>**It was a group screening of Jawad Rhalib’s film ‘Amal’ in February 2023 that sparked off the movement. ‘Amal’ tells the story of a French teacher, played by Lubna Azabal, who has to deal with pupils who have been radicalised and manipulated by an Islamist colleague. Following the screening, teachers from all levels of education, from all networks, and from both Brussels and Wallonia, began to talk about their daily lives in front of their classes.**
>**Fear of threats**
>On Saturday 8 February, nearly 300 teachers gathered at the ULB for the ‘Paroles de Profs’ conference. They were able to talk directly to each other. Coming out of their silence gave them an opportunity to discuss a subject that is still poorly assessed. No study has yet measured the phenomenon of radicalisation in schools. Teachers feel alone and helpless when faced with their pupils.
>In the wake of the murders of Samuel Paty and Dominique Bernard in France, teachers have been subjected to pressure and threats, sometimes even death threats. They are afraid of being accused of racism or Islamophobia and of suffering reprisals.
>The phenomenon mainly affects schools in large cities with a high proportion of pupils from immigrant backgrounds. The teachers who agreed to testify asked us to preserve their anonymity completely.
>**The preachers of TikTok**
>Michel is a young teacher at a secondary school in the heart of Brussels. He chose this profession as a calling and he is worried: ‘There is a kind of domination of religion in everything that happens at school, in all the reflections, in all the discussions. The angle used by certain pupils is always that of religion’. 10 years ago, as a non-Muslim teacher, Michel was still able to broach taboo subjects such as abortion, homosexuality, divorce and mixed couples.
>‘They listened to me and I felt that I could bring a different vision to the one they hear all day long in their community. One 16-year-old student told me that his ideal society was Sharia law. I explained to him the history of Belgium, the fight against the grip of the Catholic Church, and the neutrality that allows him to practise his religion freely. It was an eye-opening discussion.
>‘Today, that’s no longer possible. Condemning a homosexual to death seems almost normal to some people. Before any discussion, these students want to know my religion and whether I’m a believer. As an atheist, I have no credibility in their eyes’, Michel laments. ‘They swear by the preachers on TikTok!
>**A problematic development**
>Delphine in Verviers and Christian in Brussels express similar concerns. ‘We’re giving in more and more on a lot of things,’ explains Delphine, who teaches in a disadvantaged secondary school that accepts veiled pupils and the wearing of the abaya. ‘Pupils refuse to remove their veils during laboratory exercises, they refuse to remove them during work placements, boys refuse to shake hands with a woman, girls refuse to sit next to boys, harmless activities such as an end-of-year concert are declared ‘haram’, supposedly forbidden in Islam. Prayer mats have already been confiscated at school.’
>Christian says he is deeply saddened to see most of his pupils growing up in such a context. ‘I love my pupils, I have affection for them, I’d like them to flourish in our society. But instead, I’m witnessing a radical rise in religion that runs counter to our values. My pupils don’t feel comfortable in Belgian society, it’s complicated to organise school trips because everything has to be halal, parents don’t want to let their daughters sleep outside the house, swimming lessons have been abolished because the girls were called ‘whores’ by the boys. Young boys aged 12-13 want to check their older sister’s phone. Today, non-Muslim pupils have left the school.
religious people are the real groomers
islamist radicalisation kills people but they haven’t made a good tv show about it like “adolescence” so we will have to contend with attention-deficient politicians targeting white incels only
HOOOFD IN HET ZAND STEKEN MENSEN. HET IS ENKEL DE SCHULD VAN DE VLAAMS BELANGERS.
Everyone knows this is a problem. No one wants to do anything because Qatar and the Saudis got a lot of people in their pockets
And this is the future of our country.
Very soon the decent people with values and respect will be the minority in Belgium.
kritisch nadenken is iets dat ook op school moet aangeleerd worden.
I am very worried about this, we are going backwards in tolerance. Make no mistake, those extremists are even hateful and racist as extreme right people.
There should be no tolerance for this in the school system.
Flipping block tiktok
Myea, seems pretty much the same content as “allah n’a rien a faire dans ma classe”. Makes me wonder how bad the situation is in Flanders
This was 5-6 years ago. I used to work retail, had a couple interns from the ‘opleiding kantoor’. I was the stagementor or whatever it was called. 16-17 year old kids. Had multiple muslim guys who refused to listen to our managers because they were woman. Would listen to me (male) though, even though I was lower in the hierarchy at our store. Also refused to listen to or work in team with a gay colleague.
We’re not teachers so it was pretty easy for us: Get kicked out and instantly fail your internship.
Not that it meant anything because they all expressed they were just in school because they had to til they’re 18 and then they’re quiting.
These kids have literally been indoctrinated to not want to be educated. Fucking blew my mind. I can’t imagine what teachers have to go through that can’t kick these people out and actually want to teach them, has to feel like rolling a rock uphill.
We know it’s cooler to hate and talk about the far right but in my opinion this is far more concerning
A friends wife is a teacher.
She said that there was a group chat about the positon of the woman in society. The consensus in that class was that the women should obey man. And the sad part was, that it wasn’t a class full of muslims. Probably 5 muslims out of 20. Age between 13-15.
That’s just terrifying.
Why were the so called “radicals” interviewed for this? Seems like white supremacist pearl clutching. After 2 years of genocide in Palestine you are still believing this propaganda?
Teaching was never easy. And now you get to deal with Andrew Tate following incels and/or religious fundamentalists all the time. I understand so many teachers quit after only a couple of years.
