When I saw
the High Court of France turnover the Burkini Ban, I was delighted. Burkinis
are in no way a sign of radical Islam and they do not go against secularism.
First off,
it’s basically a swimsuit. It’s hard to tell the difference between the two.
The
burkini doesn’t cover the face, meaning you can identify the individual (thus
cancelling out security concerns) and you can see all their facial expressions
(thus cancelling out concerns of miscommunication). So as far as the head is
concerned, the burkini is like a hijab, and the hijab certainly IS NOT a sign
of radical Islam, so how can the burkini be said to be the same? It can’t, thus
cancelling out concerns of radical Islam, evidently false concerns that the
mayors have cited to put the ban in place.
Basically,
the ban was saying, ‘You can cover your body, but as soon as you’re a Muslim
woman doing it, it’s not okay.’ This is clearly discrimination.
Secondly, the
rule itself didn’t mention the burkini, but said that ‘beachwear must be
respectful of good public manners and the principle of secularism.’
As
seen above, this ban is discrimination, and discrimination is not respectful of
good public manners, so forcing people to not
wear burkinis is going against the very rule used to do this same very thing!
Secularism
doesn’t ban religious symbols/clothing etc (such as the burkini). Secularism
involves the separation of state from religious institutions and that people of
ALL religions are equal before the law. The only way the burkini (something
religious) is involved with the state is when the mayors make a policy banning
the burkini. These mayors are the ones involving the religious with the state.
The mayors, by putting these bans in place, are the ones breaching secularism!
Lastly,
just a note that the French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the burkini was ‘a
political sign of religious proselytising.’ Clearly, the French PM doesn’t
understand that following one's beliefs is not the same as proselytising . It’s
proselytising when you try and convert someone. Are wearers of burkinis even
suggesting people become Muslims? No. Is a crucifix-wearer proselytising for
wearing the cross? No. So why the different approach for Islam and its symbols
and clothing? This, again, shows discrimination.
