{"id":56201,"date":"2013-08-06T05:36:46","date_gmt":"2013-08-06T04:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/french-government-plans-ban-on-islamic-veil-in-universities\/56201\/"},"modified":"2013-08-06T05:36:46","modified_gmt":"2013-08-06T04:36:46","slug":"french-government-plans-ban-on-islamic-veil-in-universities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/french-government-plans-ban-on-islamic-veil-in-universities\/","title":{"rendered":"French government plans ban on Islamic veil in universities"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0<\/h3>\n

\n By
\n Alex Lantier
\n
6 August 2013
\n <\/h5>\n

Documents of France\u2019s High Council on Integration (HCI) sent to the government\u2019s Secularism Observatory and cited yesterday in Le Monde<\/em> lay out plans to ban Islamic veils in universities.<\/p>\n

The HCI\u2019s proposals are the latest move in an offensive to promote anti-Islamic and xenophobic sentiment in France by governments of the right and the bourgeois \u201cleft.\u201d The proposed ban would extend the anti-democratic ban on Islamic veils in public schools and high schools passed in 2004 under right-wing President Jacques Chirac, and the 2011 ban on full-body veils or burqas in all public places in France.<\/p>\n

Citing rising religious tensions, the HCI claims that some universities have already adopted \u201cconcrete and calming solutions\u201d and proposes an outright nationwide ban to avoid a \u201ccacophony\u201d of measures.<\/p>\n

The HCI\u2019s presentation of its proposed ban as an attempt to calm tensions in universities is cynical and false. Such policies, which incite chauvinist prejudices and facilitate the suppression of student protests, have encouraged a reactionary political atmosphere and increasing assaults on Muslims in France. By singling out Muslims for discriminatory treatment, they violate fundamental constitutional principles, such as state neutrality in religious affairs (la\u00c3\u00afcit\u00c3\u00a9).<\/p>\n

The HCI would ban \u201csymbols and garments ostentatiously manifesting religious belief in classrooms, locations and situations of research or education in public institutions of higher education.\u201d The HCI goes on to oppose requests for universities to allow students to observe religious dietary restrictions or holidays.<\/p>\n

Citing the 1984 Savary law, which specifies that students\u2019 freedom of expression \u201cmust not interfere with teaching or public order,\u201d the HCI deplores that \u201csome universities\u201d face \u201crequests for excused absences, for permission to wear religious signs, for non-participation in mixed-sex education both at the levels of students and of teachers, to contest the content of teaching, for the respect of dietary restrictions, for the granting of locations for religious worship or communitarian usage\u2026 These problems have not disappeared, but are spreading.\u201d<\/p>\n

An examination of the ban\u2019s provisions make clear that while it is directed primarily against Muslim students, it is bound up with a broad assault on democratic rights of all students. One provision would allow university administrations to move against student protests, such as occupations of facilities: \u201cAll occupations of university facilities by a student association must be governed by an official agreement on the use of the facilities, which should never be assigned to religious ceremonies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another provision would ban protests against course contents, writing that universities \u201cmust include an article in their internal rules to block protests against or refusals to accept course contents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contacted by Agence France-Presse, Secularism Observatory head Jean-Louis Bianco tried to downplay the significance of the report. He said that the report \u201conly engages the responsibility of the secularism mission inside the HCI, which is no longer active.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cThis question of wearing veils in higher education is not currently part of the plans for the work of the Secularism Observatory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever the fate of the particular ban proposed by the HCI, their preparation and the ensuing discussion in the press are part of a broad, ongoing campaign stoking public hostility to religious and ethnic minorities to divide the working class along ethnic lines. This includes not only the anti-veil policies organized in France, but also moves by officials of both the ruling Socialist Party (PS) and of right-wing officials to dismantle Roma camps around France and deport their inhabitants.<\/p>\n

The purpose of such racist legislation to divide the working class has consistently been to shift the political atmosphere to the right and facilitate the implementation of right-wing policies. The initial proposals for the 2004 and 2011 anti-veil and anti-burqa laws both followed the sellout of large-scale working class protests against pension cuts by conservative presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, respectively.<\/p>\n

The current ban proposal has emerged as PS President Fran\u00c3\u00a7ois Hollande prepares another pension cut to be discussed this autumn and his poll ratings plunge. His government has been staggered by popular hostility to his austerity policies, his neo-colonial wars in Africa and the Middle East, and revelations that his government is engaged in large-scale Internet spying on the French people modeled on operations of the National Security Agency (NSA) revealed by Edward Snowden.<\/p>\n

A political atmosphere marked by rising class tensions and long-standing promotion of Islamophobia has produced both rising far-right influence and attacks on Muslims, and increasing popular opposition in working class suburbs.<\/p>\n

Last month, several Muslim women in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil reported being assaulted by racist skinheads who tore off their veils and insulted them. In a separate event, the violent apprehension and arrest by police of the family of a veiled woman in another Paris suburb, Trappes, lead to several nights of riots.<\/p>\n

As all indications point to the coming outbreak of explosive social struggles, the Hollande government is responding to rising popular opposition with intensive intelligence surveillance of large areas in France\u2019s major cities.<\/p>\n

According to a report in Le Nouvel Observateur<\/em>, \u201cArgenteuil is a powder keg that is waiting to explode, under intense surveillance by the intelligence agencies\u2013the DCRI [Central Directorate for Interior Intelligence] and SDIG [Sub-Directorate for General Information]\u2013whose alarming reports on Islamist radicalization are communicated to the highest levels of the state \u2026 The worst may yet be to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar espionage is being carried out against workers protesting job losses and wage cuts. A February article by France Info cited rising opposition among teachers, public sector workers, and Goodyear workers protesting job cuts and fears of a \u201csocial implosion\u201d from the ruling PS and the PS-aligned Left Front.<\/p>\n

It added, \u201cThe government has confirmed that it is carrying out surveillance of social tensions. Intelligence services are tasked with drawing up lists of mass layoffs and other critical situations. And Manuel Valls, the interior minister, openly acknowledges that this is the case.\u201d<\/p>\n


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Republished from: World Socialist Web Site<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 By Alex Lantier 6 August 2013 Documents of France\u2019s High Council on Integration (HCI) sent to the government\u2019s Secularism Observatory and cited yesterday in Le Monde lay out plans to ban Islamic veils in universities. The HCI\u2019s proposals are the latest move in an offensive to promote anti-Islamic and xenophobic sentiment in France by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-56201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}