The New Jacobins, or, LET THEM WEAR THEIR HEADSCARVES!!!

lenin | 18.01.2004 15:03 | Analysis | Free Spaces

The New Jacobins...
I don't know what it is about the French, but they seem to know how to annoy everyone. They aggravate the Right by not going along with wars, and the Left by circumscribing religious freedom.

Some have suggested that this is an argument to be had with religious nutters, a brave secular attack on the ancien regime. I hate to tell you this, but it ain't. Jaques Chirac and Jean-Pierre Raffarin are not operating in defense of the Republic, they are operating in a climate where the high vote for Jean Marie Le Pen has legitimised and sanctified racism and Islamophobia...

http://leninology.blogspot.com/2004_01_01_leninology_archive.html#107443768534192182

The New Jacobins... I don't know what it is about the French, but they seem to know how to annoy everyone. They aggravate the Right by not going along with wars, and the Left by circumscribing religious freedom.

Some have suggested that this is an argument to be had with religious nutters, a brave secular attack on the ancien regime. I hate to tell you this, but it ain't. Jaques Chirac and Jean-Pierre Raffarin are not operating in defense of the Republic, they are operating in a climate where the high vote for Jean Marie Le Pen has legitimised and sanctified racism and Islamophobia.

http://leninology.blogspot.com/2004_01_01_leninology_archive.html#107443768534192182

lenin

Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

And I thought Lenin was opposed to anti-secular, religious fascists

18.01.2004 15:25

How is it Islamophobic to ban Jewish children from wearing the kippa in schools?

islamophobia myth

great opportunity missed - again

18.01.2004 17:42

either way people should have the right to freedom of expression, i totally support secular schooling and so my demand would be ban the christmas tree first. Every government institution puts up a christmas tree and that is blatant bias. My second point is that why not just DIY - direct action, wear your headscarf anyway.

As an aside i would like to point out what a tissy the left has got into in france it doesnt know who to support and has ended up against freedom of religion. On the other hand the SA in this country who can only seem to get votes when local clerics support them is on the side of the headscarf - and they blame sections of the working class for being opportunists!

translator

I wonder.....

19.01.2004 01:12

Do any of these schools have compulsory school uniform ?

Can the rasta kids wear dreadlocks and smoke ganja in class ?
Can sikhs wear turbans ?
Can fanatical nudists go naked ?

freddie

not black and white

21.01.2004 17:01

Islamists and the mullahs want to oppress women by forcing them to wear headscarfs - thats undeniable. Whats also unfortunately undeniable is that it is a cultural tradition and banning it only leads to them thinking their culture is being oppressed or their religon attacked, and to them turning more to their culture/religion in defiance. Eg. in Iran, where women wore the headscarf to defy his tyranny, or in Turkey, where it was banned until a few years ago and women campaigned and wore it in defiance. Its not a black and white issue unfortunately.

If the ban goes ahead, many normal Muslims may become more immersed in their religion, and become more involved in Political Islam and conservatism, and be less likely to turn to the liberal wing of Islam in France. Many may just go along with it and some women will feel liberated. And others will become really defiant and quite fundamentalist probably. Its probably better not to ban it, as Political Islam is using it as a rallying point.

asfsaf

Lenin wasn't anti-Muslim

21.01.2004 17:27

Just for the record, Lenin wasn't anti-Muslim. Check it out:

http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=8689

sadcase