A chara, – The moral and cultural superiority complex France is displaying in assuming that the wearing of the niqab is a symbol of debasement, is hugely problematic for a number of reasons (World News, April 22nd).
Consider the following from an article in the Economistearlier this year: "Dounia Bouzar, a French Muslim anthropologist, pointed out to the commission, most of the women she sees wearing the niqab are young. Intelligence sources suggest that 90 per cent of them are under 40. Two-thirds are French nationals, half of them second- or third-generation immigrants, and nearly a quarter are converts. In other words, this is not an influx of women from the Gulf, but a statement by young French Muslim women, whose own mothers did not cover their faces."
On the grounds of feminism, or the dignity of women at least, Sarkozy’s argument falls. – Is mise,