RiseLast October, French President Emmanuel Macron (Emmanuel Macron) presented the vision behind a controversial new bill. The government claims that a minority of France’s estimated 6 million Muslims are at risk of forming “anti-social” and the bill aims to address the danger of “Islamic separatism”.
It aims to uphold republican values, but critics, including Amnesty International, have expressed serious concern that it may inhibit freedom of association and speech and increase discrimination. Critics say the new law will seriously affect the construction of mosques and give local authorities more discretion to close local associations that are deemed to be in conflict with “Republican principles,” a term that is often used specifically for Muslims. But the most controversial point is the extension of the ban on women’s headscarves in the public sector to private organizations that provide public services. Further amendments were proposed to ban the wearing of full-length swimsuits (“burkinis”), girls under the age of 18 from wearing headscarves in public, and prohibiting mothers from wearing headscarves on their children’s school trips. These were later overthrown, but the stigma of their legalization continued.
This month, the European Court of Justice stated that EU companies can, In some cases, employees are prohibited from wearing headscarvesAlthough the Macron government has been trying its best to insist that the new law does not target any particular religion, many Muslims are worried about this.
French legal scholar Rim-Sarah Alouane said: “We see the reason for infringement of freedom and fundamental rights in the name of security-the weaponization of secularism.” “This is a deformed legal monster whose purpose is not only to contain Muslims. Also wipe them out of the public domain.”
On Friday, the bill was passed by the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament. Its impact has been felt by the embattled few, who fear that their existence will be reshaped as a threat to the Republic, just as the far right is preparing for the presidential runoff.
Here, three French women talk about their experiences with institutional Islamophobia and their fears about the future.
Aisha
Mother of five exist Praying mantis-beautiful, Working class community Outside ParisAnd is find a job. In 1994, when she was 14 years old, the government decree recommended that schools ban wearing “Show off religious symbols“, 10 years before this became law.
“I was a model student until I refused to take off my headscarf-full attendance, never late-but I found myself standing in front of the disciplinary committee. I remember they tried to intimidate us and they told us that we were not in Iran. I don’t know. What does that mean. They accuse us of being part of FIS [the Algerian resistance movement] -But I am Moroccan.
“We were forced to go to school. We were not allowed to go to class. We were basically detained. We were not allowed to mix with other classmates on the playground. We only had five minutes of rest. This situation lasted for several months.
“Then I was sent to the Disciplinary Committee because the school was mandatory before you were 16 years old. They excluded me permanently. Local Muslim groups and mosques asked me to remove my scarf, but I refused. For me, It felt like asking me to take off my clothes. I felt violated by being asked to take off my clothes. Anyway, I was born a very humble person. I was 14 years old and had to study at home through distance learning. I ended up being very isolated. I My parents can’t help me, they barely make a living. I didn’t get any support and I ended up in a group of bad guys who convinced me that there was no point in learning anymore, because I couldn’t find a job with a headscarf anyway-it’s not quite It’s a lie.
“I was isolated, at the mercy of uneducated people who told me that marriage is the only path worth pursuing. The government talks about the dangers of segregated identity. [repli identitaire], But they forced me to do this. My school friends were shocked-I was the last person they wanted to be isolated in this way. I really like sports and ambitious, I want to travel around the world.
“This is not even the law; it is just the government’s guidance, it broke more than one of us. It ruined my education. It made me fall back to the single dimension of my identity-my religion-when I always treat me When I am interested in many things other than my beliefs. It broke my confidence and made me feel that I don’t belong to myself. I lost myself and got married very early, because marriage and children seemed to be the only success I could yearn for. My husband insisted that I wear a veil, but I refused. We divorced when I was 20 years old.
“The new separatist bill wants to prevent girls under the age of 18 from wearing scarves, but I can tell you that this will only make them want to wear scarves more. I am very vulnerable for those who may have experienced what I have experienced and will find themselves very vulnerable. The girl is scared. This law is designed to protect secularism, but it is a profound violation. I believe the worst is coming. What happened to me happened before there was even a law to support it-these laws are making Worse behaviors are legitimized because they justify the underlying narrative that we are a problem.”
