The
state of the state - 25 June
This was to be the moment that Nicolas Sarkozy relaunched his
reforms for the second half of his five-year term. On June 22nd,
in a ceremony with all the gravitas of an American president's
state-of-the-union address, he spoke to a joint sitting of the
National Assembly and the Senate in Versailles - the first
French president to do this since 1873. Yet, aside from strong
words against the burqa Mr Sarkozy's speech, like his
ministerial reshuffle a day later, left unanswered questions. - Economist
website
Once
again talk of veils inflames French passions - 25 June
Three days after President Barack Obama told a press conference
in France, "in the United States, our basic attitude is
that we're not going to tell people what to wear", French
deputies requested a parliamentary commission on the burka and
niqab, Islamic veils that cover the entire body. In 2004 France
banned Muslim headscarves in schools and public buildings.
Thirty-two members of the National Assembly have been entrusted
with a six-month mission to uncover the truth about the Voile
Integral, as the burka and niqab are known. They may well
recommend a legal ban. Draft law No 1121, presented by
right-wing deputy Jacques Myard, has been around since
September, but has not yet come to a vote in the National
Assembly. Myard cites as legal precedent the June 2008 decision
by the Council of State to refuse French nationality to a
Moroccan woman married to a Frenchman, and who is also the
mother of French children, because she wears the niqab. Her
"radical practice of her religion incompatible with the
essential values of the French community, and notably with the
principle of the equality of the sexes", the council ruled.
The woman is appealing to the European Court of Human Rights. - Irish
Times website
France
to study extent of burka-wearing - 26 June
Following French President Nicolas Sarkozy's parliamentary
speech in which he strongly criticised the Muslim burka, a
commission is being launched to study how many women in the
country wear the garment. 32 lawmakers are being given the task
of looking into the matter of how widely burkas are worn in
France, and to think of ways that could be introduced to cut
down on the practice of Muslim women wearing burkas. France has
the largest population of Muslims in all of Western Europe with
around five million living in the country. - Enjoy
France website
Sarkozy's
unveiled intolerance - 27 June
French President Nicolas Sarkozy stirred up a hornet's nest
Monday when he said the wearing of a burqa or nikab, the
full-length robes and face-covers adopted by some Muslim women,
"is not welcome on the territory of the French
Republic". Sarkozy justified his stance, saying : "the
problem of the burqa is not a religious problem. It is a problem
of freedom and of the dignity of woman. It's a sign of
servitude, it's a sign of subjection". Sarkozy is hardly
alone among European leaders in his unease with the veiling of
women. - Boston Globe
website
West
must respect the Muslim veil - 27 June
Speaking in Cairo, US President Barack Obama recently criticized
a French law that prohibits Muslim girls and women from wearing
body and face-covering garments in public schools. "It is
important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim
citizens from practicing religion as they see fit, for instance,
by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear",
Obama said. However, this week French President Nicolas Sarkozy
supported attempts to bar Muslim women from wearing
body-cloaking robes such as the burqa. - Tehran
Times website
Al
Qaeda vows 'dreadful revenge' on France over plans to ban the
burkha - 2 July
Al Qaeda terrorists have vowed to 'wreak dreadful revenge' on
France over its plans to ban the burkha. leaders of Al Qaeda's
North African network have called on French Muslims to react
'with the utmost hostility'. One Islamic extremist website
carried the message: 'We will seek dreadful revenge on France by
all means at our disposal, for the honour of our daughters and
sisters. - Mail Online
website
My
burqa is none of your business - 2 July
"The burqa is not welcome in France", President
Nicolas Sarkozy solemnly pronounced in his state of the union
message last month. In this he went legally, philosophically and
morally astray, although his politics may be sound. An educated
guess is that there are no more than a few thousand women in
France who wear the burqa or niqab, a loose gown running from
head to foot that covers the face with either an opening for the
eyes or a veil to hide the face. One can go for months in France
without seeing a woman in a burqa. - New
York Times website
French
fools - 6 July
If one compares the past to the modern day then it becomes
apparent that the French still harbor this colonialist mentality
believing they are superior to Muslims and their way of life.
Such arrogance was openly displayed in the recent comments made
by French President Nicolas Sarkozy when he referred to the
wearing of the Niqaab (veil) as "a sign of subjugation, of
degradation of women". Already at least one woman has been
refused citizenship due to her wearing of the veil with the
court ruling that it demonstrated a rejection of French values,
such treatment is no different to the France of the colonialist
era. These comments bring to surface the deep rooted hatred that
exists for Islam and the desire to see it uprooted. It not only
displays complete ignorance but also an arrogance and
non-tolerance towards Muslims who choose to practice and live by
Islam. Sarkozy may be content with being wed to a prostitute who
flaunts her body to the world believing it to be righteous
conduct, but he needs to be reminded that a Muslim is not this
shallow and depraved. - Islam for
the UK website
Lifting
the veil from the burqa - 6 July
Local Muslim women say they are "disappointed" by
French president Nicholas Sarkozy's recent call for the banning
in his country of the burqa, which he said undermines the
dignity of women, cuts them off from all social life and
deprives them of identity. "We live a full life", said
a 45-year-old Pietermaritzburg Muslim woman who made a decision
about five years ago to add the face veil or niqab to her black
burqa. "We are not stifled or oppressed by the burqa".
- Witness website
See
also :
Africa.
Egypt mourns 'headscarf martyr'
Middle
East. Burqa
losing popularity among young Afghan women