Fatima Ouassak: "If I were white, I would be the toffu mother"

Fatima Ouassak was born in Morocco, but moved to France when she was just one year old. A political scientist and activist, she presents the essay The power of mothers, written out of anger at racism and Islamophobia, and fear of the consequences this can have for their children. It defends the power mothers have if they are able to organize politically.

Why did you create the Mothers' Front?

— I faced a problem: food in the classrooms. I wanted a healthy menu option, a meat-free menu option. And while I struggled alone, I achieved nothing. When we organized locally, we got results. So the strategy of uniting works, and continues to work.

How to organize?

— I think the best way is through unions, organizing as if mothers were factory or company workers. This means you can strike, take to the streets... That's why I organized the Mothers' Front.

The subtitle speaks of a new political subject. What does this mean?

— That mothers can be political, collective subjects. When we think of mothers, we imagine individuals caring for their biological children, but they can also organize as a group with a common interest.

Does this struggle not fit within existing organizations?

— It doesn't fit for two reasons. The first is that issues related to motherhood have not traditionally seemed interesting to feminism.

And the second reason?

— That we are Muslims and not white, and we politically demand equality. And that hurts, because Muslim women who live in working-class neighborhoods are asked to keep quiet, to be invisible. Because if they are lucky enough to live in France, the country of liberty and fraternity, they should be grateful. And the tendency, if they complain, is to say: Why are you protesting? You're lucky to live here and not in your country of origin. If I were white, I would have already been nominated for the election. mother tofu of the year.

Do you really believe it?

— Yes, feminists and the left would have applauded us. But they don't because they see our children as a demographic and terrorist threat.

What should mothers do if they perceive injustice?

— I speak of the mother dragon and the mother plug.

Mother plug?

— Institutions ask us to play the role of peacekeepers. When young people in France protest against police abuse and riots, politicians say: bring me a mother. And they ask them to call for calm. And it's a way of inviting mothers to reproduce injustice and inequality. I challenge the dragon mothers.

What does this mean?

— Let them reject that role. When the politicians arrive, let them tell them: I'm not calling for calm. I understand the anger of these young people. I understand why they're burning cars, and it's because they've murdered or injured someone. This is being a mother dragonsupportive, not only with your biological children, but with all childhood.

I think of the case of Nahel Merzouk.

— He was 17 years old when he was killed by a bullet to the stomach. A video showed how the young man hadn't attacked a police officer, but rather that an officer had executed him. The case left the country in shock. And when the riots began, Nahel's mother was asked to intervene.

And what did he do?

— Refuse. She said that for her, violence meant killing a teenager in cold blood, not burning cars. I know this is difficult, because we take risks when we refuse what is asked of us. It's very difficult not to play the role of the mother plug, of the mediating mother.

Also out of fear, right? So that your son isn't next...

— But we don't have that option. Last year, in the elections, the far right almost took power, and we can't rule out that happening in the future. I don't know if we're aware of what this means. France is sliding toward a fascist regime, and this is especially dangerous for migrants and Muslims. The risky thing today is to educate our children in struggle, resistance, and then stay home. We have no choice but to organize politically.

But, at the same time, some of the youth's idols are children of immigrants, like Lamine Yamal.

— Football is football; it has no political or intellectual role. Racialized football players in France become foreigners when they lose or don't perform as expected, and are only considered equal if they score goals. No matter how much a player is admired, Muslims will not be respected. The problem of Islamophobia is structural, and it won't change even if there is a player of Moroccan origin. The only thing that makes it possible to fight Islamophobia is an anti-racist project.

He says the book is the result of fear.

— Yes, but being part of organizations keeps you from dying of shame or fear. There are people who tell me they want to leave France. And I say: where to go? The world is a hostile place; there's a global fascism that's organizing itself. There's no paradise we can go to together. Leaving doesn't help; organizing at the local level does. And you can do many small things; you don't have to make a revolution every day.