Nura
This The university researcher and mother of three are from a middle-class neighborhood in Paris.
“In 2019, when my son was eight years old, I was an ordinary volunteer in his school. I offered to take a school outing by myself. The teacher agreed, and I was really looking forward to it. But when I arrived the next morning, I can see the principal’s face pale and talking about me with the teacher. The teacher came over and let me go away shyly, with the excuse that there is no space in the car. I challenged her and asked why my parents would be asked to leave-am I painting A straw?
“The principal came over and said:’You have to understand that we are a republic and secularism is principled. If you don’t like it, go home.’ I thank her for providing information about France becoming a republic, because I am a French institution. An academic researcher at a top university, this is nothing new to me.
“Because I knew that the law did not prohibit me from being there, I asked to write a letter explaining why I was asked to leave. At this moment, she called the police. She must have said that I was threatening her because they arrived immediately In front of the school bus, the bus was full of parents, all the students and my son-two officers began to teach me:’This is a secular country, you must leave.’
“I was humiliated and cried in front of everyone; my son witnessed the whole scene. I told them what they did was institutional racism and they were legally wrong. They themselves seemed to be very Puzzled.
“One of the mothers came down and asked me to stop making trouble, and handed me a hat instead of my headscarf. She told me to stop hurting the children further. To ease the situation, I put on a hat.
“After that day, my son didn’t want to go to school anymore. I couldn’t reassure him. I decided to lodge a formal complaint with several human rights organizations, and they refused to defend me and the Education Ombudsman. The principal refused to apologize. I decided not to prosecute because it was right. My son and I are too emotional. Your whole life has become a battle.
“With this new law, I am very pessimistic about the future of this country-I cannot see the future here. We are unwelcome people, unwelcome people, and the symbolic violence we experience will cause Severe psychological trauma. We often hear of integration problems in France, but what actually exists is racism.”
Shiba Latrech
The 22-year-old General Secretary and Vice Chairman of Femyso, European Muslim Youth and Student Organization Forum, student of the Strasbourg Law School.She and a few others Muslim women launched the “Don’t Touch My Headscarf” campaign, which quickly became popular and gained support from well-known Muslim women, such as Olympic athlete Ibtihaji Mohamed and This Somali-born model Rawdah Mohamed.
“We launched this campaign after the Senate voted and hoped that our voices could be heard. We are French women and girls, and they want to stop monitoring our bodies and beliefs. In France, we often condemn them completely in isolation. Attacks on our freedom often have such disharmony, so we know that we need international support to show that what we are asking for is not unreasonable.
“There is this kind of paternalistic approach — as if we don’t understand secularism — but they show us that the real problem in their eyes is Islam. As a Muslim woman wearing a hijab, I’m already in the public domain. Experienced Islamophobia-instead of our legislators protecting us, they are actually legitimizing it, strengthening it institutionally, and making it more systemic. The bill will make it so regardless of whether the specific amendment is passed or not. Obviously, the lives of Muslim women have become more difficult. Debating whether girls under the age of 18 should be arrested for wearing a headscarf, or banned from participating in sports, how is this acceptable? Or should we be prevented from participating in our children’s school life?
“They even proposed an amendment to prevent a Muslim woman wearing a hijab from running for public office. It is difficult for us to find a job, and now they limit the more jobs we can do. We are not only afraid of our personal safety , And also afraid of our institutions. People are not sensitive to what we experienced in France. But this is also a broader European issue-look at similar trends in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. We are forced to enter an enclave where we are The only way to challenge things domestically is through international support. In France, anyone who speaks for Muslim rights will be labeled as an “Islamic Leftist” and be harmed. Even government committees Secularism [secularism] Was demolished because of the way it opposed Secularism used. We are told that we are not integrated into society, but we are gradually being completely excluded from public life. “
Part of the name has been changed
