What on earth is happening in France? Sara Zemmahi

[valadon68]

Sorry if there is a thread already. Just seen that a local council candidate has been not only removed from En Marche's campaign materials, but has also been removed as a candidate tout court, for wearing a hijab. Al Jazeera link here.

What am I missing here - this is horrendous. How can any sane person make a case for essentially trying to phase out representatives of Muslim women (among other identities) from the public sphere like this? There is no useful analogy to be drawn here between hijabs and other signs of religious affiliation such as crucifixes. There will be people who are either permitted to wear the hijab, or who don't stand for election, clearly. This is Macron trying to eclipse the right in light of the 2022 elections and sabotaging his party's identity by committing to authoritarian secularism in the process. Or something else? Am I just failing to understand the mood in France at the moment, to be shocked by this? I can't imagine this happening in the UK but perhaps I'm naive there too.

No it wouldn't happen here, but French law is different. This is not a recent thing, it is part of the French constitution that religion should play no part in government. French citizenship trumps religion, although freedom of religion is protected.

I'm afraid I don't know all the details of this story but the principle of laïcité is taken very seriously I believe. There are much more serious rules and restrictions than in the U.K.

There is also a lot more sensitivity about Islamism in France at the moment as there has been a worrying number of murders linked with extreme Islam in France over the last few years, including the beheading of Samuel Paty and the murder of an elderly woman in a church in Nice.

France has been increasingly and aggressively secular for a while I think.

www.reuters.com/world/europe/hands-off-my-hijab-young-muslim-women-protest-proposed-french-ban-2021-05-04/

And the ECHR upheld the 2010 ban:-

www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/01/france-burqa-ban-upheld-human-rights-court

It's against the constitution to display any sign of religion in the work place. You can't even wear a subtle crucifix. No nativity in school. No religion taught in school. So it's not actually Muslim rather anti religious.

They have also banned hijab in public for anyone which is controversial

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frenchbannonfaceecovering

Thanks for all the links. I did know that there was a current crackdown on Muslim groups, but where does it stop?

I think you can't easily avoid accusations of islamophobia in this instance. Islam is exceptional in some ways: the choice to publicly express religious belonging or not isn't the same choice that say, Christians will face. The fact remains that Muslims will face more obstacles to political representation that won't apply to others. How can they have an equal voice in the making of these laws if they face barriers like these?

French-style secularism (especially the banning visible religious symbols) forces people to conform to the Christian-Western stereotype, so it's not really inclusive, it's divisive.

hijabs etc have been banned together with crucifixes etc etc in France for decades in schools etc, outside Paris especially rurally France is conservastive socially and catholic so not wearing crucifixes would be a thing that affected Christians but the division of church and state is accepted so marriage at town hall etc followed by wedding mass in church was accepted for years and years long before there were many muslims in France
I am not saying it is right just that this pre dates the time when any other religion other than Roman Catholic was the norm there have always been a few protestants in France but it was a tiny number comparatively

I completely agree with you.

@valadon68

Thanks for all the links. I did know that there was a current crackdown on Muslim groups, but where does it stop?

I think you can't easily avoid accusations of islamophobia in this instance. Islam is exceptional in some ways: the choice to publicly express religious belonging or not isn't the same choice that say, Christians will face. The fact remains that Muslims will face more obstacles to political representation that won't apply to others. How can they have an equal voice in the making of these laws if they face barriers like these?

Sorry, I was agreeing with your post op.