As hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across France this past weekend in support of student protesters, many displayed a somewhat mystifying rallying cry on their cardboard signs: “Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres.”
The phrase, a mash-up of the Islamic blessing “In the name of God” and the French phrase “It’s the darkness,” may make little sense on the surface.
But it has become a symbol of a generational rift since young people began protesting last month against lackluster school resources — demonstrations that evolved into widespread unrest this past weekend.
Where did the phrase emerge?
The sentence seems to have first been used on Snapchat by someone who was seeking entry to a private chat room where student protest organizers gathered.
The poster addressed Snapchat users with the greeting “Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres,” a seemingly nonsensical phrase that appeared to mimic the colloquial blend of Arabic and French that young people in France sometimes use.
The writer then added, “We are going to break everything.”
The writer seems to have sent the message multiple times under different profiles, using Arab names like Mamadou and Abdellah and accounts that displayed Algerian flag emojis.
Other Snapchat users, finding the phrasing funny, made screenshots of the messages and posted them on social media. We haven’t been able to verify their origin.
What happened next?
Many young people suspected the messages came from law enforcement officials who were clumsily trying to infiltrate the student protest movements.
Demonstrators quickly adopted “Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres” as a sardonic slogan meant to mock the authorities’ attempt to stifle their cause.
It is now seen as shorthand for longstanding tensions between law enforcement officials and protesters, especially students and people of color. The children of immigrants from France’s former colonies, Black and Arab French people have long reported being discriminated against — and, as the messages seem to illustrate, misunderstood — by the authorities.
Asked for comment, France’s Interior Ministry did not address whether its agents had used the phrase. But it acknowledged that law enforcement officials sometimes assume online personas to communicate with people suspected of organizing unlawful activities during protests.
“In this context, the investigator has the option of creating a pseudonym,” the ministry said in a statement, to “extract and retain communications on persons likely to be the perpetrators of these offences and any evidence that may be used in legal proceedings.”
Why did this strike such a chord?
To student protesters, the awkward wording seemed to evoke the generational divide between their movement and a government that has largely refused their demands.
“No young person talks like that,” Sabrine Kharbach, a spokeswoman for a prominent French student union, said. “Young people have reclaimed this phrase to point out that attempts to monitor and infiltrate their movements do not go unnoticed, and to assert their ability to organize in spite of them.”
Sadanee Sabadi, a university student in Bordeaux who has joined the protests, said in an interview that the Snapchat messages betrayed a “prejudice” about the types of people who officers believed were setting up blockades or aiming to “break everything.”
Phèdre Quémener, a high school student in Paris, said that “Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres” had become a national joke because “it is such a terrible impersonation of a young person.”
She added, “This is seen as an example of racism because it implies that the people who are going to vandalize property are Arab.”
How has it spread beyond France?
“Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres” has been featured in similar demonstrations in Belgium and Germany.
Greta Thunberg, a Swedish environmental activist, repeated it in a video posted by an Instagram account that expressed solidarity with the student movement. In the video, Ms. Thunberg flashed other Gen Z gestures, including one associated with “6-7,” a meme that also became popular because of its absurdity.
The use of the new slogan mirrors the grim humor baked into the Cockroach movement in India, which has also been led by students calling for a better education system. Protesters named their movement after an insult directed at them by India’s top judge, who described young and unemployed Indians as “parasites” and “cockroaches.”
How did the protests start?
The student demonstrations began last month, sweeping across hundreds of French schools as protesters called for improvements to crumbling facilities, more teachers, smaller class sizes and less intense schedules.
Many demonstrations remained peaceful, but others descended into violence, as participants set fire to or ransacked at least 24 schools, leading to roughly 8,000 arrests, according to the government. The protests gradually merged with a national movement of labor unions and other campaign groups, leading to countrywide protests this past weekend that were overshadowed by widespread rioting.
The police’s forceful response has helped galvanize the protesters.
France’s official police watchdog is investigating at least 34 accusations of police misconduct during the protests since last month. The cases include that of a 14-year-old boy who was maimed by a tear-gas grenade that an officer fired at close range.
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