White man Quebec
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Bilge interrogates Quebec’s transformation from a premodern, Catholic society to a secular, nationalist one, revealing how this shift has redefined inclusion and exclusion along racialised lines. Historically, Quebec’s embrace of secularism demanded that religious communities, particularly Jews, Muslims and Sikhs, strip themselves of visible religious markers to gain conditional acceptance. This transition from religious to secular modernity did not eliminate exclusion. Still, it rebranded it, embedding assimilationist demands into the "progressive" values framework. What was once explicitly rooted in Christian hegemony evolved into a secular nationalism based on colonial power structures and a desperate need for white dominance.
Bilge’s critique is especially potent in the context of contemporary Islamophobia. The figure of the veiled Muslim woman has become a central symbol in Quebec’s self-image as a secular, gender-equal society. By portraying Islamic practices as antithetical to Quebecois values, Islamophobia is framed not as racism but as the defence of liberal principles. This discourse of sexual nationalism—where secularism and gender equality are weaponised—creates a moral high ground from which to exclude racialised communities. It positions Muslims as perpetual outsiders, their cultural and religious expressions framed as relics of an oppressive, premodern past incompatible with Quebec’s "progress." It also twists women's bodies into a tool, claiming expressions of concern over their freedom while simultaneously policing and restricting those very freedoms in the name of secularism, rendering them objects of state control.
At its core, Bilge’s analysis emphasises Quebec’s essence of white fragility: it acts like an insecure white man, unable to tolerate even the slightest critique without doubling down on its "progressive" credentials. The province’s identity rests on the myth of a (semi) progressive society that is paradoxically unable to tolerate religious differences without demanding assimilation.