Between facts and fiction: How do contemporary French politics reflect Houellebecq’s “Submission”, anti-immigration, Islam, and Islamophobia in the wake of the 2022 French elections?

By Konstantinos K

Michel Houellebecq’s radical controversiality can only be matched by the unparallel success and popularity that his novels have known in France and worldwide. The French author and satirist, well-known for his often-dark humour and relentless irony that characterizes most of his literary works had kickstarted his international career with the ground-breaking novel, “The Elementary Particles” which details the parallel lives of two half-brothers who were abandoned by their parents in childhood. The protagonists lead different and contrasting lifestyles as one devotes himself to science and human cloning while the other grows into an insatiable sex addict who ends up jobless and in a mental health hospital. The book, albeit instantly becoming an international best-seller, has received many negative reviews and criticism due to its pornographic and allegedly sexist undertones. New York Times writer, Michiko Kakutani even characterized the book as a “deeply repugnant read” in which Houellebecq has constructed a “fiercely nihilistic and anti-humanist vision” that is founded on a well-stricken balance of “right-wing politics and wilfully pornographic passages”. While many of the allegations might reflect the sentiment of many well-respected puritan literarians and reviewers, it had been precisely the novel’s deliberate controversiality, raw sexuality and political messages that can be attributed to its unprecedented success. 

 How do therefore Michel Houellebecq’s heretic writing and sex-addicted protagonists fit into the contemporary French political scene, right before the dawn of the French Presidential election cycle in the April of 2022? While “The Elementary Particles” may not prove itself quite relatable to the prevalent public political debates in today’s France that range from immigration, Islam to economic disenfranchisement among the poorest of the French citizens, Houellebecq’s “Submission” might provide vital insight into how immigration and Islam specifically find their way at the centre of French politics and how political parties engage with those topics. Also, having been published in 2015, the author invites us to imagine through the literary device of first-person narration, the 2022 French Presidential elections with an unlikely French Muslim candidate and his party, the Muslim Fraternity, running against the traditional French political parties, in a bid to reform the traditionally secular and liberal republic following the tradition and values of political Islam. In Houellebecq’s dystopic vision of the upcoming elections, Muhammed Ben Abbes forms a coalition with the left to win the election and block Marine Le Pen’s Front National from assuming power. Muhammed Ben Abbes, the first Muslim President of France spells the end of the Fifth Republic with the imposition of Islamic law in all facets and aspects of public life. Amid this political whirlwind and France’s radical sudden transformation, literature professor and academic, Francois find himself at the centre of the emergence of this new social reality, wondering about his role and position in it. Although, few if any at all commentators and political analysts, would agree with Houellebecq’s prophecy for the imminent future of France in the aftermath of the 2022 elections, it is not the novel’s predictive potential that makes it an important piece of literature and valuable guide into the chaos and carnage of contemporary French politics. While indeed current statistical data and reports suggest that by 2050 Europe’s Muslim population will account for about 10% of Europe’s total population and individuals identifying as religiously unaffiliated to at least 23%, Christian Europeans will still be the majority, despite Europe’s ongoing decline in population and demographic problems in many EU member states. Houellebecq’s “Submission”, however, will be much more relatable and reflecting of the French population and religious affiliation by 2050, since France’s most dominant religious group will be unaffiliated that would amount to a sound 44.1%. Therefore, while the novel’s immediate predictive potential might come into question, the author’s prophecy could indeed have prospects for materialization in the long run. 

 What about the present? After all, Houellebecq’s story unravels in 2022 even if 2050 might have been a more plausible timeline that reflects real-world data and statistical predictions. While there might be no Muhammed Ben Abbes running for President, nor an Islamist party to the likes of the novel’s “Muslim Fraternity” (a purposeful reference to the very much existing Muslim Brotherhood), Islam and immigration will indeed be at the centre of the ongoing battles and political debates which will be starting at April of 2022. Marine Le Pen’s Front National, just like in the “Submission”, a fervent preacher of the populist gospel, will rally the far right and segments of the right-wing vote, albeit having softened her originally tough stances on the EU, the Euro currency and immigration. She has still maintained to accommodate and foster a significant portion of the anti-immigration and nationalist voices of the electorate in France. Her reign on the right side of the political spectrum is not, however, unchallenged. Right-wing pundit, TV presenter and outspoken commentator on immigration and Islam, Eric Zemmour appears to be surging in the latest opinion polls, gaining ground against the favoured candidate of the right, Marine Le Pen. Zemmour currently polls at about 12% and Marine Le Pen, having lost much of her appeal, as reflected in the polls of this summer, stands at about 16% (Mallet, 2021) according to Harris Interactive’s polling data. Zemmour represents a more radical and unfiltered version of Le Pen with at least two convictions in his recent history regarding racial and religious provocations alongside comments that include among others a national call for the expulsion of 2 million immigrants from France. While Emanuel Macron has appropriated elements of the anti-immigration agenda and having dealt significant blows to manifestations of political Islam in France, as well as further restricting religious symbols (such as the hijab) from the public view as a result of the French Senate’s ban on the hijab for underage girls (Lang, 2021). Macron has voiced his view on Islamic religious dressing well before the passing of the controversial law by denouncing the hijab for not being in accordance with French ideals (The Cube, 2021). In contrast to Houellebecq’s “Submission”, contemporary France does not seem to be any close to adopting Islam or even formulating a positive attitude towards it. On contrary, the French state views Islam and its historical tradition as a corrosive element to the French society, founded on the liberal tradition of the French Revolution, maintained under the umbrella of the Catholic Church and the liberal freedoms granted by the constitutions of the five French Republics. It is in the light of this conflicting relation of Islam against conservative outlooks of French tradition and history, that the 2022 elections revolve around the perceived civilizational battle of Islam versus the Western political tradition. It becomes evident therefore that even though France described in “Submission” looks nothing like the contemporary reality of French politics, it does reflect a great number of insecurities present in the French. and more generally. Western European societies with regards to the “other” that in this case is portrayed by non-European immigrants and Muslims. 

