"Paradoxically, for the first time, French Muslims have united on a major political issue and rallied behind the French government. They essentially told the hostage-takers that they should stay out of France's affairs....Similarly, in countries where multiculturalism is protected, even celebrated, like the United States and Britain, there has been little sympathy for the French position."--NYT
So today France has begun enacting a policy--the headscarf and religious symbol ban in public schools--that America and Britain wouldn't want to enact. Fine. But if America and Britain are objecting to the policy on the grounds of protecting multiculturalism, where is their respect for French culture? The whole idea of multiculturalism, if I'm getting this right, is that multiple groups of people can each do things the way they see fit, unless the things they see fit are absolutely horrifying in such a way that being relativisitic and accepting of a given policy would be ridiculous. Secularism is a part of French culture in a way that it is (I believe unfortunately) not a part of American culture. Even the French Muslim community apparently believes that its country knows what it's doing, and does not feel all that discriminated against. So the ban on head scarves and other religious symbols in French public schools is a) consistent with French culture and b) is not horrifying, except to some in the Muslim world, including some oh-so-sympathetic hostage-takers, and to some Americans and Brits who find "horrifying" anything that is done differently from how they would do things.
The "multiculturalism" that America is objecting to is one that seems to imply America-as-superpower in a way that even I, initially a supporter of the war in Iraq and a definite supporter on the war on terror, find abhorent. If the world were run by America, then the sort of multiculturalism that would be celebrated everywhere would be the sort celebrated in America. Moreover, those "cultures" we now refer to as "sovereign nations," i.e. France, would become meaningless distinctions. Sure, those of the "French culture" might be permitted, say, special dispensation to smoke in bars, but it would probably end there.
Friday, September 03, 2004
A multiculturalist argument in favor of France's headscarf ban
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A couple things. First, Some people really do just care about preserving multiple cultures, and argue against the ban on, well, multiculturalist grounds. Then comes the whole idea of curtailing freedoms. All laws curtain freedom and all good laws are theoretically adding a much-needed freedom in the place of the one they are taking away. The ban on headscarves and other religious symbols in French public schools cannot be ranked with religiously-motivated human rights violations like the ones you mention. The costs and benefits of the French policy in France differ from what they would be if such a policy existed in the US. French people, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, seem to feel that their country has good reasons to impose the ban, meaning that, by sacrificing some freedoms, the population at large will gain others. That Muslims and others will benefit from living in a secular France more than they would benefit from being able to wear religious attire to public school. In the US, secularity is not held in such high esteem. On the contrary, the flourishing of multiple religions, rather than the absence of religion from the state, is considered evidence of living in a free society. Thus the US and France have different ideas about freedom, and there's no obvious answer to which country has the right idea, although on this particular issue I might have to go with France.
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