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Some 19,000 activists from around the world gathered in London for the European Social Forum
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LONDON,
October 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - France’s
controversial ban on hijab in public schools drew fire and accusation
of racism on Saturday, October 16, at a gathering of left-wing and
counter-culture groups in London.
"We
see this ban as a direct attack on the women's right to choose the way
they dress," said Milena Buyum, from the National Assembly
Against Racism, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
She
regretted the "rise of racism and Islamophobia" in Europe,
dismissing the French ban as "the most visible way in which it is
taking place."
Buyum's
group was co-sponsoring the debate, one of hundreds taking place in
north London under the umbrella of the three-day European Social
Forum, which has attracted 19,000 activists to the British capital
this weekend.
France
has triggered a worldwide controversy by adopting
a bill , which came into effect with the start of the new
school year in September, banning hijab and religious insignia in
public schools.
On
October 1, Cennet
Doganay, 15, took off her hijab as she was entering the
Louis Pasteur Lycee high school in Strasbourg, eastern France, only to
reveal a bald head.
Doganay,
of Turkish descent, told reporters outside her school that she
respected the law, but the law did not respect her religion.
According
to a Reuters count, about 120 schoolgirls across France insisted on
keeping their headscarves when school resumed on September 2.
School
officials said only 19 girls were still insisting on wearing their
headscarves in the Strasbourg.
State
Dictatorship
The
French ban drew renewed criticism during a two-hour debate -- titled
"Hijab: a woman's right to choose."
"Is
it to protect secular value? No, it's about state dictatorship,"
said hijab-donned Arlene Rodrigues from the British-based Assembly for
the Protection of Hijab (Pro-Hijab
).
The
assembly, comprising a network of British
and international organizations , was officially declared
Monday, June 14, to defend the right of Muslim women in Europe and
world-wide to wear hijab.
Christine
Delphy, an activist from the French Collectif Ecole Pour Toutes et
Tous (Collective School for All), also slammed "exceptional
treatment for Islamic insignia."
A
representative of the Stop the War Coalition, which has organized
opposition in Britain to the US-led invasion of Iraq, was equally
scathing about left-wing groups in France who backed the ban.
"In
France, the left, to its shame, has joined in the hysteria of the ban
of the hijab," said Salma Yaqoob.
The
US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) dismissed the French measure as "discriminatory".
Trade
unionists, environmentalists, human rights activists and other
delegates from around the world have gathered in London for the
three-day European Social Forum, the third such event.
The
hundreds of seminars, debates and workshops during the Forum will see
virtually every left-leaning, anti-corporate and pro-green subject
covered, although concern at the situation in Iraq is expected to
dominate proceedings.
