French Hijab Ban Draws Fire at Social Forum
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Some 19,000 activists from around the world gathered in London for the European Social Forum |
LONDON, October 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - France’s controversial ban on hijab in public schools drew fire and accusation of racism on Saturday, October 16, at a gathering of left-wing and counter-culture groups in London.
"We see this ban as a direct attack on the women's right to choose the way they dress," said Milena Buyum, from the National Assembly Against Racism, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
She regretted the "rise of racism and Islamophobia" in Europe, dismissing the French ban as "the most visible way in which it is taking place."
Buyum's group was co-sponsoring the debate, one of hundreds taking place in north London under the umbrella of the three-day European Social Forum, which has attracted 19,000 activists to the British capital this weekend.
France has triggered a worldwide controversy by adopting a bill , which came into effect with the start of the new school year in September, banning hijab and religious insignia in public schools.
On October 1, Cennet Doganay, 15, took off her hijab as she was entering the Louis Pasteur Lycee high school in Strasbourg, eastern France, only to reveal a bald head.
Doganay, of Turkish descent, told reporters outside her school that she respected the law, but the law did not respect her religion.
According to a Reuters count, about 120 schoolgirls across France insisted on keeping their headscarves when school resumed on September 2.
School officials said only 19 girls were still insisting on wearing their headscarves in the Strasbourg.
State Dictatorship
The French ban drew renewed criticism during a two-hour debate -- titled "Hijab: a woman's right to choose."
"Is it to protect secular value? No, it's about state dictatorship," said hijab-donned Arlene Rodrigues from the British-based Assembly for the Protection of Hijab (Pro-Hijab ).
The assembly, comprising a network of British and international organizations , was officially declared Monday, June 14, to defend the right of Muslim women in Europe and world-wide to wear hijab.
Christine Delphy, an activist from the French Collectif Ecole Pour Toutes et Tous (Collective School for All), also slammed "exceptional treatment for Islamic insignia."
A representative of the Stop the War Coalition, which has organized opposition in Britain to the US-led invasion of Iraq, was equally scathing about left-wing groups in France who backed the ban.
"In France, the left, to its shame, has joined in the hysteria of the ban of the hijab," said Salma Yaqoob.
The US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) dismissed the French measure as "discriminatory".
Trade unionists, environmentalists, human rights activists and other delegates from around the world have gathered in London for the three-day European Social Forum, the third such event.
The hundreds of seminars, debates and workshops during the Forum will see virtually every left-leaning, anti-corporate and pro-green subject covered, although concern at the situation in Iraq is expected to dominate proceedings.
Source: Islamonline.net