France: Waiting for September

Jocelyn Bézecourt

France is waiting for September. With the beginning of the new school year, the ban on head scarves and other religious symbols in state schools will come into effect. There is tension in the air. Since the new law was passed in February, some Muslim fundamentalist groups are calling for disobidience against it right from the beginning of the school year. Supporters of secularism, on the other hand, are planning actions and demonstrations to express that France stands for the separation of religion and state (the so called "laïcité") and is determined to protect women from head scarf oppression. Meantime, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has taken some wind out of the sails of the fundamentalists by passing a judgement in favor of the head scarf ban in schools and universities in Turkey [see report in Bulletin #127]. The battle, however, seems to continue with great intensity.

Paradoxically, the pro-head scarf activists claim that wearing the hijab was a sign of freedom and "Islamic emancipation" - a contradiction in itself, as the word "Islam" means "submission"! Everybody knows very well that girls who don't want to be buried alive under the Muslim veil are forced under it by their families and religious authorities.

The great majority of the five million Muslims living in France wishes to see a calm September. The French Council of the Muslim Faith tries to reduce tension over the new law. So do the moderate leaders of the Mosque of Paris. But there are extremists, trying to use the situation to radicalize the community.

The national Union of French Islamic Organizations advises girls to go to school with the kind of clothes they like - clearly encouraging to wear a head scarf - and announces to provide moral support to girls in a fighting mood, give them help for dialogue, information about their rights, advice from local activists and legal assistance.

A prominent figure among the hard-liners is Thomas Abdallah Milcent, a doctor, who turned to fundamentalism in Afghanistan in the early 80's. In his book he suggests different ways to disobey the ban. If not with the head scarf, he proposes to cover the hair with a bandara or a phrygian bonnet, the symbol of the French Revolution, demonstrating "attachment to the values of the Republic". He has founded a Muslim Defense Fund and is opening a hotline these days to support girls who are threatened with expulsion from school.

The CFCM (French Council of Muslim Culture), which is supposed to represent the unique voice of French Islam, is not able to give a coherent view on the issue. Its members (organizations and persons) have contradictory opinions on whether they should accept the new law or not. This reflects the state of confusion and disagreement within the Muslim community of France, which is put together from many national communities and various religious schools. Moreover, there are strong influences coming from outside: a radical British organization has recently declared its support for the hard-liners and launched a European campaign against the ban.

This may explain the unexpected vigor of the Muslim movement against the new law, which was quite surprising in the French secular society. The number of pro-head scarf activists seems to be comparatively small, but in demonstrations between December 2003 to March 2004, they managed to create a frightening vision. There were completely covered women in the streets, wearing something like the taliban's burka. Some men did loudly their prayers and others gave anti-Semitic speeches. Paris became, for some hours, Teheran or Kabul. Algerians living in France felt dramatically reminded at the situation in their own country in the 80's when the FIS (Islamic front for salvation) started fighting for an Islamic state.

	Streets of Paris reminding of "Afghanistan"

In some big cities in France, Muslim fundamentalism seems on the raise. Its unacceptable claims start sounding in loud voices: Some women don't accept to have themselves examined by a male doctor, pupils and parents refuse to shake hands with a women teacher. Some school courses meet with opposition: it is sometimes very difficult to talk about biology,Voltaire or the extermination of the Jews by the nazis. Some Muslims girls refuse to participate in sport lessons at school, Muslims women insist that during special hours swimming pools have to be closed for men. There are claims for "halal" food (authorized in Arabic) at school.

The battle against religious signs at state schools has been won, but it was not easy. Supporters of secularism have often been blamed to be racist. The fact that they have always been very active in fighting against the Front National, the racist party of Le Pen, shows the absurdity of this accusation. But criticizing Islam is still difficult in France. A rational study on this religion faces much more tabus than one on Catholicism. The fight against the influence of the Catholic Church on society lasted several centuries and created between 1880 and 1905 a set of laws for the separation of church and state. Islam is only since some decades present in France.

The "laïcité" supporters have already shown their strength and they will keep on fighting for a secular France, against Islamic as well as against Christian fundamentalism.

Australia: Feeding Christian fundamentalism with tax Dollars

Open the door of the Melrose Park School in the southern Adelaide suburb of St Marys and enter a time warp. Behind these walls lies a world untouched by modern communication and information technology. Radio, television, computers, email, fax and internet are unknown here. The school is ruled in the spirit of a fundamentalist Christian sect, founded some 300 years ago in Germany. Its devout followers believe that modern technology and access to information about the wide world corrupts children's minds.

The Melrose Park School (MPS) is the private school of the Church of the Brethren, reserved for believers only. Its students are crippled by lack of technical understanding and skills and "blessed" with complete ignorance about basic chapters of modern science like the theory of evolution. This education excludes them from any higher education (universities are considered dangerous) and does not prepare them to master the challenges of modern day's world.

No question, the MPS is breaching the national Australian curriculum guidelines. But thanks to a special exemption granted by the government of Prime Minister John Winston Howard it is allowed to remain registered. The registration entitles the school to secure about $225,000 per year in common wealth funding. But not enough, the government has granted the school of the Church of the Brethren additionally public funds of $5666 per year for each student.

This is part of the controversial 20 billion Dollar packet, the Howard government is spending annually on independent and Catholic schools. Under the warm shower of such generous funding with taxpayer's money, private schools are sprouting. They attract many students, as they can afford to keep their fees low. Melrose Park School is not the only dubious institute among them. Some weeks ago, The Australian revealed that St Joseph's Primary School near Nowra in NRW, run by the doomsday cult of "Prophet" William "Little Pebble" Kamm, had received more than $331,000 in federal funding since 1996, and $45,000 in state funding for the running year.