Jawad Rhalib, filmmaker: “Islamism is growing in European schools and societies”

Through the great libertarian tradition of great classical Arabic poetry, continued in Al-Andalus by Ibn Hazm and Ibn Quzman, Amal invites her students to think freely, in defense of reason and culture against religious fanaticism. This initiative collides with the ideas of a Muslim religion professor, an extremist, defender of a fundamentalist religion, Nabil, one of his colleagues, a jihadist disguised in a Western suit, ready to persecute those who defend reason and the freedom to think, precipitating a “irreconcilable” and fierce opposition. With ‘Amal: a free spirit’, Jawad Rhalib culminates his work, between great documentary and pure creation. The confrontations between freedom and oppression, social misery and cultural misery, are very present in four films and a dozen great documentaries.

-In Belgium, all religions administratively recognized by the State are taught in public schools. In France, school and education are secular. However, this tragedy is very similar in both countries and in others. Which model is more harmful?

-Islamism grows in many ways. It is one of our great challenges. The tensions in Belgian schools are great. In France, several teachers have been victims of Islamist murderers, and have been threatened. Islamist violence has not stopped growing among young, adolescent French Muslims.

-What is more dangerous, school, family? Where and when does Islam begin to grow in our societies?

-In principle, in the family the first principles are listened to and spread. However, my personal experience is very different. I was born in Morocco, into a very tolerant Muslim family. In my school all religious sensitivities were respected, Christian, Jewish. The reality is very different in other Arab and European countries. There is a tolerant and dialoguing Islam that also clashes with Islamism. There are other areas of diffusion. In the poor neighborhoods of large European cities, many young people are sensitive to Islamist propaganda. They feel abandoned by the State, marginalized, denounced, victims of a very harsh social reality, where Islamists sow their hatred.

-Through its protagonist, your film recalls the tolerant Islam of your Moroccan childhood, long before settling in Belgium.

-Yes, the literature teacher in my film invites her students to discover the great literature of all cultures. She uses Abu Nuwas, the great patriarch of Arabic/Persian literature, to talk to her students about today’s Belgium, about sexual freedom, homosexuality, and tolerance. That freedom of theirs collides with the Islam of the Islamists. He also talks to them about Victor Hugo and the great European classics.

-How has your film been received in Arab countries?

-In Morocco very well. Back in the day, my film ‘Insumisa’ won an award at the Marrakech Festival. ‘Amal’ was submitted to the censors, it was accepted. And it has had a lot of echo. In many other Muslim countries… the distributors supported me and wanted to show it, but… they called me saying that the censorship prohibited it.

-In light of the growth of Islamism, in France, throughout Europe, I fear that your work has something of a black, negative conclusion, with risks of dramas and new tragedies.

-I don’t see it exactly that way. We are facing an open debate. Without a doubt, the Islamists are there, in Europe and outside Europe. They are fearsome. But I think that an underlying debate is also growing. And I believe in the triumph of reason and freedom.

-Are you not afraid that jihadism will continue to grow, even in the minority, but always more dangerous?

-Maybe we are at the beginning of that story. But Islamism does not necessarily have to win this war, which is also a war of ideas. It has grown, they continue to grow. But freedom and reason are very strong.

-To a certain extent, I say this with respect, your film offers us an ‘end’ diametrically opposed to the classic ‘happy end’ of American cinema, which always ends with a strong loving embrace, putting an end to a string of tragedies. You film a tragedy, but… you are convinced of the happy ending of the story.

-Well… something like that… In my work, and in this latest film, in particular, I try to reflect different points of view, respectfully, without Manichaeism. Everyone is free to draw their own conclusions. I believe in the triumph of reason and freedom.