Student Protesters in France Have a Strange New Slogan. What Does It Mean? “Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres”

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. 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,...