Category Archives: Politics

Politics, Religion

Muslim Women React to Hijab Restrictions

Story and photo by Solange Jain

Every weekday morning in Clermont-Ferrand, France, Aoitif Koubaa prepares to go into work as a special education teacher in a Catholic school. Before she walks in the building, Koubaa unpins her hijab, revealing her hair and neck, and places the fabric in her bag. Her hijab won’t be put back on until she leaves the school premises later that day.

Koubaa is one of many women in France affected by a controversial law affecting the display of religious symbols in government institutions. Some women find it unfairly restrictive, while others take a more neutral position or even approve of the principle behind it.

The 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State established the principle of laïcité (or secularism) in France, which ensures “the free exercise of religion” and that “the Republic does not recognize, pay, or subsidize any religious sect.”

On May 15, 2004, a new law banned the wearing of ostentatious signs of religion, including symbols and garments, in public schools. Discreet signs of religion, however, were not prohibited. Today, obvious symbols of religion, such as a large Christian cross, a Jewish kippah or a hijab, are prohibited in schools, civil service roles and administration roles connected to the state. 

I spoke to four women who each represented a different circumstance with regard to their shared practice of Islam, and thus different perspectives on France’s secular laws.

Aoitif Koubaa

Koubaa is a hijab-wearing woman working in a Catholic school, and though it is not a public institution, the fact that it is a school still grants it the right to prohibit hijabs on its students and staff.

For Koubaa, wearing the hijab means covering her most feminine elements (the hair, neck and chest) and respecting the five pillars of Islam: Profession of Faith (shahada); Prayer (salat); Alms (zakat); Fasting (sawm); and Pilgrimage (hajj). Thus, when Koubaa must take off her hijab every day for work she says it feels like a part of her is left outside the school building.

Koubaa believes laïcité does not serve its stated purpose and that it instead specifically targets Muslim women. It’s easy for Christians to hide a cross under their clothes, but almost impossible to hide a hijab, she pointed out. “France is not secular,” she said. “It’s hypocritical.”

With the rise in power of the extreme right in France, Koubaa says that there is more of a negative attitude towards Muslims. Koubaa worries that with the increase of far-right politicians in power, there could be a large reduction of mosques, halal food preparations and Muslim bookstores, for example.

“Even if you’re born here, you will always feel like a foreigner here,” said Koubaa. 

Najia Belqasmi

Koubaa’s sister, Najia Belqasmi, also works as a teacher in a public elementary school but, unlike Koubaa, chooses not to cover her hair or dress according to Islamic modesty standards. Laïcité does not have a great impact on her daily life and her opinion strays far away from her sister’s. She views herself as “a child of the Republic” and agrees with the laws resulting from laïcité. 

“Each is allowed to think what they want,” said Belqasmi. “It’s a liberty of thinking what you want. This is what laïcité is about and it is important.”

Rabia El Fegrouch

For Rabia El Fegrouch, the decision to wear the hijab is not one that holds a lot of significance. El Fegrouch arrived in France from Morocco on October 22, 2013, to join her husband who had been living in France since 1972.

Since then, El Fegrouch has lived in the Barriol, a neighborhood within Arles with a high concentration of people with North African heritage. Now 61, El  Fegrouch has worn the hijab since the age of 7. She says that for her, wearing the hijab does not equate to religion playing a larger or smaller role in her life. The hijab is a part of her overall culture in addition to a show of her faith, and, according to Fegrouch, she wouldn’t change now. 

“It is not about what others think,” El Fegrouch said. “It’s my choice.” 

In her time in France, El Fegrouch says she has felt little judgment regarding her decision to wear the hijab and her age is a contributing factor in her choice to stay modest. 

“It’s OK for young people to not wear it, but I am 61,” El Fegrouch said. “It doesn’t matter what others do.”

It is an inherited part of her culture that she is content to follow, she says, but she does not believe it is something every Muslim woman must do. 

Asma Drider

Similarly, Asma Drider, a Muslim woman who started wearing the hijab on the Islam holiday, Eid al-Fitr, of 2023, does not feel that wearing the hijab makes her more or less of a Muslim woman. 