 Having been regarded both as an Islamophobic piece of literature by many while others point at the author’s deliberate provocations and satirist attitude which deliberately aims to shock and challenge the reader’s deepest and most internalized fears and insecurities, “Submission” has been ironically denounced both from representatives of the left and the far right, albeit for completely different reasons. The mere thought that France could be overcome by political Islam, not through violence or coercion but by means of the democratic procedure, the proud jewel of the Fifth Republic, is indeed a shocking scenario that was purposefully constructed to upset certain consciousnesses on the right side of the political spectrum. Many left-wing pundits, such as Laurent Joffrin of the Liberation newspaper has criticized the book for providing a platform for “ideas of the extreme right” which Michel Houellebecq allegedly attempts to introduce in high literature (Schiavenza, 2015). The author, on the other side, views his book, merely a piece of “funny, biting social commentary”. Indeed, the book does not weigh in negatively on the cultural practices and religious teachings of Islam which end up being adopted by several non-Muslim characters of the book but rather reserve the harshest criticism on the decadent downward spiral that the French society and its most cherished values have found themselves in. The unlikely protagonist, literature professor, Francois, an expert on the decadent and naturalist author Joris-Karl Huysmans, impersonates the decay of France and the West more generally. A bachelor atheist middle-aged man with a diminished sexual drive and a bad habit of sleeping with his students, Francois, reflects the soul of France in Houellebecq’s dystopia. More than an exposition of the problem that Muslims pose in Europe and to the “Western civilization”, a point of view widely shared by the far and alt-right nowadays, “Submission” consists of a biopsy of what the author sees as a dying and antiquated Europe that belongs in the history books rather than in the future. The reader may agree or disagree with Michel Houellebecq’s view and make the case that “Submission” is indeed covertly Islamophobic and a gospel for Europe’s alt-right. Whether that could be determined objectively or remains a matter of subjective interpretation, is irrelevant. What “Submission” has achieved, whatever the book’s hidden political agenda might be (if indeed there is one) is to offer a unique and insightful portrayal of the state of European politics with regards to immigration, Islamophobia, and attitudes towards Islam. It has also provided the reader and political observer a useful guidebook of how the aforementioned issues will be ruthlessly capitalized in the wake of the French elections in 2022, as incumbent President Emmanuel Macron has continued to adopt the hard right’s agenda in an attempt to render the nationalist far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, irrelevant. 

 Is there a moral lesson to be learned from “Submission” and its reflection of today’s French politics? Does it have the potential to serve as a dire reminder of the much-needed political reconciliation in the French society while expressions of religious freedom, immigration and even race are being ruthlessly politicised by political factions in their quest for power, at the expense of the greater public good? 

 Unfortunately, “Submission” has not managed to kickstart a meaningful and constructive debate on the current state of social divisions and conflict in France. Albeit, consisting of an excellent portrayal and case study on the ways that culture and religion are being relentlessly bastardized and misinterpreted in the context of the French elections, most commentators have chosen instead to focus on the book’s politically incorrect character and controversiality. Not many have yet appreciated Houellebecq’s radical novel for what it is: an unforgiving political satire aimed against both the paranoic fears and insecurities of the French far right, personified by Marine Le Pen, and the French liberals’ unmatched opportunism which would lead them to approve the ultra-conservative Sharia law, polygamy, and teen marriages in France if it meant that their political opponents would not make it into government. In their quest to secure victory in the presidential elections they appear willing to go to great lengths and even end up cooperating with the ultra-conservative “Muslim Fraternity”, a political faction that would not even find substantial public appeal in Muslim-majority countries (like Turkey) and most Arab nations. This ruthless pursuit of power by any means showcases the profound cracks and pathologies of French politics currently manifesting themselves in a similar way in France nowadays. Political parties risk jeopardizing social harmony by capitalizing in a populist fashion on divisive issues such as immigration and Islam to form a winning coalition for the upcoming elections. 

  The real questions that the readers of “Submission” and citizens of Europe should be asking themselves is “How much longer can politics be preoccupied with cultural divisions at the expense of social cohesion?” and “What can we do about the decaying state of Western democracy portrayed in ‘Submission’ and reflected in contemporary French politics?”. 

 In conclusion, although the threat of a “Muslim takeover” of Europe consists of a far-right paranoic obsession rather than a concrete reality, French politicians seem more than glad to adopt such outlooks for a populist–nationalist mobilization that could grant them election victory. In this context, Michel Houellebecq’s submission consists of a thoughtful and critical piece of literature that does not only provide an insightful political handbook to the observer of French politics but also raises important questions about the state of a decaying and divisive political environment that feeds on the culture wars and populist identitarian politics to keep itself alive, rather than providing a platform for a substantial public debate that addresses the needs and problems of all French citizens whatever their religious affiliation may be. “Submission” portrays a nightmarish dystopia that does not reflect the future but rather the problematic present of politics in Western Europe that seem inadequate to fend off the nationalist and xenophobic appeal fuelled by fever dreams of sharia law and Muslim majority populations taking over Europe. How is the allegedly dying “great Western civilization” going to save itself if it intends to sacrifice its liberal values and instead adopt an oppressive undemocratic vision that discriminates against people based on religious faith and race?