‘Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres’: What does the French protests slogan mean?

Scrawled on cardboard signs and hoisted high above huge crowds of protesters, a four word phrase has become both a symbol among France’s disaffected youth and a running joke.The slogan of ‘bismillah, c’est les ténèbres’ - mixing Arabic and French to say ‘In the name of god, it’s the darkness’ - appears to have originated in a Snapchat message. The post, adorned with Algerian flags, came from a user called Mamadou, who requested to be added to a student group with the message: “Hi, in the name of God, it’s the darkness. When’s the blockade, wallah, bro?”However, some of France’s student protesters suspect the post was actually sent by an undercover police officer trying to infiltrate their private groups, as authorities struggle to get on top of some of the biggest demonstrations in recent memory. Organisers claim 800,000 people took to the streets last weekend and are planning for more action this Saturday.A young man holds two placards bearing the slogan during a demonstration attended by several thousand people in Grenoble (AFP/Getty)What does ‘Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres’ mean?‘Bismillah’ is Arabic for ‘In the name of God’, a phrase Muslims use before starting an activity. In French slang, it has morphed into something closer to ‘Let’s do it’.‘C’est les ténèbres’ means ‘It’s the darkness’, suggestive of a bleak situation without hope.The phrase appears to mimic the colloquial mix of French and Arabic that young people in the country often use today. But Snapchat users in France found it unusual enough to screenshot and post on social media from early October.Phèdre Quémener, a high school student in Paris, told the New York Times that the message is seen across France “as an example of racism because it implies that the people who are going to vandalize property are Arab”.It has become a national joke because “it is such a terrible impersonation of a young person,” she added.Elsa Sauveroche, from Nice, told The Independent: “It’s clunky. When I first heard it it sounded ridiculous … I had to Google it to see if it was an actual saying. Even still, the first time I heard it my reaction was what are they coming up with.”Protesters see the slogan as both a joke and sign of resistance (AFP/Getty)Did police really infiltrate Snapchat groups?There is no evidence that police did try to break into social media groups to infiltrate the protest movement.Nobody has independently verified where the accounts came from, and the police have not commented on the screenshots in circulation since early October.The French Interior Ministry also has not addressed whether its agents used the phrase, but did tell the New York Times that enforcement officials may use online personas to speak with people suspected of organising unlawful activities during protests.The phrase has nevertheless been picked up by young protesters, including Greta Thunberg, who employed it when addressing demonstrators in Seine-Saint-Denis on 13 October, according to Italian news agency ANSA.The message, which awkwardly mixes Arabic and French, has been spotted at multiple protests (AFP/Getty)Why are French students protesting?France has been hit by some of the worst urban tumult in years since protests broke out last month over student frustrations with classroom conditions and teacher shortages.The demonstrations have since gathered national momentum, with many hundreds of thousands of people protesting cost of living concerns and declining public services.France's main student union, UNEF, has called for further rallies on Saturday, while the Yellow Vest group, which emerged as a potent anti-establishment movement in 2018, has filed plans for a march through central Paris the same day.Efforts to ease social tensions showed little sign of progress, as unions pledged to press ahead with a general strike on November 5 after government talks ended inconclusively.Cost of living protests have since broken out across the continent with a similar revolutionary angst.Placards seen in marches from Bologna to Brussels and Berlin have all carried the phrase ‘bismillah, c’est les ténèbres’.