General burqa ban harmful

French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to ban the full-body veil, or burqa, in public places. The daily Libération finds the plan a superfluous electoral tactic: "No one outside of fundamentalist circles will defend the full body veil, which violates the principle of secularism and female emancipation. The total ban on the streets, where the police ... will have to punish offenders, is the sign of a harmful intolerance to foreign cultures, which in addition hides a clear electoral ploy. An immense majority of Muslims condemn this symbolic clothing and will accept the law. But what will peace-loving Muslims think, if not that the highest state authorities are being called upon to pass a law that once more stamps them as marginal, suspect citizens deserving special, rather paranoid treatment?

» more information (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Religion, » Integration, » Weltanschauung, » France
All available articles from » Laurent Joffrin

» To the complete press review of Thursday, April 22, 2010