“It represents my faith but it’s also just a piece of clothing,” Drider said when asked if she has been treated differently since choosing to wear the hijab. 

Drider says the amount of faith she holds has been the same before and since she decided to wear the hijab. She said that when she began wearing the hijab last year, people were surprised at first but quickly got over it, seeing that she hadn’t changed. 

“The issue doesn’t come from religion itself,” Drider said. “It just comes from politics.” 

Though all four women have had different experiences, they share a distaste for the treatment of hijab-wearing women in France and worry about the possible worsening of the freedom of religious expression. 

They all shared the same hope for France: for each person to live their own religion in their own way, without people stepping on others’ beliefs.

The state “can’t take away what is inside of someone,” said Koubaa. “France is a mix of people and beliefs.”

Feature photo: Colleagues Asma Drider (left) and Rabia El Fegrouch (right) have reacted differently to laïcité (secularism) laws.

Katie Thornton and Monica Ronco served as interpreters for this story.

Politics

The wind in Arles blows from the right

Text by Hannah Levitan
Photos by Surya Vaidy

In Arles, a small city of Roman monuments and narrow streets, the politics had long been reliably left, and for decades, the town’s mayors were from the Socialist or Communist party.

But as the ancient town’s economy shifted from a working-class community, deeply rooted in its Provençal traditions, to one reliant on tourism, the town’s politics too, have evolved. 

Flags of different political groups and social groups waved above the crowds during the entire rally. Photo by Surya Vaidy.

On June 30, France witnessed the largest voter turnout for a new National Assembly in decades, with 65.8% of the population casting their ballots in the first round of voting.

In the run-off elections on July 7, the turnout was 63%. The New Popular Front, a new leftist coalition, won a plurality of seats. But in Arles, the extreme right-wing candidate, Emmanuel Taché de la Pagerie, was reelected with 56% of the vote.

In the European Union elections, held between June 6 and June 9, the the National Rally, a far-right party known for its anti-immigration and nationalist policies, emerged with historic success. Within two days, the country’s four main left parties united to block the party.

“The threat of the rise of the far-right has never been so strong,” Emilie Pautus, a bookseller in Arles, said. “The mobilization in response has been stronger than usual to counter the threat.”

In the weeks leading up to the first round of elections, Nicolas Koukas, a representative of the French Communist Party and candidate for the New Popular Front, was making his rounds in the Bouches-du-Rhône Department’s 16th constituency. 

Campaigning through its diverse neighborhoods, open-air markets and rural farmhouses, Koukas was eager to secure votes as much for himself as against the National Rally. 

“A few years ago, we looked at the United States with Trump coming to power and we were very worried. [We thought] it was far away and not our situation,” Koukas said. “But now we realize, unfortunately, that the far right is here.” 

The fear, expressed by many who are not National Rally supporters, was that the party would threaten civil liberties and fuel discrimination against minorities. 

Kobaa Driss, manager of Moroccan restaurant Menara, said he witnessed a man rip off a woman’s hijab in a supermarket.

“The man said, ‘What are you doing here? Go back home!’ and he started insulting the woman,” Driss said.

Already, Pautus said the town feels more divided. “I don’t see how we could regain unity, at least not right now.”

One Arles resident, Emmanuelle Laurent, the director of communications for the city of Arles, believes that the political difficulty in France, since the beginning of the 2000s, is that all elections have become about blocking the National Rally. “Voters have become used to voting not necessarily for a party they truly support.” 

But it was in this region, the Bouches-du-Rhône, where the first candidates from that party’s predecessor, the National Front, were elected.

“I live in a village where the [National Rally] deputy was elected with 60% of the vote in the last two successive elections,” Laurent said. “I think this can be explained by the fact that people are very attached to their traditions.”

In the first round of snap elections, 40% of the vote in Arles went to National Rally candidate Taché de la Pagerie, despite the New Popular Front’s action throughout the district. 