16 comments
>**It was a group screening of Jawad Rhalib’s film ‘Amal’ in February 2023 that sparked off the movement. ‘Amal’ tells the story of a French teacher, played by Lubna Azabal, who has to deal with pupils who have been radicalised and manipulated by an Islamist colleague. Following the screening, teachers from all levels of education, from all networks, and from both Brussels and Wallonia, began to talk about their daily lives in front of their classes.**
>**Fear of threats**
>On Saturday 8 February, nearly 300 teachers gathered at the ULB for the ‘Paroles de Profs’ conference. They were able to talk directly to each other. Coming out of their silence gave them an opportunity to discuss a subject that is still poorly assessed. No study has yet measured the phenomenon of radicalisation in schools. Teachers feel alone and helpless when faced with their pupils.
>In the wake of the murders of Samuel Paty and Dominique Bernard in France, teachers have been subjected to pressure and threats, sometimes even death threats. They are afraid of being accused of racism or Islamophobia and of suffering reprisals.
>The phenomenon mainly affects schools in large cities with a high proportion of pupils from immigrant backgrounds. The teachers who agreed to testify asked us to preserve their anonymity completely.
>**The preachers of TikTok**
>Michel is a young teacher at a secondary school in the heart of Brussels. He chose this profession as a calling and he is worried: ‘There is a kind of domination of religion in everything that happens at school, in all the reflections, in all the discussions. The angle used by certain pupils is always that of religion’. 10 years ago, as a non-Muslim teacher, Michel was still able to broach taboo subjects such as abortion, homosexuality, divorce and mixed couples.
>‘They listened to me and I felt that I could bring a different vision to the one they hear all day long in their community. One 16-year-old student told me that his ideal society was Sharia law. I explained to him the history of Belgium, the fight against the grip of the Catholic Church, and the neutrality that allows him to practise his religion freely. It was an eye-opening discussion.
>‘Today, that’s no longer possible. Condemning a homosexual to death seems almost normal to some people. Before any discussion, these students want to know my religion and whether I’m a believer. As an atheist, I have no credibility in their eyes’, Michel laments. ‘They swear by the preachers on TikTok!
>**A problematic development**
>Delphine in Verviers and Christian in Brussels express similar concerns. ‘We’re giving in more and more on a lot of things,’ explains Delphine, who teaches in a disadvantaged secondary school that accepts veiled pupils and the wearing of the abaya. ‘Pupils refuse to remove their veils during laboratory exercises, they refuse to remove them during work placements, boys refuse to shake hands with a woman, girls refuse to sit next to boys, harmless activities such as an end-of-year concert are declared ‘haram’, supposedly forbidden in Islam. Prayer mats have already been confiscated at school.’
>Christian says he is deeply saddened to see most of his pupils growing up in such a context. ‘I love my pupils, I have affection for them, I’d like them to flourish in our society. But instead, I’m witnessing a radical rise in religion that runs counter to our values. My pupils don’t feel comfortable in Belgian society, it’s complicated to organise school trips because everything has to be halal, parents don’t want to let their daughters sleep outside the house, swimming lessons have been abolished because the girls were called ‘whores’ by the boys. Young boys aged 12-13 want to check their older sister’s phone. Today, non-Muslim pupils have left the school.
religious people are the real groomers
islamist radicalisation kills people but they haven’t made a good tv show about it like “adolescence” so we will have to contend with attention-deficient politicians targeting white incels only
HOOOFD IN HET ZAND STEKEN MENSEN. HET IS ENKEL DE SCHULD VAN DE VLAAMS BELANGERS.
Everyone knows this is a problem. No one wants to do anything because Qatar and the Saudis got a lot of people in their pockets
And this is the future of our country.
Very soon the decent people with values and respect will be the minority in Belgium.
kritisch nadenken is iets dat ook op school moet aangeleerd worden.
I am very worried about this, we are going backwards in tolerance. Make no mistake, those extremists are even hateful and racist as extreme right people.
There should be no tolerance for this in the school system.
Flipping block tiktok
Myea, seems pretty much the same content as “allah n’a rien a faire dans ma classe”. Makes me wonder how bad the situation is in Flanders
This was 5-6 years ago. I used to work retail, had a couple interns from the ‘opleiding kantoor’. I was the stagementor or whatever it was called. 16-17 year old kids. Had multiple muslim guys who refused to listen to our managers because they were woman. Would listen to me (male) though, even though I was lower in the hierarchy at our store. Also refused to listen to or work in team with a gay colleague.
We’re not teachers so it was pretty easy for us: Get kicked out and instantly fail your internship.
Not that it meant anything because they all expressed they were just in school because they had to til they’re 18 and then they’re quiting.
These kids have literally been indoctrinated to not want to be educated. Fucking blew my mind. I can’t imagine what teachers have to go through that can’t kick these people out and actually want to teach them, has to feel like rolling a rock uphill.
We know it’s cooler to hate and talk about the far right but in my opinion this is far more concerning
A friends wife is a teacher.
She said that there was a group chat about the positon of the woman in society. The consensus in that class was that the women should obey man. And the sad part was, that it wasn’t a class full of muslims. Probably 5 muslims out of 20. Age between 13-15.
That’s just terrifying.
Why were the so called “radicals” interviewed for this? Seems like white supremacist pearl clutching. After 2 years of genocide in Palestine you are still believing this propaganda?
Teaching was never easy. And now you get to deal with Andrew Tate following incels and/or religious fundamentalists all the time. I understand so many teachers quit after only a couple of years.
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