The French have always sought to separate religion from public life and state affairs. It is under this very belief that the ban on burkinis has come to pass. But there are many problems with this diktat, one that defies logic in a way. The burkini is an innovation
on the burqa and the bikini, allowing Muslim women to spend time at the beach and get into the water, without compromising their religious beliefs. Nice is the latest city to ban the burkini, with deputy mayor Christian Estrosi, in a letter to French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, stating that “…wearing a full body costumer to go to the beach is not keeping with our ideal of social relations.” This obviously also equates Islam and its followers with terrorism, something that many heads of state have fought to keep separate.
There is obviously a need to separate religion from the state,
across the world. The people behind the bans claim that the
ban is for “apparel that overtly
manifests adherence to religion…”
Manuel Valls has said the full-body
swimsuit worn by some Muslim
women was not compatible with
French values and is based on the
“enslavement of women”.
On one hand, the French defend
the right of publications such as
Charlie Hebdo, of critiquing and
lambasting Islam, through humour. Banning the burkini impinges
on the women’s right to wear what they want. It is, in a
way, a violation of their civil rights.
All religious dogmas pertaining to women have been created
by men. In fact, a French cartoonist summed up the situation
well, when in a caricature, he depicts a Islamic cleric and a
Frenchman both pointing at a half-naked women who is struggling
to cover herself up. The men tell her to dress the way they
want her to and not any other way. She replies, “And my opinion
in all of this?”
France is not Saudi Arabia or other Islamic countries where
the punishment for women who do not follow the rules is severe.
If women in a liberated country still wish to wear a burkini,
then why should they be told not to? If it is a matter of
security, then by all means find ways to screen people at the
beach or reserve the right to search any suspicious individuals.
However, that will throw up a new series of controversies.
France has to learn to deal with multi-culturalism, just like
most countries in the world are learning to. Globalisation has
meant that things are changing culturally across the world.
Perhaps India can be used as an example of how different cultures
assimilate and co-exist. There will always be problems,
but here we need to look at the larger picture.
