Oops!... I did it again

February 13, 2004

What a stunning coincidence. In many nation-states around Europe, simultaneously, laws are being debated that ostensibly have no connection to one another — defending secularism in France, defending women's rights in Belgium and Sweden, defending states' rights in Germany, defending the autonomy of state-funded Christian schools in Spain and Italy — and yet, miraculously, despite these disparate if lofty ideals, they all converge on the exact same effect: Muslim women will not be allowed to wear headscarves in public schools.

If there is anything redeeming about this sudden flurry of legal innovation, it is that collectively these laws betray a certain embarrassment about their aims. In each case, the proscription against Muslim women is officially construed as a secondary effectThe silliest example of such a secondary effect is not France's law against "conspicuous religious symbols" being used to ban the headscarf, but the defence in Spain of a state school run by nuns that forbade a Muslim girl from obeying the same biblical precept that obliges nuns to wear habits! Sorry, but that merits a rare exclamation mark.. To me, this signals that the proponents of these laws know they are treading on shaky legal ground. They know they can't just come right out and say, "we're going to make a law forbidding Muslim women from wearing headscarves at school," because its intent would be laughed out of any human rights tribunal.

Hence the proscription as side effect. It's the same desired effect, minus the intent. Countries are doing an admirable job of coming up with their own home-grown solutions, though with varying levels of precision: Sikhs are still in limbo in France, it turns outUpdate 2003/02/15: Scott Martens on A Fistful of Euros surveys the state of the headscarf debate online..

France is the furthest along this road to madness; if ever the lunatics end up running this asylum, blame the one with the Napoleon complex.

For bonus points, this has got to be the stupidest editorial I've read in years. But I'd love to be trumped.

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