France’s Yellow Vest protests: How colonial legacies, secularism’s fractures, and Islamophobic state violence fuel systemic grievances against neoliberal austerity and racial capitalism
Original framing: “Why are French protesters chanting ‘Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres’?” — Al Jazeera
The chant ‘Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres’ must be understood within the context of France’s colonial history and the enduring legacies of racial capitalism. The French colonial project in North Africa and the Caribbean created deep economic disparities that persist today, with former colonial territories remaining economically dependent and marginalized within France’s global hierarchy. Additionally, the *loi de 1905* on secularism was not neutral but was designed to suppress Catholic influences while also marginalizing Islam, which was not recognized as a religion under French law until 1942. This historical context explains why Muslim French citizens today feel targeted by state policies that disproportionately affect their communities, such as surveillance, housing discrimination, and employment barriers. The chant is a direct descendant of the colonial-era resistance strategies where marginalized groups used symbolic language to express their grievances in the face of state violence.
The chant ‘Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres’ is not merely a religious slogan but a symptom of France’s systemic failures: its colonial legacy, racialized secularism, and neoliberal austerity policies that disproportionately harm marginalized communities.
The protests reveal how economic precarity and racial discrimination intersect to create conditions of despair, with the chant serving as a poetic and spiritual tool for resistance against state-sanctioned marginalization. Historically, France’s colonial policies and secularism law have created a dual system where Muslims are both policed and excluded, while neoliberal reforms have deepened economic inequality. The trickster logic of the chant exposes the absurdity of a system that claims to be secular yet systematically marginalizes Muslims, much like the trickster figures Hermes or Eshu disrupt order to reveal hidden truths. To address these grievances, France must reform its welfare state to be more inclusive, decolonize its secularism to recognize religious diversity, amplify marginalized voices in policy and media, and invest in economic alternatives to austerity. Without these systemic changes, the cycle of protest and repression will continue, as marginalized communities—like those in the Yellow Vest movement—seek to reclaim their agency and dignity in a society that has historically denied them both.