When I was at school in England we were taught that France was a Catholic country. Repeating that here I have been greeted with derision. "France is a secular nation," crows the Catholic magazine La Vie. "The most secular in Europe, if not the world." The legal separation of church from state happened in 1905 and is something French schoolchildren are taught to be proud of: "La France est une r?blique, indivisible et la?e," says the constitution.
Just at the moment, however, that la?e (secular) part is causing problems. In April, Nicolas Sarkozy, the minister of the interior and a rising star of the right, reminded a Muslim gathering that citizens must be bareheaded when photographed for their identity card. His audience erupted, booing and whistling. Although for identity purposes it makes perfect sense to have the whole head uncovered, the law making it obligatory is less than two years old and exceptions have already been made for Christians-most notably a mother superior who was photographed in her wimple because President Chirac's wife intervened on her behalf. But by raising the issue of head-covering, Sarkozy rekindled a deeper debate which has been rumbling for 15 years-whether, in a secular state, young women should be forbidden from wearing headscarves at school.
In an Ipsos poll, 58 per cent said that headscarves should be banned in state schools, and even more said Islam is incompatible with the principles of the republic (they weren't asked about Christianity). It is fundamental to la?t?hat state schools be devoid of any whiff of religion: it is neither taught nor discussed. Probably only a couple of hundred schoolgirls have been expelled for refusing to remove their scarf in school (there is no specific law forbidding headscarves, so each school sets its own rules). Most compromise by taking it off as they enter the school gates. Others leave the state system and go to a private school-usually run by the more tolerant Catholics and costing the parents around ?300 a year-the rest of the teaching costs being subsidised by the secular republic.
The veil symbolises the oppression of women, say venerable feminists. Muslims prefer the word "foulard" (scarf). French media, intellectuals and politicians insist on using the word "voile" (veil), which is both inaccurate and emotive. To them, it's a relic of male chauvinism, an insult to the land of ?lit?As far as the Muslim schoolgirls are concerned, a land of libert?llows them the right to decide what to do with their bodies.
"What shocks, irritates and upsets is that the guests of a state do not have the politeness to respect the laws of their hosts," rages Jean Daniel, respected editor of the left-wing weekly Le Nouvel Observateur. "Surely it would be better if they showed an excess of respect for the laws, customs and traditions of the republic." Wear berets, perhaps? Fag dangling, riding bicycles strung with onions? Belief in la?t?increasingly confused with atheism, has become a religion in itself, with its own dogma and intolerance. You can imagine how second and third-generation French citizens bridle at being called "guests of the state."
The flaw in Jean Daniel's argument is that currently there is no law on the subject, and any law forbidding headscarves in school could be overturned in the constitutional or the European court. Yet, since Sarkozy's reminder that you must go bareheaded into the photo booth, ministers past and present and d?t?of all parties have been queuing up to have their names associated with a law reinforcing the sacred values of the republic. Having won enormous support from the Muslim community by defying America, the French government has blown it all on this issue.
The headscarf is a tip of an iceberg, and a visual reminder that new generations of French Muslims have not rejected their grandparents' culture, that 40 years of statutory assimilation hasn't worked, that the indivisible republic is seething with suppressed multiculturalism. Halal meat in school canteens? ?alit?not equity) says the law-what's the point in them chanting "our ancestors the Gauls" if they then eat halal? Muslims released from school for an hour on Fridays to go to the mosque? "No concessions to religion in a secular republic," is the state response. And yet try suggesting that shops open on Sundays.
The policy of assimilation insisted upon for 40 years seems only to have kept communities apart. Muslims make up around 8 per cent of the population, yet they have not one elected representative in parliament. They look with envy at their peers in Britain: MPs, television hosts, heads of industry and even members of the House of Lords. But although unrepresented in parliament, French Muslims do have power in the street. It is widely believed that it was to appease his 5m Muslims, who threatened a violent uprising if France went to war against Saddam, that Chirac preferred to split Europe, the indivisible republic being more important than a united Europe.
