Liberté, égalité, fraternité – but no burqa

It must have come as a shock to the country’s five million-strong Muslim population to learn last week that the burqa is “not welcome” in France.

In the first address in 136 years before a joint session of the French parliament, amid the worst recession in history, Sarkozy chose to lead with a speech that can effectively be summed up as: ‘Welcome to secular France – please leave your burqa at the door’.

In it, he described the traditional covering as a "sign of subservience, of lowering”, and the women who wear them as “trapped behind a fence” and “deprived of any identity”. (He also branded the world economy a catastrophe, and warned that nothing will ever be the same again. But that is by the by.)

Unsurprisingly, the responses have poured in thick and fast. Politically speaking, few things excite such fury or carry such symbolism as the way women dress. In Saudi Arabia, uncovered hair can mean jail; while in parts of Germany, it’s illegal to wear the hijab in schools. In sections of Afghanistan, opting not to look like a blue shuttlecock can mean a death sentence.
 
Women’s skirt lengths can even signal the state of the economy, according to US economist George Taylor. The hemline index argues that lower skirts coincide with a falling market – a frock index, if you will.
 
So Sarkozy’s anti-burqa rhetoric was sure to provoke a reaction. It’s the equivalent of political gunpowder; guaranteed to blow open a heated debate, to incite sections of the Muslim community, and to knock everything else off the front page.
 
It has even split the French cabinet. In a strange role reversal, Rama Yade, the Muslim human rights minister, said she would be open to a ban, while the immigration minister, Eric Besson, believes a ban will only create tensions. As topics go, it’s a real all-rounder.

The response of France’s large Muslim community has largely been one of bewilderment. "We are shocked by the idea parliament should be put to work on such a marginal issue,” said Mohammed Moussaoui, the head of the French Council for the Muslim Religion.
 
He’s right to be confused. The burqa is rare enough in France that even the lawmakers railing against it are unable to say exactly how many women choose to wear it.

There are just “more and more of them”, one lawmaker said vaguely, sounding more like a hysterical redneck than a politician.

More importantly, and as Sarkozy - a man who is the epitome of being more show than substance - is aware, any talk of a ban is pointless. Firstly, it’s been four years since France banned “conspicuous” religious symbols, including the hijab, in state schools, hospitals and administration buildings - so the burqa is already barred from public institutions.

Secondly, if you are going to rant against the burqa, then nuns’ habits would be next on the banned list– and that would be a move too far for the once-Catholic France.

But the fire has neatly diverted attention from the real issues of the day. In covering Sarkozy’s speech, no paper led with the fact that France’s budget deficit will exceed seven percent of its GDP in both 2009 and 2010.

Hardly any column inches were devoted to the fact that, hours after the speech, Sarkozy fired six ministers, and replaced another two. No; as intended, the burqa has stolen the show.

As publicity stunts go, this is more about realpolitik than real women. Still, it’s the first rule of politics – when things are going badly, deflect.

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