This business with banning hijabs in public schools along with yarmulkes and crosses that are too prominent is in part due to the French government's aggressive secularism but it's also rooted in good old fashioned French xenophobia. France now has Europe's highest Muslim population, immigrants from Northern Africa and the Middle East. As the French abandon their traditions and their birthrate falls, a new non-assimilating culture is right in their midst. One with a very high birthrate.
Ergo, they try and make the non-assimilating population assimilate. But the proverbial horse is already out of the barn. Some folks think it might be a good idea to try and take the extremism out of the population. But I think all it will do is make the Muslims angry and convince them the only way they can hold on to their way of doing things is to run the show.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2004-01-25 04:46 pm (UTC)Ergo, they try and make the non-assimilating population assimilate. But the proverbial horse is already out of the barn. Some folks think it might be a good idea to try and take the extremism out of the population. But I think all it will do is make the Muslims angry and convince them the only way they can hold on to their way of doing things is to run the show.