Ten thousand people, mostly Muslim women, marched in protest through Paris on Saturday. Similar demonstrations by Muslim women took place in other cities in Europe and the Middle East. Two thousand people turned out in Stockholm, 2,400 in London, 2,500 in Beirut, 300 in Nablus, about 100 in Washington, D.C. A typical chant: “My scarf, my choice.”
The demonstrators were protesting the French proposal to ban all “conspicuous” religious garb of students in its public schools, including the headscarves of Muslim women and girls, yarmulkes and crosses “of manifestly excessive dimension.” The purpose, French President Jacques Chirac says, is the protection of French secularism.
France’s secularism in its most aggressive manifestation is nearly incomprehensible to an American. Sikhs, for example, recently claimed they should be allowed to keep their turbans despite the proposed ban because turbans are not a religious requirement and the ban covers only “religious” garb. In America, the surest route to protection is to claim religious obligation.
Despite a year of conflict and protest over head coverings in public schools, French officials, with great popular support, are hanging tough. “Secularism is not negotiable,” Chirac said.
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