The French senate yesterday banned veils that cover the face, calling the "forced" donning of the Muslim burqa or niqab "a new form of enslavement that the republic cannot accept on its soil." Anyone caught wearing a face-covering veil faces a fine of 150 euros ($195) and/or a mandatory citizenship course. Anyone convicted of forcing a woman to wear a niqab or burqa may be jailed for a year or fined 15,000 euros ($19,500).
This law is the latest measure in a series of French policies that have restricted religious garb in the public sphere, such as the 2004 law that banned the wearing of headscarves or other "overt religious symbols" in schools.
While supporters of the bill insist that it is designed to integrate rather than stigmatize France's 3.5 million Muslim citizens, it is unlikely to have this effect. A law that specifically targets certain Muslim members of French society will not encourage social assimilation or even cooperation between religious groups. In describing how the new law would impact her, a Muslim woman who lives on the outskirts of Paris told Associated Press yesterday, "I won't go out. … I'll exclude myself from society when I wanted to live in it."
The senate's ban on face-covering veils not only violates the civil liberties and basic religious freedoms of its citizens but will also negatively impact French society and security. Even though it does not directly impact most French Muslims, the law and the climate in which it came about have alienated many of them and will discourage them from participating in public life. It creates an environment that may breed domestic radicalization, which in turn could prove very harmful to both French and global security. Domestic radicalization is a dangerous reality for both Europe and the United States in a post-9/11 world.
In the United States, Islamophobia is on the rise. Disappointing, offensive protests over plans to build a Muslim community center near ground zero, as well as the national debate that has arisen around them, have too often presented Muslims in the United States as "the other" rather than who they really are: Americans. By discounting a group's membership in society, as France's law and recent rhetoric in the United States have done, a country runs the risk of isolating that group.
Engaging rather than estranging moderate Muslims in American or European societies may be the most effective way to halt domestic radicalization. Since 9/11, Muslim Americans have been critical actors in disrupting terrorist plots and reporting suspicious individuals to the police. It is therefore vital that governments work to foster strong relationships with Muslim communities both in the United States and abroad. Creating prejudicial, anti-Muslim policies in the United States or in European countries would likely increase the number of dangerous radicals that threaten global security and discourage some of the most informed and able citizens from reporting on their activities.
Alienating Muslims through Islamophobic legislation is not only discriminatory, but dangerous. We must avoid implementing similar policies in the United States and discourage our allies from doing so in the future.
