Muslim Professionals Leaving France Amid Rising Discrimination, Study Finds

"I decided to leave France during the 2022 presidential elections, because of the nauseating controversies between Éric Zemmour, the Rassemblement national, not to mention the Republicans. I had the impression that all the ills of France were our (Muslims’) fault," says Farid* to TSA, a commercial executive of Algerian origin settled in Switzerland where he has found a job that matches his skills. He already enjoys the neighboring country. He has even had a promotion. He has gone from a simple employee to a commercial director "in a short time", which is "indeed more difficult for people from an immigrant background" in France, he says. A year and a half later, Farid has "no regrets". He plans to bring his family to Switzerland as early as next summer. "We have this constant feeling of oppression," assured France Info, Myriam, 25, with a master’s degree in human resources. Exasperated, the young woman decided to leave France for a very distant destination, Japan, where her veil "will not provoke any reaction".

The phenomenon of the flight of Muslim brains has also inspired three sociologists, Julien Talpin, Olivier Esteves, and Alice Picard, who published a book last Friday with the evocative title "La France tu l’aimes mais tu la quittes", after conducting a survey through a sample of 1000 people and 140 in-depth interviews. "By shooting at random to supposedly reduce immigration, especially of Muslim origin, extremists of all stripes have ended up targeting all Muslims, including those who are French," analyzes an anonymous business leader. The perception that the far right has of Islam is notably at the origin of this brain drain. "Islam is not compatible with the Republic," often repeats the polemicist Éric Zemmour, president of the Reconquête! party. "Is there a form of Islam that is compatible with the Republic? I still want to believe it. Because if the answer to this question is no, it means that there are 4 to 5 million French Muslims who have no place with us," former Prime Minister Alain Juppé asked a similar question on Radio J, a few days after the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The flight of Muslim brains is not without consequences for France. "The departure towards more clement horizons of our Muslim fellow citizens is an immense loss for France in terms of talents, skills and contributions," comments Chems-eddine Hafiz, rector of the Great Mosque of Paris in a title "What a waste! Muslim emigration: the cry of alarm of a France losing its diversity", published on the Institution’s website. "Muslims are undoubtedly an essential link in our society, having enriched, whether we recognize it or not, our history, our culture and our economy," he added. On X, Olivier Faure, first secretary of the Socialist Party, laments: "Discrimination, racism are at the origin of a gigantic human waste and loss of talent." "There is a brain drain, we are depriving ourselves of talent," warns Mariam Khattab, a human resources specialist at the Mozaïk RH recruitment firm, in Le Parisien.