Burka Ban Bantustan

Muslims in France are concerned that they are being confined in a permanent underclass and singled out by the recently passed prohibition on the face covering garment frequently worn by traditionally observant women. The actual number of wearers of burkas, hijabs, or niqabs is relatively small, probably numbering in the few thousands out of a Muslim community of around six million. But far beyond raw numbers, the sanctions against this practice have evoked outrage through large segments of the French Islamic community and perhaps more importantly, to Muslims worldwide. France is actually under increased threat of terror because of the ban, but at times, standing on principle has an associated cost. France may have managed to avoid the post-September 11, 2001 threat that struck at the heart of other European powers- notably Madrid (the train bombings) and London (the 7/7 mass transit attacks), and Moscow (for reasons more connected to the Chechen conflict) by distancing herself from the US particularly in the Iraq endeavor (which from France's perspective was an adventure). The best efforts of Jacques Chirac and Bernard Kouchner to not offend the great Ummah had to be squandered though to protect the foundational values of the French Republic. The burka ban is not the problem, but the all-encompassing covering was a symptom of a community of France that refuses to integrate and assimilate and share the national culture. The law of the Republic has heretofore not been an impediment to Islamic integration and many French of the Islamic faith have made headway in society precisely when they abandon practice including religious attire that keeps them separate from the majority at large. Very few Muslims in France who retain the wall of habitual practice around them have made great strides into enterprise or become anything other than welfare wards of the French state. Only when those trapped by orthodox Islamic practice embrace the community that surrounds them are they able to escape the poverty that they complain is imposed upon them with their presence in France. Those now shouting the loudest that their rights are being infringed do not recognize that a door is being opened to them affording an opportunity to greater prosperity through fuller integration into the French nation.