Next Target in the French
Headgear Debate: The Bandana
by Elaine Sciolino ("NY
Times," January 20, 2004)
And now for the bandana ban.
The
proposed French law prohibiting the wearing of
religious symbols in public
schools was initially
interpreted to include Islamic headscarves,
Jewish
yarmulkes and large Christian crosses. Those were the
three items
singled out last month in a speech by
President Jacques Chirac and in a
report by a blue-
ribbon commission on religion and the state.
Then
the issue of the turban worn by Sikhs was raised,
as France's tiny Sikh
community protested that its
boys would quit school before removing their
turbans.
Today, Luc Ferry, the Minister of National Education,
went
further. He told the National Assembly's legal
affairs committee that any
girl's bandana that is
considered a religious sign (as opposed to a
fashion
statement, presumably) will also be banned.
During the
two-hour debate on the proposed ban,
lawmakers wanted to know why the draft
law was worded
to ban "ostensibly" religious symbols and not
everything
that is "visible."
Mr. Ferry explained that the wording afforded
the
state the ability to broadly interpret what
constitutes a religious
symbol and prevent the
possible subversion of the law. That's where
the
bandana came in.
"If we had chosen the word `visible,' we could
have
seen the appearance of other signs,' " Mr. Ferry said.
For that
reason, he explained, "The bandana, if it is
presented by young girls as a
religious sign, will be
forbidden."
He also contended that hairstyles
or the wearing of
certain colors could be a source of
manipulation. "Signs
could be invented using simple
hairiness or a color," he said. "Creativity
is
infinite in this regard."
In his testimony, Xavier Darcos, the
deputy minister,
agreed. "It's a question of our will to produce a
clear,
useful and general text that avoids diverse
precedents and individual
improvisation," he said. "It
was quite necessary to act and not to
restrain
religious freedom."
Last April, Mr. Ferry, a philosopher and
political
scientist by education, came out publicly against
proposals
emanating from the parliament, to pass a law
banning religious symbols in
schools, saying it could
be judged unconstitutional.
Today, he called
the Muslim veil "a militant sign that
calls for militant
counter-signs."
By contrast, the turban of the Sikhs, if it were
to
remain "discreet" would be allowed, he said.
Neither man gave a
definition of what constitutes a
religious bandana, how teachers would decide
what was
an "ostensible" sign of religion or how the new law
would be
implemented.
Asked to define a bandana, an official assigned to
deal
with press inquiries in the ministry,
said: "There is no definition. It will
be left to the
discretion of the heads of schools."
The Larousse
dictionary defines a bandana as "a small
cotton square of lively colors,
usually worn as a
scarf."
Asked about the bandana, Catherine Colonna,
Mr.
Chirac's spokesman, said, "The future law must not
allow people to
bypass it the way certain individuals
and groups already seem certain to do."
She stressed
that dialogue between school administrators and
students
would be required before punitive steps are
taken.
Indeed, in an
interview in today's issue of the
popular tabloid Le Parisien, Mohamed
Bechary,
president of the National Federation of Muslims of
France, a
large Muslim organization, asked, "{Who will
define what is ostensible and
what is not?" He said he
recommended "the discreet wearing of the scarf be it
a
bandana, a cap or a hat."
Other leaders of local Muslim communities
in France
have also advised female students to find ways around
the ban by
wearing a head covering that could be
interpreted as a fashion statement
rather than a
symbol of Islam.
Despite the existence for a national
curriculum for
all French public schools, there is no national dress
code.
It is left up to the discretion of each school
to decide whether to allow
such displays as body
piercing, baseball caps, visible thongs or
spaghetti
straps, for example.
As for religious symbols, since 1992
the wearing of
head scarves has been allowed only if it is
not "aggressive
or proselytizing." But individual
school directors decide.
In its
current draft form, the law states that in
public schools, "Signs and dress
that ostensibly show
the religious affiliation of students are
forbidden."
Underscoring the difficulty France has in explaining
the
importance of upholding the ideal of the
republican secular state, even Pope
John Paul II has
jumped into the fray. He told Vatican diplomats last
week
that religious freedom in Europe was endangered
be people seeking to ban
religion from the public
sphere. He did not specifically mention
France.
In a statement in Wednesday's Le Monde published on
Tuesday,
Bernard Stasi, who led the French commission
proposing the legal ban, dared
to criticize the
Pope. "I regret that the sovereign pontiff
is
misinformed," Mr. Stasi said. He added that instead of
giving arguments
to "fundamentalists of all colors by
evoking the threat of a campaign against
religious
freedom," the Catholic Church should help Islam in a
brotherly
way to find its place in secular France.`
As fashion, bandanas in France
have tended to follow
the American lead. Traditionally red and white or
blue
and white print and a symbol of the American West,
they became an
accessory among rap musicians and in
inner city street culture some years
ago.
Although some ready-to-wear designers have used
bandanas in their
shows over the years, such common
street fashion has not been on display in
the current
haute couture shows in Paris. The long-haired fashion
designer
John Galliano, however, wears a signature
bandana tied pirate-style at the
back of his neck.
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