Politico: Macron looking for new allies with Abaya ban
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French Education Minister Gabriel Attal announced on Monday that the French government will ban abaya dresses in school this week.
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A woman wearing an abaya traditional dress (C) walks in the streets of Marseille, southern France, on August 29, 2023. (AFP)
According to Politico, Emmanuel Macron's ban on abayas in schools has two purposes: sending signals to the right while dividing the left. But, according to Clea Caulcutt of Politico, Macron also runs the danger of unlocking a Pandora's box.
The decision to outlaw the long, flowing robes worn by some Muslim women, has ended a period of uncertainty at the highest levels of government in France over its commitment to the fundamental ideal of secularism.
French Education Minister Gabriel Attal announced on Monday that the government will move forward with a ban on abaya dresses in schools this week, citing the country's secular principles.
"Republican schools are built on very strong values and principles, notably secularism… I have decided that the wear of abayas in school will no longer be allowed," he told TF1 television on Sunday.
Islamophobia in France and across the EU has always been a recurring issue. Lately, the matter has been exacerbated, in great part due to the energy crisis and the cost-of-living crisis which many right-wing advocates attribute to migrants as being economic burdens.
In late June, France's top administrative court ruled against a collective of Muslim female soccer players in their case against the French Football Federation (FFF), imposing a ban on the Islamic headscarf, or Hijab, during sports games.
Attal stated that French schools were "being tested," while Olivier Véran, the government spokesperson, called the wearing of the garment "a political attack."
The government banned any religious symbols being worn by students in public schools in 2004, including the Hijab, the Muslim headscarf.
According to Bruno Jeanbart, VP of OpinionWay, a polling agency, the core issue is still unresolved due to the difference between a religious symbol and a simple dress code. "It’s only the beginning of the story. We’ll see cases where pupils are refused entry at schools," Jeanbart noted. "If they go to court and win, the question will be: Do we need a new law?"
Caulcutt believes that Macron is seeking some support from right-wing parties, particularly after last year's elections.
The far-right National Rally hailed the ban, while the left-wing France Unbowed party expressed it would challenge the new ban. Clementine Autain, MP of the party has accused the government of "policing" women's garments.
However, not all French leftists were outraged, revealing internal splits on secularism within the Nupes group. The socialists and communists have also applauded the prohibition, which is consistent with the parties' secularist roots.
Macron will meet opposition party leaders on Wednesday, including those from the far-right National Rally and the far-left France Unbowed, to discuss what he calls a "broad political initiative" to establish common political ground.
According to a recent IFOP poll, 77% of French people are "opposed" to religious signs in schools, and less than half the population are "very opposed."
Lauren Bakir, a Strasbourg University academic who specializes in law and secularism, noted that the French government may be on shaky legal grounds, noting that it's "very risky to extend the definition of what is a religious sign, especially when those [who wear abayas] say it's a cultural, not a religious, garment."
Bakir remarks that secularist restrictions of religious freedoms are founded on constitutional grounds, which means the further those grounds are eroded, "we are faced with decisions that are becoming more and more political."
