France: Racist campaign against burqa threatens democratic rights

In his June 22 speech to assembled parliamentarians at the Palace of Versailles, President Sarkozy declared, “The burqa is not welcome on the territory of France.”

Sarkozy was picking up an initiative of André Gerin, a Communist Party (PCF, France’s Stalinist party) deputy and mayor of the poor suburb of Vénissieux, near Lyon. Gerin’s petition for legislation banning the wearing in public of the burqa and the niqab has the support of deputies from all the parties represented in the National Assembly.

Immediately after Sarkozy’s speech, a parliamentary mission to study the issue was set up. It started its deliberations July 8 and is due to report at the end of December.

As the composition of the mission makes clear, there is support throughout the French political establishment for the victimization of France’s Muslims. The mission comprises 32 deputies: 1 PCF, 1 Green, 11 Socialist Party (PS), 17 UMP (the ruling conservative Union for a Popular Movement), and 3 others. The mission’s reporter will be UMP deputy Éric Raoult, and it will be led by Gerin.

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