Morocco Joins Boycott of French Products Amid Macron’s Islam Comments

The remarks made by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, have outraged the Muslim community. They follow the beheading of a history and geography teacher who had shared Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in class. In his tribute speech, the head of state announced that his country "will not give up caricatures, drawings, even if others back down".

These remarks were widely relayed on social networks. They have triggered calls for a boycott, which are also respected in supermarkets and stores owned by the French or at the level of the French product aisles. Like other Muslim countries, the hashtag "#BoycottFrenchProducts Kuwait" is in vogue on Moroccan social networks. Images of French product aisles, once full and now empty, continue to be shared in protest against attacks on the symbols of Islam in France.

For Mountassir Hamada, from the Moroccan Center for Studies and Research on the Maghreb (CMEM), this boycott campaign "is part of an emotional reaction, naturally aroused in such situations". According to him, Moroccans must become aware of their economic weight, because he recalls, "the alternative products, supposed to replace those boycotted, are also of foreign origin, most often European or even Turkish".