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| Europe | |
| Frenchies may... ummm... surrender on headscarf issue | |
| 2004-01-20 | |
| The French government's plan to ban Islamic veils from schools came under sustained fire yesterday when MPs, shaken by a weekend of protests and violence, began asking whether the move would inflame religious tensions rather than ease them. Most commentators feel President Jacques Chirac has invested too much in the proposed ban to back down now. But fears that the bill may alienate Muslims more than it helps integrate them have been significantly increased by marches against the ban on Saturday in more than a dozen French and foreign cities, and by Sunday's carbombing aimed at a top public official of Muslim origin. So far, bound by party lines, no senior members of either the ruling UMP or the Socialist opposition have questioned the wisdom of the law, which will outlaw all religious symbols from state schools from September. "I had my reservations, and I still have them, about a law that can only pour oil on the fires of extremism," said François Bayrou, leader of the UMP's main parliamentary ally, the centrist UDF party. "In the aim of fighting extremism, we are in fact abandoning the field." Many observers fear that the fundamentalists' message - that Muslims in France are being discriminated against and denied one of their fundamental rights - could find many willing converts among an already disadvantaged Islamic community. "The headscarf question is political manipulation," said one Muslim leader, Karim Bouzid. "The real issues for us are high unemployment in the Muslim community, violence and harassment, discrimination in jobs and housing. The strife is only just beginning, believe me." The daily newspaper Libération said in its editorial that it was fast becoming plain that "unless the proposed headscarf ban is accompanied by a vigorous effort on serious integration, it will be nothing but a useless annoyance". Within the ranks of the UMP, Edouard Balladur, head of parliament's foreign affairs committee, is the most senior figure to have spoken against "opportunistic" legislation which in his view risks "poisoning things irretrievably". But several junior MPs said yesterday they saw the law as "excessive", "unnecessary" and "counter-productive". One, Jean-Marc Nesme, told Libération the government was going "too far; it will offend the vast majority of believers".
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| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #18 Tipping point time? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-1-20 4:21:09 PM |
| #17 Mike Sylvester If a Muslim father doesn't send his daughter to school he will be fined and possibly jailed. For the lesson givers Allowing veiled girls on pretext of religion makes both them and their parents vunerable to pressure on the islamists. "Why don't ypu veil your daughter? Would you be a bad Muslim? Are you thinking of converting? (1)". It also sends the message that their values are acceptable and will not be fought, that those Algerians and Moroccans who aspire for secularization and modernity will not be helped by the law. And now we have some politically correct Americans whining about freedom of religion. Sorry but France (the orginal one not Chirak's France) was supposed to exist on the motto '"Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite" and the head scarve is accepting opression of women, unequality and wahabi hate. Accept head scarves in name religion? And what is next? Poligamy? (by the way what about your opressed Mormon minority?) Genital mutiliaton? We have to admit because it is their religion? Nuts. What if some of your Mexican minority intend to restore Huizipilotchli's cult? Will you allow the human sacrifices? And for the obstinate lesson givers. I were you I would remind that between 1993 and 2000 America was playing the appeasement game with the Islamists, even with the sadistic monsters of Algeria's GIA. France was very close to have its own 9/11 when the GIA put a bomb on the rails of the High speed train. Since it reaches 180 mph if the bomb hadn't failed to detnoate there would have been hundreds of dead (one of them my daughter who happened to be travelling that day). At that time the US was betting on the FIS/GIA reaching power and was busy trying to make friends with the asassins. (1) Muslims who convert are to be killed on sight. |
| Posted by: JFM 2004-1-20 4:12:15 PM |
| #16 Hey whats one more defeat if you're french?It's not like it is anything new too them |
| Posted by: smokeysinse 2004-1-20 3:44:54 PM |
| #15 Back in the 50s, a French officer was quoted as saying that if they failed to defeat the Muslims in Algeria, they would eventually have to fight them in France itself. This has become half-true, the Muslim invasion is a reality but the French are not fighting. I still believe that there are many in France who will resist the invasion and destruction of French society, just as there were many who resisted the Nazis after the craven surrender of 1940. Time is running out though, and the future French resistance does not have likes of Roosevelt and Churchill to support it from abroad. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-1-20 3:16:27 PM |
