Nicolas Dupont-Aignan made his comments after a report suggested offering Arabic lessons in French schools. AFP
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan made his comments after a report suggested offering Arabic lessons in French schools. AFP

Languages are tools for communication and understanding, not fear and division



At the beginning of the story of the Tower of Babel, all human beings were united and spoke the same language. Then someone had the idea of building a tower so high it would reach heaven. God was not impressed by this act of hubris and punished the people by scattering them across the earth and making them speak in different tongues, no longer able to understand each other.

The solution to this ongoing problem is, of course, to learn languages. Doing so not only enables people of the world to converse, but to truly know and respect each other. Today, however, even this idea has been weaponised and used to spread hatred and division.

Exhibit A is Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, the leader of the right-wing populist party Debout la France. He has weighed in against a report by a think tank, which recommends that French state schools offer Arabic language lessons. The report's author Hakim El Karoui believes that teaching Arabic in schools is a way to promote understanding of Middle Eastern culture and history, and offers a safety valve against radicalism. Given France's large Arabic-speaking minority, its notable trade links with the region and the overlooked status of Arabic as one of the world's great literary languages, it's a reasonable proposal.

However, when asked in an interview whether learning Arabic would lead students to terrorism, Mr Dupont-Aignan responded: “This is the danger. I believe so.” He also added that he opposed what he referred to as the “Islamisation of France”.

Unlike Mr Dupont-Aignan, actual linguists – and most other right-thinking people – know that languages are not inherently good or bad and that they don’t, in themselves, possess political motivations of any kind. Our perceptions of a language are usually shaped by our own beliefs and prejudices about the cultures they are spoken within.

You’d hope that Mr Dupont-Aignan is simply a lone crackpot, but unfortunately he’s not. When ideas are expressed on a public platform, they tend to percolate into popular discourse, no matter how crazy they might be. Just ask the passengers who have been kicked off aeroplanes for saying words like “Inshallah”. This happens because their fellow travellers seem to think that a person speaking Arabic in public is something to be scared of.

Mr Dupont-Aignan isn't the first person to push the idea that languages possess hostile characteristics, either. Earlier this summer, Richard Dawkins tweeted a picture of himself sitting outdoors on a beautiful summer day. Above it were the words: "Listening to the lovely bells of Winchester, one of our great mediaeval cathedrals. So much nicer than the aggressive-sounding 'Allahu Akhbar.' Or is that just my cultural upbringing?"

As a noted academic Mr Dawkins ought to know that Arabic is spoken as a first language not just by Muslims, but by Christians, Jews and people of many other faiths. That’s before we consider its status as a language of great learning and poetry, especially that contained within the Quran. But the message he clearly wanted to convey is that Muslims are to be mistrusted and feared. He clearly can’t get past his own prejudices, and while UK law prevents people from saying that kind of thing publicly, ascribing the characteristic of aggression to two “foreign” words does exactly the same thing.

Mr Dupont-Aignan’s views are particularly ironic, considering France’s long and brutal colonial history, during which his country imposed its own language on people around the world.

There may also be a bit of insecurity behind his ideas. After all, the Académie française is battling what it sees as an invasion of the French lexicon by English words. President Emmanuel Macron has also recently launched a drive to boost the global use of French, particularly in Africa, describing it as “the language of freedom”.

He follows in the footsteps of the former president Francois Hollande who memorably asserted that “speaking French means speaking the language of human rights”. I would say, “Try telling that to the people of Algeria and the many other African nations whose populations were tortured and massacred under French colonial rule,” but he actually said this at a summit of Francophone nations in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. No joke.

Irony aside, to anyone but the most deluded fantasist, it should be clear that placing languages in ideological opposition to one another – one representing liberty and equality, the other death and destruction – is not just foolish, it, too, is an act of supreme arrogance that could have disastrous consequences for the way we all relate to each other.

Shelina Janmohamed is the author of Love in a Headscarf and Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World

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Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
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Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
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Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5

The biog

Name: Greg Heinricks

From: Alberta, western Canada

Record fish: 56kg sailfish

Member of: International Game Fish Association

Company: Arabian Divers and Sportfishing Charters

Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode

Directors: Raj & DK

Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon

Rating: 4/5

Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War by Thomas J. Brennan and Finbarr O’Reilly

RESULTS

6pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 – Group 1 (PA) $55,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner: Rajeh, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Musabah Al Muhairi (trainer)

6.35pm: Oud Metha Stakes – Rated Conditions (TB) $60,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Get Back Goldie, William Buick, Doug O’Neill

7.10pm: Jumeirah Classic – Listed (TB) $150,000 (Turf) 1,600m
Winner: Sovereign Prince, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby

7.45pm: Firebreak Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Hypothetical, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer

8.20pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 – Group 2 (TB) $350,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner: Hot Rod Charlie, William Buick, Doug O’Neill

8.55pm: Al Bastakiya Trial – Conditions (TB) $60,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner: Withering, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass

9.30pm: Balanchine – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,800m
Winner: Creative Flair, William Buick, Charlie Appleby

The%20specs%3A%20Panamera%20Turbo%20E-Hybrid
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The%20specs%3A%202024%20Panamera
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The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Transmission: ten-speed

Power: 420bhp

Torque: 624Nm

Price: Dh325,125

On sale: Now

Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

Company%20Profile
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TRAP

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue

Director: M Night Shyamalan

Rating: 3/5

Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Rating: 4/5
Men's football draw

Group A: UAE, Spain, South Africa, Jamaica

Group B: Bangladesh, Serbia, Korea

Group C: Bharat, Denmark, Kenya, USA

Group D: Oman, Austria, Rwanda

Company%20Profile
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Disclaimer

Director: Alfonso Cuaron 

Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville 

Rating: 4/5

Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill

Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Part three: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

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How The Debt Panel's advice helped readers in 2019

December 11: 'My husband died, so what happens to the Dh240,000 he owes in the UAE?'

JL, a housewife from India, wrote to us about her husband, who died earlier this month. He left behind an outstanding loan of Dh240,000 and she was hoping to pay it off with an insurance policy he had taken out. She also wanted to recover some of her husband’s end-of-service liabilities to help support her and her son.

“I have no words to thank you for helping me out,” she wrote to The Debt Panel after receiving the panellists' comments. “The advice has given me an idea of the present status of the loan and how to take it up further. I will draft a letter and send it to the email ID on the bank’s website along with the death certificate. I hope and pray to find a way out of this.”

November 26:  ‘I owe Dh100,000 because my employer has not paid me for a year’

SL, a financial services employee from India, left the UAE in June after quitting his job because his employer had not paid him since November 2018. He owes Dh103,800 on four debts and was told by the panellists he may be able to use the insolvency law to solve his issue. 

SL thanked the panellists for their efforts. "Indeed, I have some clarity on the consequence of the case and the next steps to take regarding my situation," he says. "Hopefully, I will be able to provide a positive testimony soon."

October 15: 'I lost my job and left the UAE owing Dh71,000. Can I return?'

MS, an energy sector employee from South Africa, left the UAE in August after losing his Dh12,000 job. He was struggling to meet the repayments while securing a new position in the UAE and feared he would be detained if he returned. He has now secured a new job and will return to the Emirates this month.

“The insolvency law is indeed a relief to hear,” he says. "I will not apply for insolvency at this stage. I have been able to pay something towards my loan and credit card. As it stands, I only have a one-month deficit, which I will be able to recover by the end of December." 

The specs

Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now


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