Hey Sarkozy: Why Not Ban Bikinis Too?

First of all, I am no fan of the burqa…

Secondly, I am no fan of French President Nicholas Sarkozy…

I love France…Sarkozy, not so much…

Third (and most importantly), as an international human rights lawyer, I am no fan of any government in the world (whether it is France or Afghanistan) mandating what a person can (or cannot) wear as a free member of their society.

According to a media report in Reuters, a recent French study found that only 367 women in the entire nation of France wear Islamic veils (better known as a burqa) that completely cover their faces and bodies. This report severely undermines the position of right-wing politicians who are pushing for a ban on the garments.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has stopped short of backing a ban, but has recently said the veils were “not welcome” in France. The influential French newspaper Le Monde said that in light of the tiny number of women concerned, the idea of a ban should be dropped.

“Do we need to legislate for fewer than 400 people, legislate for an exception? … Given the risks, including the stigmatisation of Islam … the answer is no,” Le Monde rightfully said in a recent editorial.

In a June 2009 speech at the Palace of Versailles, French President Nicholas Sarkozy said that the head-to-toe Islamic garment for women (known as a burqa) was not a symbol of religion but a sign of subservience for women.

“The burka is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience,” he told members of both parliamentary houses gathered for his speech.

That is funny, Monsieur Sarkozy. I did not know that you were also an expert on international religious freedom issues.

Let us not forget that Mr. Sarkozy was a right-wing conservative presidential candidate on an amazingly anti-immigrant platform (which is strangely ironic being the son of two Hungarian immigrants himself). He has also become known in the French press as the “bling-bling president”, due to his taste for Rolex watches and holidays on luxury yachts.

Furthermore, he sharply divided public opinion in France – not least by adopting his tough stances on immigration. For example, he famously described young delinquents in the Paris suburbs as racaille, or “rabble”. That blunt comment – made before the 2005 Parisian banlieues riots – encouraged some critics to put him in the same category as far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen (Hint: Think David Duke meets Yves Saint Laurent).

Now, he wants to pass legislation which only apparently applies to only 367 French women who wear the burqa out of a total French Muslim population of over 5 million (which is currently Europe’s largest Muslim population)

For us global political commentators out there, this is eerily reminiscent of the 2004 French presidential ban on hijab (headscarves) in public schools first implemented by former French president Jacques Chirac.

On the 2004 hijab ban, French Ambassador to the United States Pierre Vimont once told me during an exclusive interview that, “This was a bone of contention in many of our schools…Some of the heads of our schools wanted to prevent children from getting in with their hijabs and therefore forbidding it. Others wanted to accept it….”

“I, myself, had my doubts,” continued Ambassador Vimont during our exclusive March 2008 sit-down interview at the French Embassy in Washington. “If you try to look at it from a very pragmatic way, then you have a lot of wise men who worked together and came out with this proposal that they thought hijab should be forbidden in the schools.”

On the current issue of the burqa, esteemed French newspaper Le Monde said it had seen reports by two separate domestic intelligence agencies that both found only a tiny minority of Muslim women wore such veils. One of the French intelligence reports gave a definitive figure: 367 women in the entire country of France wear the burqa.

Sacre bleu!

Nonetheless, the anti-immigrant conservative ‘bling-bling’ president of France felt the need to make a public pronouncement against an already-marginalized group of French Muslims who already face societal discrimination in France each and every day.

Critics of the idea of a burqa ban have said it would stigmatize Islam and would put moderate Muslims on the defensive, pushing them into defending the veils as a symbol of their religion even though they may not favor wearing the garments themselves.

The internal French intelligence reports cited by Le Monde suggest that the reality of women who cover their faces in France, and why, is quite different from the description given by politicians.

French intelligence reports say that most (of the 367) French women who wear full veils are ‘under 30 years old and choose to do so to make a political point’. Outraged by what they see as widespread anti-Muslim sentiment in France, they want to defy society and, in some cases, their own relatives.

French converts to Islam account for around one-quarter of wearers, the newspaper said, quoting the intelligence reports.

As an international human rights lawyer, in addition to the French Constitution, it is also important to note that such a law would probably violate Article 9 of the European Declaration of Human Rights which states quite clearly that, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion…and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.”

Furthermore, Article 9 continues to state that, “Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.”

This means that Muslim women should be free to wear hijabs or burqas, Jewish men free to wear yarmulkes and Sikh men free to keep their turbans in their bona fide observance of what they believe to be their religious-mandated attire.

Another thought to keep in mind: Do you think that President Sarkozy would ever contemplate banning white French Catholic nuns from wearing full head-to-toe black ‘habits’ (which look a lot like burqas) as a symbol of their religious devotion?

Yeah, I didn’t think so either…

This right-wing political pandering is meant to only further marginalize brown Muslim women in France and reeks of the anti-immigrant or racial-ist undertones of right-wing fringe political lunatics like Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Since President Nicholas Sarkozy seems so fond to try and legislate what a French woman can (or cannot) wear in public, why should he simply stop at a legislative ban on burqas?

Let’s randomly pick another article of female clothing that President Sarkozy could legally (and arbitrarily) ban during his next presidential speech.

Hmm…Why not ban bikinis too?

After all, it would be as legally absurd as banning the burqa and would certainly affect more than 367 people in France.

So, President Sarkozy. Why not ban bikinis too?

Sadly, something tells me that ‘le petit Sarkozy’ inside of his presidential pants would not allow for such an outrageous anti-bikini law to ever be passed.