The fight against Islamism and the defense of animal welfare on the one hand, secularism and religious freedom on the other. And, in the middle, Marine Le Pen’s plan to purely and simply prohibit Muslim women from wearing the veil outside their homes and the mosque, as well as the ritual slaughter, without prior stunning, of cattle, making it possible to offer halal and kosher meats.
For a week, the two qualified candidates in the second round of the presidential election have staged, from a distance, their opposition on these subjects, which will not fail to be present during the televised face-to-face which will oppose them on Wednesday April 20.
The recurring debates for more than fifteen years on mothers accompanying school trips or veiled students suddenly seem very far away. With the veil, the far-right candidate affirms that she does not prohibit a religious sign, but “an Islamist uniform”. In the event of a violation, a woman covered with such a headscarf “Islamist” in the street or a place open to the public would be verbalized and liable to a fine. Asked about the feasibility of such a repression, the candidate of the National Rally (RN) draws a parallel with the control of the obligation to wear a seat belt, which “The police are very good at enforcing it.” “For the wearing of the mask, we did it well for 65 million French people”, argues the deputy director of his campaign, Jean-Philippe Tanguy. “I’m betting that when the law changes, everyone will submit to the law,” assured Marine Le Pen, Tuesday, April 12, on France Inter.
The far-right candidate formalized her intention in a bill tabled in February 2021. In reality, the prohibition there is wider than just the veil, with which some Muslim women cover their heads, since article 10 of this document plans to ban “in the public space, signs or outfits constituting by themselves an unequivocal and ostentatious affirmation of ideologies [islamistes] ». Could some beards be considered Islamist too? Mr. Tanguy does not exclude it, certain supporters of this ideology “defining the Islamist beard very precisely”, according to him.
“An Islamist uniform” not “Muslim”
Emmanuel Macron denounced, Friday April 15, on Franceinfo, “an extreme project” which would make France “the first country in the world to ban the veil in public spaces”. He criticizes such a prohibition in the field of religious freedom. “To ban any religious sign in the public space is not secularism”, said the candidate president in an interview with the online media Brut on April 8. According to him, if this project were carried out, the Constitution would oblige Mr.me Le Pen to also ban in the street “the yarmulke, the cross, other religious signs” so as not to discriminate between believers.
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