| #14 This headscarf thing was a French way of asserting their tradition of separating religion from the state. If they back down, this will effectively be the end of France as it used to be. However, with the way attitudes are changing nowadays in EUrope, this may be viewed as a good thing. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-1-20 2:17:44 PM |
| #13 I's skip the headscarf issue and start combating crime. Getting rid of the 35 hour work week wouldn't hurt either. |
| Posted by: Sharon in NYC 2004-1-20 10:59:46 AM |
| #12 BH -- IMHO, the decision to ban the headscarf, rather than actually deal with the problem, already signalled France's weakness. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-20 10:45:29 AM |
| #11 I really hope the French stand firm on this issue. Don't get me wrong - the headscarf ban was stupid, like putting a new coat of paint on a burning house. But if they back down on this, they are sending a powerful message to the moonbats: we are weak, you are strong, and we will always back down. They will never again be able to impose their will on these invaders. |
| Posted by: BH 2004-1-20 10:29:51 AM |
| #10 Perhaps its a bad idea but France is running out of options. They must do something about the unassimilated population. I would suggest a combination of headscarf laws and plane tickets to Algeria for those that just cannot live with the new restrictions. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2004-1-20 10:27:30 AM |
| #9 What if a Moslem father decides that his daughters should not attend school at all? What if he forces his daughter to attend school in a burka? France is trying to deal with a social problem -- Moslem fanatics -- that is relatively much larger there than here in the United States. The systematic oppression of girls and women that is common in Moslem societies is not acceptable in the rest of the world. In areas, like France, where this unacceptable oppression seriously might advance, society should oppose it with real counter-measures. |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-1-20 9:10:36 AM |
| #8 Well, LGF reported a failed car bomb on a high-ranking French official Sunday. Maybe that's what caused Chirac to shit his pants? |
| Posted by: Charles 2004-1-20 8:42:18 AM |
| #7 It was a particularly bad idea, but it was a French idea, so what do you expect? What has happened is that the French, unwilling/incapable of dealing with the real problems (lack of integration, rampant crime and violence on the part of their Muslim subpopulation) opted to make a symbolic move that would, they thought, quiet down the internal criticism while being an easy move to make. Well, duh, it failed: they're up against people who use anti-tank weapons during bank robberies, who aren't afraid to blow themselves (and others!) up to make a point, and those people didn't back down! So the French are left with a failed symbolic gesture, watching their country take the clear lead in the European Sharia Sweepstakes... Any bets on when the real violence begins in France? 2006? 2008? Sooner? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-20 7:58:06 AM |
| #6 Not quite,Jack.Ask the ACLU about what happens to individual student prayer,and Bible study groups in U.S. schools? |
| Posted by: raptor 2004-1-20 7:00:03 AM |
| #5 Think about it: no matter what we all think about Islam, this idea was pretty dumb and specious for a western democracy. Even in the US we would have never sponsored such a national idiot idea. This was an attempt by the French pivot point of power and politics (Paris) to lower the profile of their big real problem - a national minority of Muslims. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2004-1-20 6:15:17 AM |
| #4 "But fears that the bill may alienate Muslims more than it helps integrate them" Well, that's the whole point. They don't WANT to integrate. Just like they dont around the rest of the world. They only want France to integrate into Islam. For crying out loud pick up a history book and read what lead up to the crusades. How the Islamics migrated, breed, and even back then refused to integrate. I knew the French would show their true colors once again. Also notice how the Jews and Christians aren't out crying about the crosses and caps. It's only those poor, muslims the frenchies hate. (uh yeah right) |
| Posted by: 98Zulu 2004-1-20 12:50:27 AM |
| #3 the bill may alienate Muslims more than it helps integrate them Uh....I think it's too late for that, buddy. I don't see any indication that they want to be integrated. Hell, the French won't do anything to keep them from burning cars, beating up Jews or gang raping women, so what's the big surprise that they are backing down on a headscarf? Sharia in Francistan in 2008. Just watch. |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2004-1-20 12:42:31 AM |
| #2 HAHAHAAA! The frenchies fall apart faster than the Charles de Gaulle! Why don't they just get it over with and declare themselves under sharia law? Welcome to the ummah, pierre. My $$$'s on them keeping the ban against rosaries, crosses, and yarmulkes. They fear the jihadis too much to do otherwise. |
| Posted by: 4thInfVet 2004-1-20 12:22:50 AM |
| #1 Will they allow Crosses? Roseries? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-1-20 12:08:47 AM |