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| French Official Explains Why He Decided That Headscarves Should Be Banned |
| 2004-04-22 |
| The author, Patrick Weil is director of research at the Centre national de la recherche Scientifique (CNRS) I was a member of this presidential commission [about headscarves in schools], most likely chosen for my expertise in the field of immigration policy and nationality law, and as a former member of the high advisory council on integration. I arrived with the idea that a law was probably unnecessary for resolving the problems. Yet, after four months of public hearings involving representatives of all religious confessions, political parties, trades unions and NGOs, as well as individual actors â principals, teachers, parents, students, directors of hospitals and jails, company managers â I endorsed a report recommending twenty-five different measures, including the banning of conspicuous religious symbols in public schools. I would like here to explain why. .... But let me emphasise one point at the start, before setting out the background and reasoning of my decision. After we heard the evidence, we concluded that we faced a difficult choice with respect to young Muslim girls wearing the headscarf in state schools. Either we left the situation as it was, and thus supported a situation that denied freedom of choice to those â the very large majority â who do not want to wear the headscarf; or we endorsed a law that removed freedom of choice from those who do want to wear it. ... What, then, has changed since 1989? In this period, and especially in the last two to three years, it has become clear that in schools where some Muslim girls do wear the headscarf and others do not, there is strong pressure on the latter to âconformâ. This daily pressure takes different forms, from insults to violence. In the view of the (mostly male) aggressors, these girls are âbad Muslimsâ, âwhoresâ, who should follow the example of their sisters who respect Koranic prescriptions. We received testimonies of Muslim fathers who had to transfer their daughters from public to (Catholic) private schools where they were free of pressure to wear the headscarf. Furthermore, in the increasing number of schools where girls wear the hijab, a clear majority of Muslim girls who do not wear the headscarf called for legal protection and asked the commission to ban all public displays of religious belief. A large majority of Muslim girls do not want to wear the scarf; they too have the right of freedom of conscience. Principals and teachers have tried their best to bring back some order in an impossible situation where pressure, insults or violence sets pupils against one another, yet where to protest against this treatment is seen as treason to the community. There are cases where pupils who have had their arms broken in violent acts have lied to their parents in order to avoid denouncing their peers. .... |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #1 Headscarfs... and some dimwits opine that Iraq isn't central to th WOT. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-04-22 4:11:23 AM |