“I think we’ve become aware of the huge difference between the urban population of downtown Arles, which is mostly left-leaning, and the more rural population around it,” Pautus said. But in the first round of voting on June 30, the difference was less pronounced, she said.

Preparing for the second round of parliament elections on July 7, the town’s walls were covered in campaign flyers, most in support of the New Popular Front.

While the leftist coalition won nationally, the National Rally still emerged strong in Arles.

The election left many people wondering how the government could function so evenly divided in three political camps. “I think it generally means that we have reached a society where people don’t really want to live together anymore, and I think we all feel that,” Pautus said.

Feature photo: New Popular Front candidate Nicolas Koukas speaks during a rally against the rise of the far right in France on June 22, 2024. Photo by Surya Vaidy. Interpretation by Monica Ronco and Claire Fanchini.

Politics

Leftist politicians speak at Arles demonstration

Story by Sofia Langlois
Photos by Thomas Murphy
Video by Sophia Maxim

Citizens of Arles in support of a new left-wing coalition gathered at Place de la République on June 22. Theirs was one of many recent protests across France opposing the far-right Rassemblement National in a contest for control of the National Assembly.

The event provided an opportunity for leftist political candidates to take aim not only at the National Rally but at incumbent President Emmanuel Macron. 

“He is not interested in Arles,” said Nicolas Koukas of the French Communist Party, who is running for the 16th electoral district of the Bouches-du-Rhône. “And we need to have in the country elected territorial officials who know people, who know their worries, who know their problems.”

Koukas is a candidate of the Nouveau Front Populaire, a wide-ranging leftist alliance formed on June 10 in response to Macron’s decision to dissolve the National Assembly. The organizations involved include La France Insoumise, Les Écologistes, Place Publique, the French Communist Party and the French Socialist Party, among others. 

The Nouveau Front Populaire formed in opposition to the Rassemblement National, a right-wing French nationalist party that promotes populist and anti-immigrant values. It was founded by politician Jean-Marie Le Pen in 1972 and was formerly known as the Front National. The party gained popularity after it acquired a less extremist image under the leadership of his daughter, Marine Le Pen.

Protestors sheltered under umbrellas while listening to candidates, including Nicolas Koukas (facing the crowd, second from right,) Photo by Thomas Murphy.

In the European Union elections of June 6, the right wing gained seats in delegations of many of the 27 member countries. In France, the centrist Renaissance Party, led by Macron, received 14.6% of the vote, significantly defeated by the Rassemblement National, which received 31.6% of the vote.

Macron dissolved the National Assembly, thus launching early legislative elections in France. The two rounds of voting will take place on June 30 and July 7.

Koukas, a citizen of Arles, delivered an impassioned speech at the June 22 protest. “Where is [Macron] in the fights?” he asked. “Where is he in the struggle?” Koukas suggested Macron’s administration had neglected public services such as the Arles Hospital and Miramas’ public freight service.

Koukas encouraged the people of Arles to push for a selection of government officials who have their interests at heart. He accused the president of neglecting Arles as a prominent city in the nation. 

“He is not there. He is nowhere. He is elsewhere,” said Koukas.

Macron’s presidential term ends in 2027 and left-wing supporters are trying to prevent Le Pen from entering government. If the far right gains a majority, the president would likely appoint Jordan Bardella as prime minister, granting him limited authority over domestic and economic affairs. Bardella would serve under the terms of cohabitation laws, which gives the position to the party with the majority of seats in the National Assembly.

As a means of preventing conservative politicians such as Le Pen and Bardella from holding office, those in opposition took to protesting. The movement quickly gained traction and demonstrations have been held in several cities.

Koukas concluded his speech by promoting the Nouveau Front Populaire. He emphasized that its leadership does not define the group but rather the citizens who support the left-wing values it was built on. 

“We will be there to defend,” Koukas said. “That is what brings us together today and what makes us strong because the Popular Front is not Christophe or Nicolas. The popular front is you.”

Sophia Maxim contributed to this report.

Featured image: Nouveau Front Populaire candidate Nicolas Koukas and others march on rue Gambetta in Arles. Photo by Thomas Murphy.