According to La Dépêche du Midi, between four and eight sports clubs have already been reported in Toulouse for possible communitarian or even Islamist radicalisation. “There is a real problem that has developed in recent years. Our will is to counter Islamism, which perverts a religion for political purposes,” said Toulouse Mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc. The elected official notes that while the phenomenon is one of ” a minority”, it is important to “deal with it immediately, rather than wait and risk it growing”. As La Dépêche reports, the municipality of the red city has decided to draw up a charter of republican values, taking into account respect for secularism, in order to regulate the subsidies allocated to sports clubs. A prevention and training programme aimed at municipal officials in contact with the club environment, as well as leaders and coaches, should also help to identify the “weak signals” of radicalisation and proselytisation. ” Before it is too late,” said Laurence Arribagé, the member of the local parliament in charge of sport.
The community should also set up commissions to combat radicalisation in cooperation with the 37 municipalities of the metropolis, but also with the departmental and regional councils and their Olympic and sports committees. The aim would be to create a network of whistleblowers and a corresponding procedure. The sports most affected by the plague of communal misuse, such as football and martial arts, will be at the centre of the system. As Jean-Luc Moudenc recalls, the approaches implemented, and in particular the Charter of Republican Values, will aim above all to reaffirm the protection of individual and public freedoms against sectarian aberrations and all forms of extremism.