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| More on French Hijab |
| 2004-01-23 |
| EFL Earlier this week 20,000 women and girls clad in black sheets and headscarves topped by blue, white and red headbands, surged along the streets of central Paris, directed by hectoring men on loudspeakers, to protest the proposed French ban on the wearing of headscarves in state schools. Similar protests took place in Stockholm and other European capitals in solidarity â and, as thereâs something about wearing a shapeless sheet that renders Atkins a moot point, these gals were plenty solid. They held aloft banners on which were variations of âFrance est ma patrie; la voile est ma vie!â (âFrance is my country. The scarf is my life.â) In London, men and women protested (separately, of course) carrying signs proclaiming "secularism has failed the world" and chanting for "female dignity" and an end to "secular vanity." The proposed ban is being condemned by many of Franceâs Muslims (there are five million Muslims in France, eight per cent of the population; the largest in Western Europe) as a form of "religious harassment." Native French see it as about time. There are suburbs outside Paris, Lille, Lyons and other big industrial cities where Muslims make up the vast majority of the school-going population. Some classrooms may have two or three native white French girls and 19 or 20 headscarf clad Muslims. And the presence of the scarf and all that it implies in the way of religious imperialism has finally lit the tinderbox of the clash of values between the enlightened West and the bigotry of some Muslims. First, it is divisive. Given the large majority of Muslim girls in the classrooms in industrial areas, it marks French girls whose families have lived on French soil since time immemorial, as âdifferentâ and strangers in their own country. Second, France has equality between the sexes, and wearing the scarf â in a Western secular country, as opposed to an Islamic society, where it is the norm and thus unremarkable â subconsciously gives males the advantage of not being âdifferentâ. Third, it puts the onus of male behavior onto the shoulders of girls. Who can blame a male for becoming inflamed if a girl is so bold as to reveal her hair? France considers this an unfair burden on schoolgirls. The French government could turn a blind eye â indeed, has turned a blind eye â to the last two aspects, but it is the hijab-clad majority, with its implied criticism of native French girls as being âshamelessâ that is now being used as an excuse for young male Muslim aggression against girls, and for Muslim aggression against the host society. In the projects where native French are very much in the minority, native French girls are being bullied into adopting the headscarf. Girls who are âboldâ enough, or disrespectful enough of the Muslim majority, are being gang-raped by Muslim adolescents on the grounds that they need a lesson. This is part of a new, rapidly developing âtraditionâ. Teaching white girls a lesson for not wearing a headscarf not only has its own argot, but there is a mobile phone ring tone associated with it, too. Small wonder that the parents of white daughters in the projects insist on them donning a scarf to leave their homes. So the aggressive fist of militant Islam reaches out to control the host community. In any event, the issue of the headscarf is, in a sense, a phony one. It is not a religious requirement. Nowhere is it required in the Koran, which merely directs that women dress âmodestlyâ. In the suburbs of the French industrial cities, it is a cultural badge. A trademark. Will the government I think the hijab - and the rape of western children/women who refuse to wear it, is going to be turning point in our PC views of the world. You canât have multicultural society if the groups canât coexist, respectful of others. The hijab, rightly or wrongly is quickly becoming an emotional symbol of the Muslim inability to coexist within a secular framework. |
| Posted by:B |
| #11 are being gang-raped by Muslim adolescents on the grounds that they need a lesson. Is this being accepted in a valid defense in France? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-1-23 10:20:29 PM |
| #10 In the projects where native French are very much in the minority, native French girls are being bullied into adopting the headscarf. Girls who are âboldâ enough, or disrespectful enough of the Muslim majority, are being gang-raped by Muslim adolescents on the grounds that they need a lesson. The World-Famous Honor⢠of Moslem men. |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-1-23 9:51:14 PM |
| #9 "secularism has failed the world" WTF???? There is not one "modern" religous state in the entire world. All the successful states are secular to a large part, from Europe to North America to Asia. The gross domestic product of New Zealand is what, ten times that of Egypt, with 1/10th the land and 1/15th the people, and a LONG way to anywhere else. The Muslims should all be rounded up, settled in a half-dozen countries where they're most comfortable (Egypt, Saudi, Syria, Jordan, Libya, northern Sudan, etc.), and walled in, so they cannot harm anyone else. What they do to themselves is not our problem. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-1-23 9:29:10 PM |
| #8 An ungrateful France will get their asses saved once again by America, I'm sure, while we're being told how 'wrongly conducted' the saving was done. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-1-23 9:27:35 PM |
| #7 America will be there for the French if it comes down to it, whether they like it or not! lol |
| Posted by: TS 2004-1-23 7:22:45 PM |
| #6 Take fifty French girls, send them to Camp Lejeune for eight weeks of close combat and small arms training, send them back to France to teach 500 others, continue as necessary. Folks, this isn't a popular sentiment here at RB, but we MUST avoid the tempation to write off France as a casualty of war. If Western civilization is to survive, then Europe must endure, and that -- for better or worse -- means that the French must eventually save themselves. Our differences from (and disagreements with) Europe are legion, but a decadent and introspective Europe is the natural bride to the robust and practical Anglospheric groom. If Islam swallows all of Eurasia, then we are reduced to a miserable existence: a latter-day Sparta, forever vigilant but forever alone on a hostile, alien world. This "hijab" affair may mean that the French are finally waking up. Their timidity is understandable: when the French finally say "Enough!" and act, the Arab world will respond with oil embargos while the domestic Arab population tears apart their own cities. The French will be completely vulnerable, uncertain of victory, and saddled with a defeatist fifth column. When this happens, we must be there. We can gloat, we can say "We warned you," ... but only later. First, there will be work to do. Sorry to ramble. Amen to everyone else's comments. |
| Posted by: Dan (not Darling) 2004-1-23 7:05:13 PM |
| #5 Raptor - Amen! |
| Posted by: Yosemite Sam 2004-1-23 5:25:50 PM |
| #4 I can just about garanty(not in my pocket dictionary) if some group of thugs tried that in my neck of the woods(and the law did nothing)the perps would shortly get a visit from Mr.Vigilanty. |
| Posted by: raptor 2004-1-23 5:20:11 PM |
| #3 I'm completely dumbfounded. If raping females simply for not wearing the hijab doesn't get the french populus incensed at muslims, what will!? What kind of barbaric culture creates such animals?!? The cultural bankruptcy of the arab states is moving north. Meanwhile, the french consider Israel to be the problem?!???!!! |
| Posted by: PlanetDan 2004-1-23 4:54:05 PM |
| #2 --"secularism has failed the world"-- That slogan will win friends and influence people. |
| Posted by: Anonymous2U 2004-1-23 3:26:53 PM |
| #1 In the projects where native French are very much in the minority, native French girls are being bullied into adopting the headscarf. Girls who are âboldâ enough, or disrespectful enough of the Muslim majority, are being gang-raped by Muslim adolescents on the grounds that they need a lesson. I still don't understand why they don't punish the rapists. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-1-23 3:26:39 PM |