Off with their headscarves, says BHL

Posted on by Eddie Truman

Off with their headscarves

Sunday Times, 1 February 2004

Bernard-Henri Levy, the maverick French philosopher, says his country should vote this week to ban Muslim women’s hijabs

Next week the French parliament will vote on whether to introduce a law banning beards, veils, scarves and other “religious symbols” from state schools and institutions. The move to ban the wearing of headscarves in schools by Muslim girls has created fears among many that other governments will follow the French example, with some people even suggesting that a European Union-wide ban could be a possibility.

Despite the perverse effects, or even the risks to freedom of speech and expression that have been endlessly emphasised, I am in favour of this controversial law.

I am for it primarily because of my belief in the principle of secularity, a belief that religion should have no place in civil affairs nor in the state. This does not seem like a particularly contemporary issue. The very word sounds like a hollow notion nowadays, something outdated. But it is the basis upon which those supremely important French principles of liberty, equality and brotherhood are founded.

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Illiberal secularism

Posted on by Eddie Truman

“In short, when it comes to religion I would call myself a liberal secularist. Yet when I hear most liberals talking about secularism, I want to seek sanctuary in the nearest church, synagogue or mosque. As the French parliament prepares to debate the bill banning the hijab, yarmulke and turban in schools, it is time for Europe’s secularism to catch up and secularists to calm down.”

Gary Younge writing in the Guardian, 26 January 2004

In Europe, is it a matter of fear, or loathing? (of Muslims, that is)

Posted on by Eddie Truman

“Western Europe’s 15 million-strong Muslim community is growing in power and size. The birthrate among Muslims in Europe is three times that of non-Muslims. While the Muslim population could double by 2015, the non-Muslim population is expected to shrink by 3.5 per cent.

“As this community grows, it is also flexing its political muscle. As the columnist Mark Steyn, writing in defence of Kilroy in the right-leaning The Daily Telegraph, put it: ‘When free speech, artistic expression, feminism and other totems of Western pluralism clash directly with the Islamic lobby, Islam more often than not wins.’

“This would not be a problem if it weren’t for the distressing but unavoidable reality that small but significant sections of that growing Muslim community are either outright hostile to or at least ambivalent toward Western values.”

Robin Shepherd, in the Washington Post, 25 January 2004

Evan Harris on the French hijab ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In Britain, Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris, the honourable secretary of the National Secular Society, sees the ban on scarves, yarmulkes, crucifixes and turbans as “in keeping with centuries of secularism as far as state institutions are concerned in France”.

He’s angered by the continual claim that it is all women who are to be forbidden from wearing the hijab. It is, he reiterates, a ban where “girls – not women – in school – not out of school – will be asked not to wear the hijab. That is already the convention and this [law] is just codifying the proposal and the same will apply to Jews with skullcaps in school and Christians with large and visible crosses. There is a tradition that education in France is secular and that there shouldn’t be overt symbols of religion.”

He adds: “The commission in France that looked into this found that in many cases girls were being forced to wear [the hijab], to cover their hair, by the men in their community, and I think that France recognises that in school, at least, girls should be free from that sort of cultural persuasion.”

“In the UK, the position is very clear. Some children want to express themselves culturally by wearing some items of fashion that we don’t allow in schools – it is the same with facial jewellery. In fact, I suspect many more children feel more strongly about fashion and identifying themselves with a fashion than they do with religion. So it is not an unheard-of step for schools to say, ‘We draw the line at this sort of thing.’

“I think it’s a reasonable thing to do and certainly not something that we in this country are in a position to criticise, when we sanction discrimination against children by saying, ‘You can’t come to this school because you are of the wrong religion or of no religion.’ That’s what happens with faith schools in our country.”

Sunday Herald, 18 January 2004

Scarf rally in Scottish capital

Posted on by Eddie Truman

About 250 protesters have demonstrated outside the French Consulate in Edinburgh against plans to ban the wearing of headscarves in France’s state schools.

The protest was organised by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) as part of an international day of action.

Other campaigners travelled from Scotland to join a march in London.

The association said it was encouraging non-Muslims to wear headscarves in the Scottish capital to show “solidarity” with those in France.

Organisers said 25 protests were planned across the world, including London, Paris and several other French cities.

BBC News, 17 January 2004

Peace professor singled out Jews of France, wins key post at Notre Dame

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“A Swiss scholar who has been accused in France of sowing anti-Semitism and is considered by some analysts to be an apologist for radical Islam will be coming to America this fall to teach at University of Notre Dame in Indiana.”

Eli Lake launches the campaign to get Tariq Ramadan barred from the US, with the assistance of Campus Watch.

New York Sun, 7 January 2004