form of irrationality of French society which has invested resources in education and, at the same time, we do not give them the opportunity to contribute to the French economy and to growth.”

Julien Talpin, research director in political science at the CNRS

at franceinfo

Among all these French people, who have already left or are about to leave, a feeling of waste and sadness often returns. “It’s a regret because I would have liked to be able to bring more to France, to be able to work there, to be able to develop things to improve the countryadmits Rédouane. But in the end, this atmosphere meant that I would bring my skills to other countries.”. And he does not consider for a single second returning to live in France.