France has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe, which is estimated at 5 million. No doubt this is why it has been more beset by tensions arising out of the post-9/11 Talibanization of Islam than any other country in that region.
These tensions came into stark relief in 2004 when France passed a law barring burqas in public schools. But I agree with this French law for the same, common-sense reason I agree with US laws barring Muslim women from applying for a driver’s license (or a passport) wearing veils with only their eyes visible.
Unfortunately, the ban on burqas in public schools seems to have only inspired more Muslim women to wear them in other public places. And this has only heightened tensions between the zealous tradition of secularism in France and the equally zealous adherence to Sharia law by an increasing number of Muslims now living there.
Of course, some countries, including the UK, have bent over backwards to accommodate Islamic practices that contravene social customs (and even local laws in some cases). But France has insisted that Muslims assimilate in every respect that is not expressly forbidden by their religion. Never mind that long-simmering frustrations with institutionalized discrimination caused alienated Muslims to riot all over France a few years ago….
At any rate, it came as no surprise when French President Nicolas Sarkozy made the following declaration last week:
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… it will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic.
But I do not agree. After all, I appreciate the differences between Sharia laws that clearly oppress women in places like Afghanistan and those that seem to subjugate them in places like Iraq … and France.
Moreover, no matter how well-intentioned, I do not think any Western government should be dictating to mature Muslim women what constitutes appropriate religious garb; especially if there’s nothing inherently untenable (legally or socially) about that garb.
Not to mention that Sarkozy would do well to focus on eradicating the persistent practices of WASP chauvinism in France before trying to liberate Muslim women in his country from the subjugating demands of their religion (or those of their chauvinistic husbands as the case might be).
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