French Ban On Hijab Under Debate
The veil has been lifted on the French debate over the Muslim garment in public universities. With professors voicing their objections to the veil, politicians and police are struggling to find a balance between "French secularism" and "religious tolerance."
The issue was highlighted at the Paris XIII university when a Professor said that he could not support "religious symbols in public places", regarding a woman wearing a hijab in his class. The professor was demoted for his comments, according to france24.com.
In September, a Sorbonne professor had asked a student in hijab whether she should continute to wear "that thing" in class, meaning her headscarf. The Sorbonne President had to apologise later.
Religion and immigration are important to France after Muslim immigrants attacked France last month, leaving 20 dead. Since then, being a French Muslim or both French and Jewish is being debated. French President François Hollande called for a "secular teaching of religion" and pointed out that France's official secularism, or laïcité, "does not mean forgetting religion, or indeed being in conflict with religion".
Last week, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy's political party, the UMP (Union for a Popular Movement), called for more restrictions on religious symbols including a ban on Muslim veils in universities, along with primary and secondary schools. Critics slam this measure as just Sarkozy's way of appealing to people who are cautious about minority communities.
"This is political pandering to the electorate that might vote for the (far-right) National Front," said John Bowen, a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, who specializes in the study of Islam.
Even with the presidential elections getting nearer, the issue of minority integration into the larger society is being questioned. Party leader Marine le Pen's National Front's slogan, "The French Come First", is getting more popular, and Sarkozy and the UMP are trying to woo away some of its supporters.
Lydia Guirous, secular supporter and author of the book "God is great and so is the Republic" ("Allah est Grand et la République aussi"), said in a press release that, "Secularism doesn't have to stop at the university doors. Like public schools, public universities need to be sanctified and need to be neutral," said Guirous.
France has five million Muslims, the largest community in continental Europe. It has a contentious history with the hijab, the head covering worn by some Muslim women. In 2004, the country passed a law banning the hijab in state schools and in 2005 it passed a law banning the full Muslim veil.
Sarkozy in 2009 declared that the full veil, or niqab, is "not welcome" and recently, he announced that the UMP would convene a meeting to discuss it.
On the other hand, Bowen declared that the idea of a ban on veils is interpreted as "insulting". "This is another in a series of moves drawing symbolic boundaries, saying, 'You may be perfect citizens, but we'll never stop reminding you that you're not totally integrated'," said Bowen.
Bowen explains that such measures would only strengthen the idea that minorities should remain among their own kind of people, rather than becoming part of the larger French community.
"There is no Muslim community, really. They all have different lives. But they are made into a community when the government creates these laws," he said. The effect of these laws is to say to Muslims who are doing what they are supposed to be doing that, 'You're not real citizens'."
Michel Tubiana, a lawyer and former president of the French Human Rights League, says he is against the idea.
"It's an imbecilic proposal," he said, particularly because it deals with "adult students". Secularism doesn't apply to university students, rather to the [policies of] professors and the university itself," he said.
