Chirac moves to ban Muslim headscarves in public schools

FRENCH President Jacques Chirac yesterday asked parliament to pass a law banning Islamic headscarves and other religious insignia in public schools, a dramatic and potentially explosive move aimed at shoring up the nation’s secular tradition.

“Secularism is one of the great successes of the Republic,” Mr Chirac said in an address to the nation. “It is a crucial element of social peace and national cohesion. We cannot let it weaken.”

Mr Chirac said he would push for a law to be enacted in time for the school year that begins next autumn. Islamic headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and large crucifixes would fall under the ban.

“They don’t have a place in our public schools,” Mr Chirac said.

However, Mr Chirac said the wearing of discreet items like a small pendant with the Star of David “remains possible.” Mr Chirac’s proposal also covers the workplace. His labour minister may, if necessary, submit measures to parliament to allow business leaders “to regulate the wearing of religious signs,” Mr Chirac said.

Companies should be free to ban the wearing of head scarves and other religious signs for reasons of safety or customer relations, Mr Chirac said.

The nation has been enriched by diversity but “fanaticism is gaining ground,” the French President said.

Alluding to the Anglo-Saxon model of integration by which various ethnic communities often guard their customs and separateness, Mr Chirac said this was not a choice for France, which over the years has asked new citizens to melt into the mainstream.

“I refuse to let France take that path. It would sacrifice its heritage. It would compromise its future. It would lose its soul,” he said.

For the public sector, Mr Chirac said a law was needed to stop patients from being able to refuse treatment in public hospitals because of the gender of the treating doctor medical personnel. “We must reaffirm with force the neutrality and secularism in the public service,” he said.

Adoption of the law is nearly certain, as MPs from both sides of the political spectrum have voiced support for a law on secularism, insisting France must retain its separation of religion and state. The French Council of the Muslim Faith has expressed reservations about banning head scarves, saying it would be viewed as a discriminatory move against France’s Muslim population, at five million, the largest in Western Europe.