“It is the translation of a political project, based in particular on the subjugation of women”. No question as to legislate on the subject.
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The Corsican village of Sisco is the third French locality to announce a burkini ban on beaches, in the name of “gender equality”, but Muslim women who oppose such “misogynistic” measures are targeting “western feminists” for a lack of public support.
Hundreds later gathered outside the prefect’s office in Bastia, the capital of Upper Corsica.
Prime Minister Valls weighed into the debate on Wednesday, saying the swimwear was a “provocation” and an “archaic vision” that women are “immodest, impure and that they should therefore be totally covered”.
There were no protests from white feminists, nor did they don the burkini in solidarity with Muslim women who choose to wear the outfit. While denouncing the burkini as “profoundly archaic”, she said that in order to combat such outdated ideas, politicians had to maintain their composure.
She added that burqinis represent a “deeply archaic vision of the place of women in society and, thus, the relationship between men and women”.
“Swimwear displaying religious affiliation in an ostentatious way, while France and its religious sites are now the target of terrorist attacks, could create risks of trouble to public order”.
All three mayors agree the garment – which leaves nothing but a woman’s hands, feet, and face exposed – is “provocative” and “defies French laws on secularism”.
Disco’s ban follows prohibitions on the full-body swimwear in the French Riviera resorts of Cannes and Villeneuve-Loubet earlier this month. The others have done in recent days. “I don’t think we should legislate on the issue. They are motivated by the will to encourage social unity”, he told La Provence.
French law already forbids face-covering veils anywhere in public, and headscarves in public schools.
It is now taking its case to the Council of State, the highest judicial authority in France for administrative matters. Investigators are still investigating what happened. A French Muslim was denied entry to a swimming pool for wearing an Islamic-style full-body swimsuit in 2009.
France, which has the largest Muslim minority in Europe, estimated at 5 million, in 2010 introduced a ban on full-face niqab and burqa veils in public.
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In that same interview, Manuel Valls supports Chevenement, tipped to the Foundation’s management to Islam in France and who advised Monday to Muslims “discretion”, sparking a backlash within the Muslim community. The mayor went even further by saying that such outfits were “the uniforms of people we are at war with”.
