Abaya Ban ‘Directly Targeting Islam’, Forcing Muslims to Bow to Secular Demands: Canadian Analyst
“This [Abaya ban] is directly targeting Islam, demanding that Muslims bow to secular demands, undermining their belief. The elite sees that Islam is the only faith that is robust, producing healthy, moral citizens. They fear that Europe will slowly be Islamicized as more immigrants come and shape European culture in moral terms away from its present moral decay,” Eric Walberg told IQNA.
The following is the full text of the interview:
IQNA: Late last month, with France still in vacation mode, Gabriel Attal, 34, the newly appointed education minister, declared that “the abaya can no longer be worn in schools.” Since then, organizations representing the country’s large Muslim minority of about five million people have protested; a fierce debate has erupted over whether Mr. Attal’s August surprise, just before students went back to their classrooms, was a vote-seeking provocation or a defense of the secularism that is France’s ideological foundation. What is your take on this? What is the main reason behind this decision?
Walberg: Wearing a head scarf is suddenly a contentious issue everywhere. Muslims in Quebec Canada have suffered two years now of a law prohibiting head scars in public buildings and 'while on the job'. I can't help but think that there is something behind it; namely, the long term simmering Islam-hatred that really got going after 9/11. Whether or not that spectacular, even miraculous, event was the work of a cabal of neocon Zionists or not, they have capitalized on it energetically. After invading various Muslim countries without much success, they are moving into culture as a way to brainwash western audiences.
France is leading the way to target Muslims by banning headscarfs not only by teachers and officials but students. It is part of Macron's neocon agenda, a bit of revenge against his people for the months of demonstrations against his policies. Anti-Arab racism is growing in France as the Muslim underclass is always on the brink of exploding, with little to live for in a land that despises them. France is paying the price for its past brutal colonialism. This latest 'policy' is just adding fuel to the fire.
IQNA: Later, the State Council, France's highest court for complaints against government authorities, ruled that the school ban on the abaya is legal. An association – known as the Action for the Rights of Muslims (ADM) – had argued that the ban was discriminatory and could trigger hatred against Muslims, as well as racial profiling. What are your thoughts on this?
Walberg: The ban is definitely discriminatory and will whip up further racism. Quebec, aping France, introduced a partial ban on head scarfs, and the immediate result was harassment of Muslim girls and women on the street as Islamophobes were encouraged by government support for their bigotry. The same will happen in France.
IQNA: “According to international human rights standards, limitations on manifestations of religion or belief, including choice of clothing, were only permitted in very limited circumstances – including public safety, public order, and public health or morals. In addition, under international human rights law, measures adopted in the name of public order must be appropriate, necessary, and proportionate,” OHCHR spokesperson Marta Hurtado said recently. What do you think?
Walberg: This is directly targeting Islam, demanding that Muslims bow to secular demands, undermining their belief. The elite sees that Islam is the only faith that is robust, producing healthy, moral citizens. They fear that Europe will slowly be Islamicized as more immigrants come and shape European culture in moral terms away from its present moral decay.
Modesty in public is vital to a balanced, law-abiding society. women in the West complain of rape, which is indeed rampant in the West, but dress provocatively, advertising themselves as sexually available. Leaving the house modestly dressed and careful should be unconscious behavior. No one cares to note that rape is almost nonexistent in the Muslim world.
Eric Walberg is known worldwide as a journalist specializing in the Middle East, Central Asia and Russia. A graduate of University of Toronto and Cambridge in economics, he has been writing on East-West relations since the 1980s. Presently a writer for the foremost Cairo newspaper, Al Ahram, he is also a regular contributor to Counterpunch, Dissident Voice, Global Research, and Turkish Weekly, and is a commentator on Voice of the Cape radio.
The views and opinions expressed in this interview are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the view of the International Quran News Agency.
