At the beginning of June, President Barack Obama made an apparent dig at France’s headscarf ban -after a law enacted in 2004 banning the Islamic headscarf and other conspicuous religious symbols from public schools- in a speech aimed at healing rifts with the Islamic world. Obama defended the choice of some Muslim women to don the headscarf by saying: “It is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear. Now weeks after that speech, French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s Government is considering a proposal of parliamentarians to ban the burqa after some French MPs called for an inquiry into the wearing of the head-to-toe Islamic veil in the country. They said that Muslim women who cover themselves completely in public constitute an assault on French secularism. Housing minister Fadela Amara, a Muslim-born women’s rights campaigner added that “we must do everything to stop burqas from spreading, in the name of democracy, of the republic, of respect for women.”
Today, in a presidential address to a joint session of France two houses of parliament, Sarkozy laid out his support for a ban even before the panel has been approved . “In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity. The burqa is not a religious sign, it’s a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement — I want to say it solemnly,” he said. “It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic.”
In a country with 4 to 5 million-strong Muslim community the burqa debate is dividing politicians and the Muslim community. Immigration minister Eric Besson is against banning the burqa. He says France already bars female civil servants from wearing veils or headscarves to work and girls wearing them to school. He prefers education and dialogue, rather than more laws, to persuade women from wearing burqas. On the opposite side is housing minister Fadela Amara, who said said she was “in favour of the total prohibition in France of the burqa … this coffin which kills the fundamental rights of women.” Also against it is the head of the Paris Grand Mosque, Dalil Boubakeur who said that Islam in France must be an open Islam.
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Andrew Young June 25, 2009 at 5:26 am
What Sarkozy fails to realize is that women are often “trapped” or restricted in many ways. He would suggest that the physical symbol of a burqa is evidence of women being treated as second rate. Could one argue then that prostitution should be outlawed or that the fashion industry that “uses” mostly women for their looks (Mrs. Sarkozy could attest to this)be outlawed as well? Sarkozy is uncomfortable with the notion that Muslims may become more of a political force in the near future. His attempt to squash a tradition does nothing but segregate a group that is not going away. He should take his cue from the more tolerant French politicians, as a lack of tolerance is bad for the business of a nation. Just ask people in Ulster how they are perceived by the world after they “tolerated” a group of Roma in Belfast.