I'm sorry to report that the French state continues to put pressure on Muslim women living
in France. In an underreported news item which I only heard about today I read in Middle East Eye
on the online - i'll link to it below - it says France women's rights advocates outraged after Senate
votes to ban hijab in sports. Legislators voted 160-143 in favour of the right-wing proposal which
is yet to be adopted. And the article continues: French legislators have voted in favour of an
explicit ban on quote the wearing of the veil in sports competitions triggering an uproar by
women's rights advocates it says the lawmakers on Tuesday just a few days ago so there's nothing
in the British press I don't remember seeing this on the BBC or the Guardian or the London Times let alone
the Daily Mail or anything else. The lawmakers on Tuesday amended proposed legislation that proposed
the prohibition of quote the conspicuous wearing of religious signs while taking part in events and
competitions organized by the sports authorities now this is a detail that is very telling so the
Senate amended proposed legislation that was going to basically ban the conspicuous wearing
of religious signs the amendment though proposed a further amendment proposed by the right-wing group
called the Republicans added a further reference to the headscarf hijab that Muslim women obviously
choose to wear arguing that the headscarves quote put the safety of athletes at risk (I kid you not).
So the amendment the amendment to the amendment explicitly targets the hijab it's no longer just
the wearing of religious signs and we all knew anyway this was code for for Muslims anyway
but it's to do with the hijab and this was approved as we know by 160 senate members
and rejected by 143. The French government interestingly voted against the amendment.
Now I think there's a reason for this not explicitly stated which i'll come to in a minute.
Why would the French government oppose this you know that they have
proposed similar legislation before banning the hijab in other areas so why would they do this?
I think there's an answer to that France already triggered outrage since an amendment last year
coming back to this very point about the government the amendment last year to the
controversial separatism bill that ban girls under the age of 18 from wearing hijab in public spaces.
So this is there is a series of legislative actions to target Muslim women in France
restricting restricting their ability to live normal lives as muslim women in France. The
bill that was that bill called strengthening the respect of the principles of the republic quote
unquote drew criticism on social media and saw the beginnings of the hands off my hijab campaign
now the French football federation already bans women from wearing the hijab in official matches
and headscarfs are already prohibited in schools and government buildings in france so there's a
whole series of laws restricting what muslims and women can aware in public now i think that i came
across this brilliant response on TikTok which I'll share now. This is a video came out very
recently it's been like by ten and a half million people which is amazing for TikTok and it
explores what many are thinking about this band so here it is it's worth watching. Do you have a
problem with my hoodie? Everyone wears hoodies. Okay how about this beanie? Oh beanies are so cute.
Okay how about this scarf? Those are so high fashion, I see them on runways all the time. Okay
perfect because oh my God! why would you willingly cover your hair like that are you oppressed?
Now this is the detail why would the French government oppose this new legislation given
that they've already done virtually the same kind of thing in public spaces in schools
in public institutions in football here I think is the reason the 2024 summer Olympics
are to be held in Paris and it's unclear how the amended legislation will affect the events
changes can still be made to the amendment by members of the senate and the lower house
by quote forming a commission before the amendment is published according to this website so it's
can you imagine okay so the French government in Paris is going to host the Olympic games and
it you know wouldn't support legislation banning Muslim women from the whole world can you imagine
the diplomatic, cultural, even economic consequences of the government was seen to uphold the ban on
Muslim athletes attending the Olympics in Paris? SoIi suspect that's the reason why they
don't want to be seen to be upholding this this amendment even though they have done precisely
the similar kinds of things before so you know if they were going to be consistent they'd support it
but i think that's why they're not they don't want to face the music over banning Muslims
from the Olympic games in Paris i mean can you imagine the outcry?!
Now one twitter user called out the what he called the systematic targeting of
Muslim women by the French government and he said France is ruled by dictators 5.2 million Muslim
rights have been ignored as a hijab ban in sports have been made into a law in france that's
slightly premature hasn't been made into law yet but it could well be so in reality muslims should
choose between sport and their religion this is a systematic deprivation targeting a group of
people and other twitters others took to twitter to voice their more pressing concerns here's one
of all the urgencies facing france the senate has decided to ban the muslim hijab in sports
it would be on the majority of the french to decide what matters food on the table a future
for their kids or constant islamo diversion and a sense of superiority towards their muslim neighbor
actually opinion polls do show that these cut unfortunately these kinds of uh attacks on muslim
women in france are popular most french people uh support them according to pinion poles anyway
so um just to finally note that this story uh comes as some girls have been banned from
entering the classroom in India at a college and here's a tweet: From France to India policing the
hijab and women's muslim women's bodies is a spearhead of state-sponsored islamophobia
so this is I think very concerning news indeed that the French senate
votes to ban the hijab in sports um it clearly captures something of the popular mood in france
particularly as the election the Presidential elections are coming up on April the 10th
and we wait to see the outcome of that. Until next time.