MUSLIMS LIVING AS MINORITIES
Why is France Producing Such a High Level of Islamophobia? Secularism and “being French” vs. acceptance of difference on full display BY MONIA MAZIGH
W
hile watching a video OF a group of young French Muslimas being interviewed about their lives and experiences (https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=VS7YQ4yqRbg), I was shocked when one of them mentioned that they are relatively lucky to live in northern France so they can quickly go for a dip in a public swimming pool in a nearby German town and come back home. The reason is, of course, that France doesn’t allow women to wear a burkini, a modest bathing suit worn by Muslimas that covers their entire bodies, at public pools. But this isn’t the only thing France’s Muslimas are prevented from doing. It all began in the late 1980s, when the first media controversy about Muslimas’ attire began making headlines (https://enseignants.lumni.fr/fiche-media/00000000448/ l-affaire-du-foulard-islamique-en-1989. html). Two teenage Muslimas were excluded from their lycée (high school) because they insisted on wearing their foulard (hijab) in the classroom. Since then, things have
spiralled, with one controversy after another. Starting out as a local matter about what constitutes a religious sign, it soon grew into cases that drew international attention. Gradually, the exclusion of young hijab-wearing girls from public schools was replicated nationwide; a decade later, this discriminatory decision became a law — “in the spirit of secularism” claimed its proponents. This law is widely called the “veil law.” In 2004, under Jacques Chirac (president [1995-2007]; prime minister [1974-76 and 1986-88]), this so-called law banned the headscarf, as well as the Jewish kippa and the Christian cross, in government schools. However, things didn’t stop there. In 2009, another controversy emerged over the niqab. Even though only a handful of women wear it in France, a new law was introduced and passed in 2010 banning it in public spaces. The ban, it was said, was justified by the will to promote open and equal interaction in society. Violating it can lead to a fine of €150 (equivalent to $162).
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The ban remains in effect even during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Paris made the mask obligatory in enclosed public spaces. The double standard vis-à-vis Muslim rights is certainly obvious here. “Can the Islamophobia be any more transparent?” Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said on Twitter. “The French government mandates masks but still bans the burqa” (https://www.cbsnews.com/ news/france-burqa-ban-islamic-face-coverings-masks-mandatory/). The situation in swimming pools and at beaches remains challenging. In 2016, a few police officers awoke a burkini-wearing Muslima napping on a beach in Nice. Her scared face, not knowing what wrong she had committed, was sad evidence of the state of fear and continuous harassment faced by Islamically attired Muslimas in the public space. That image of a Muslima surrounded by police officers on the beach made the global headlines and gave rise to a new saga: the burkini on French beaches. Needless to say, the newly improvised ban was not legally sanctioned by the state; rather, it was a personal decision left to the discretion of some mayors who were trying to please a certain public right-wing votership. In swimming pools, the stories are almost similar, for the banning the burkini remains a municipal decision implemented for public health reasons in some towns. Last year, a Muslima and her group started a grassroot movement in France, Citizen Alliance of Grenoble, which has initiated “Operation Burkini” to stop this discriminatory ban. Some observers even saw parallels between what Rosa Parks did during the 1960s in the US (https://www. bbc.com/news/world-europe-48744153), defying the discriminatory laws of not letting Black people sit in the front of buses, and the civil disobedience acts of these Muslimas who, once kicked out of the pool, installed an outdoor inflatable pool near the venue and spent time swimming there.
