David Quinn
The row is a flashpoint between conflicting values, writes David Quinn
The ‘burkini’ is the name given by the media to the all-encompassing garment some Muslim women wear when at the beach. It is the outcome of a strict interpretation of Islam’s requirement that the sexes dress modestly.
The burkini is now at the centre of a political row in France after several dozen municipalities along the French Riviera decided to ban the wearing of the burkini outright. If Ireland has been spared a similar row it is because our Muslim population is very small, we have been spared Islamist-inspired violence and, frankly, because our climate hardly lends itself to too many days of sun-bathing on the beach.
The row is a now a major flashpoint between conflicting values including secularism vs multi-culturalism, and nationalism vs multi-culturalism.
It also sees a conflict between rival schools of feminist thought. Is allowing Muslim women to wear the burkini a matter of freedom of choice, or is the burkini inherently oppressive, a sign of patriarchy, and on those grounds should be banned entirely in order to liberate women?
What should Christians think? Is the burkini a threat to the Christian heritage of Europe or should we support those who wish to wear the burkini in the name of religious freedom?
Pictures
The burkini ban hit the front pages of our newspapers when pictures of French policemen surrounding a Muslim woman on a beach in Nice and seemingly forcing her to remove some of her garments made their way around the world.
The burkini ban is supported by most of the French right, including former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who is hoping to be president once again. Most of the French left opposes the ban.
Here, again, we see some apparent contradictions. If Islam is anti-feminist and reduces women to second class status, then shouldn’t the left be opposed to the burkini on the grounds that it is a sign of that second class status?
In addition, the left tend to be the biggest supporters of a version of secularism that wants to relegate religion almost entirely to the private domain in the hope that it will eventually wither away and die completely.
On the other hand, shouldn’t conservatives, who are generally more friendly to religion, be more supportive of the right to wear the burkini?
These contradictions are ironed out when we realise that French conservatives are also nationalists and this makes them suspicious of a multi-culturalism that seems to threaten French identity.
There are about five million Muslims in France today and large sections of some French towns and cities seem more Muslim than French. It is not simply that most people in these districts adhere to Islam, they don’t identify with France at all. Indeed, they are often actively hostile towards France.
This has helped to give rise to the National Front in France which is now a very potent political force there. Its rise to popularity has been helped by the acts of violence perpetrated by Muslim fundamentalists, including the mass killings in Paris last year and in Nice recently.
A lot of French now believe they are no longer safe in their own country and that the growing Muslim population is partly to blame.
Target
In this sort of environment, anything that seems to threaten French identity becomes a target, including very visible symbols of Islam like the burkini.
The left, for its part, is more committed to multi-culturalism, to displaying tolerance towards new arrivals in France. This comes under strain when many of those new arrivals refuse to integrate and become radically and even violently opposed to French identity and French democratic ideals.
Last week the burkini ban found its way into the French courts and it was ruled that the ban in one particular municipality violated the law on the grounds that the burkini was no threat to French security. That, of course, missed the point. No-one was arguing that it is a threat to French security. They were arguing that it is a threat to French identity.
The ruling means that the bans in the other districts are now likely to be struck down. Nicolas Sarkozy still insists that the ban should be imposed nationwide.
However, French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve, speaking to Le Croix newspaper, said: “The government… refuses to legislate on the matter because any such law would be unconstitutional, ineffective and likely to create antagonism and irreparable tension.”
Le Croix is a Catholic newspaper and it prompts the question: what is the Catholic attitude towards this matter? There is no one answer to the question, but the weight of Catholic opinion is opposed to the ban on grounds of religious freedom.
There is also the very important pragmatic argument that the sight of French police seemingly forcing a middle-aged Muslim lady on a beach to remove some of her garments can only reinforce the claim of organisations like ISIS that European values are implacably opposed to Muslims and Muslim values and therefore must be violently opposed.
Overall what this issue comes down to is whether or not a reasonable accommodation can be found between competing values just discussed.
If French solidarity and cohesion is not to be destroyed it is extremely important that Muslims accept France’s democratic values and do not make some parts of France look more like Muslim North Africa than France itself.
At the same time, some allowances must be made for Muslim beliefs and allowing what in truth will be only a small number of Muslim women to wear the ‘burkini’ to the beach does not seem like a very threatening concession.
In other words, there are better, more constructive ways to preserve French national identity and values than the burkini ban.
