Alexis Corbière: defending Muslims against stigmatization and bringing together the left against the RN
Guest of Oumma, Alexis Corbière, deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis and co-founder of L’après, defends a secularism that protects freedoms and denounces the degradation of public services. As the 2027 presidential election approaches, he pleads for a union of the left including La France insoumise, despite his disagreements with his strategy.
For Alexis Corbière, the defense of the Republic begins with that of public schools. Referring to the high school mobilizations in Seine-Saint-Denis, the former teacher emphasizes overcrowded classes, unreplaced teachers and the lack of school health personnel. He refuses to allow the attention paid to incidents on the sidelines of the demonstrations to erase the demands of young people.
“When you attack the school, you attack the Republic,” he says. Behind the inequalities between establishments, he denounces “academic separatism”: depending on their place of residence and the resources of their family, children do not benefit from the same learning conditions. He sees in the weakening of public services a dynamic which favors the development of the private sector, in education as in health.
A secularism that protects the freedom to believe
Asked about the place of Muslims in the public debate, Alexis Corbière denounces a media “obsession” which regularly presents them as responsible for the country’s difficulties. He explains that he now uses the term Islamophobia to designate anti-Muslim racism, while remaining attached to the freedom to criticize religions.
His concept of secularism is based on freedom of conscience: everyone must be able to believe, not believe or change religion. He thus rejects proposals aimed at banning the headscarf in the street, which he considers to be a “perversion of secularism”.
To those who equate wearing the veil with a rejection of the Republic, he contrasts his experience as an elected official with Bagnolet. Mothers wearing headscarves, he emphasizes, are on the front line of mobilizations for public schools and accompany school trips. Defending their rights does not imply sharing their religious beliefs: it is about guaranteeing their freedom and equality.
Fight racism unambiguously
On anti-Semitism, the MP asserts an equally clear demand: “We cannot be left-wing and anti-Semitic. » He contests the idea of anti-Semitism having become “residual” and criticizes LFI’s first reaction to the attacks of October 7, in particular the absence of the word “terrorism”.
For him, support for the Palestinian people and denunciation of the Israeli government’s policy must be accompanied by a clear condemnation of the massacres of civilians. He also warns against what he describes as a strategy by the far right to forget its own anti-Semitic heritage by turning the accusation against the left.
This demand for clarity also concerns political violence. Alexis Corbière distinguishes the protection of demonstrations and public meetings from the pursuit of physical confrontation. He bluntly condemns the beating of a person on the ground and defends an anti-fascist commitment based on collective and democratic mobilization.
A break with LFI which he presents as strategic
Returning to his non-inauguration in the 2024 legislative elections, Alexis Corbière claims to have been “purged” from La France insoumise. He nevertheless insists on the permanence of his convictions: wealth sharing, ecological transition and the Sixth Republic.
His disagreement, he explains, primarily concerns strategy. Faced with the progression of the National Rally, he defends the extension of the union built with the Nupes then the New Popular Front. His criticisms also target left-wing leaders who refuse any alliance with LFI, which he considers to be an essential component of the gathering.
In his eyes, leading the left in the first round is not enough: we must build a majority capable of beating the far right in the second. The After intends to contribute to this union, rather than defend additional partisan space. Alexis Corbière summarizes his objective as follows: “Get out of macronism and not enter into lepenism. » An appeal addressed to the entire left, which he invites to measure the risk of a victory for the RN and to find the path to a common fight.
