Freshly appointed French Minister of National Education Gabriel Attal aims to prohibit the abaya, a loose-fitting, full-length robe generally worn in Arab countries.
In Maghreb, African Sahel countries and in Mayotte, the 101st French department overseas in the Indian Ocean, where the population is predominantly Muslim, women wear various styles of long, colorful and unicolor dresses, especially at family gatherings and weddings.
The choice of modest attire varies based on a family's social status, resembling the traditional black silky garment known as the abaya in conservative Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) cultures, the Horn of Africa and African Sahel societies. It is important to note that the abaya is not associated with religious mandates, with the black Salafist jilbab already banned by a 2010 French law.
Minister Attal, French President Emmanuel Macron, the far-right party leaders, the radical secular fringe in the lefty elite and politicians, and the corporatist media are considering that the abaya is in fact an ostensibly religious sign that was banned under the 2004 law relating to religious signs, including the headscarf. Nearly two decades since the French republic banned ostensibly religious signs in public schools, it’s far from appeasing the tragic societal conversation; to the contrary, it has deepened the gap between the republic and its children, rejecting the manifestation of difference and liberty, seeding a sense of national identity schizophrenia.
In its literal Arabic meaning, the term "abaya" refers to a loose and generously sized outfit for women, typically worn from the shoulders to the ankles. Similarly, in the Maghreb region, the "jellaba," and in the MENA and African Sahel regions, the "qamis," hold varying degrees of religious significance for men, often worn predominantly during times of prayer. In contrast, women may add a headscarf to these garments, creating a complete Islamic attire known as the "hijab." It's important to note that the hijab is prohibited in French public schools and public offices, affecting Muslim women who are employees or civil servants.
For Macron and Attal, any long, loose dress worn by non-white female students in French junior and senior high schools is seen as a challenge to the principles of French "laicite." However, "laicite," as a doctrine that separates church and state, should inherently protect freedom of speech and religion for minorities, making it a fundamental principle of the virtuous French republic alongside liberty, equality and fraternity.
In a bold statement, Attal, the darling boy of the Macrons in the Elysee Palace and the pundits in the media, sustained his decision to ban the abaya in public schools, based on a note from state services, reporting attacks on French laicite are increasing in public schools, 4,710 in 2022-2023 in comparison to 2,167 in 2021; more than 40% are related to “Islamic” outfit that can be both qualified cultural and religious such as qamis and jellaba for boys or Abaya for girls.
The State Council (le Conseil d’État), the country’s highest court for complaints against government authorities, rejected a motion by an association and the La France Insoumise (LFI) for an injunction against the ban decreed by the government last month, saying it was not discriminatory towards Muslims. According to the National Education Ministry, 298 abaya cases were registered against 5,769,000 junior and female senior high school students on the first day of going back to school for the 2023-2024 academic year, among which 67 cases related to refusal to respect the minister's decision.
The controversial decision of Attal added another layer to the complex debate that is anything but a constructive debate. It is crystal clear: The abaya discussion serves as a diversionary tactic, reminiscent of the French "wag the dog" approach, to divert attention from President Macron's shortcomings in various policy areas, both domestically and on the regional and international fronts, constituting a significant setback.
Nonetheless, the issue of Muslim clothing in France has a history as long as the tenure of the national education minister himself. The saga began in 1989 with the "Islamic veil question" when two female junior high Muslim students arrived at their school wearing headscarves.
The year 1989 saw a societal shift in France's public discourse and worsened the question of race and religion – the trajectory of religion, national identity and race changed from its ethnic character to a religious one. Thus, it has become a blessed bread for the far-right, racist and xenophobic parties like Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) and Eric Zemmour's Reconquest, pulverizing President Macron’s policy on Islam, with Zemmour asserting that Islam lurks beneath the abaya. President Macon sees that there is a crisis blaming Islam. However, such an acknowledgment by the president forces analysts to struggle to find nuanced elements between his policy and the far-right Islamophobic speech toward Muslims and Arabs in France.
President Macron’s government has become a hostage of the LR party and implicitly RN alike because of a relative majority in the National Assembly (lower chamber). His government needs the votes of the RN and the LR (the party of Ciotti) to survive. There is yet another new bill on immigration, in which Premier Elisabeth Borne needs a majority or to use Article 49-3 of the constitution, which is the core of discord in French politics nowadays, to avoid a no-confidence vote eventually that would lead to the fall of his premier government.
Usually, the media in France focuses on terrorism, immigrants, their integration and the post-integration phase into civilized Western society values. Thus, the dynamic of extending the principle of religious neutrality outside the scope of state public schools and administration institutions users was empowered on March 15, 2004, by law number 2004-228. The legal frame emphasized further its ideological and identity orientation tools in the hands of the extremist racist movement toward Arabs and Muslims, joined by the emergence of a new extremist "laïc" (secular) movement.
This political and media hysteria, fueled by many actors, put the republic in panic mode. Intellectual elites, politicians and media professionals, ready to use the principle of laïcité and freedom, emptying the true content and deep meaning of laïcité – the separation of politics and religion – and even the separation of schools from religion as advocate the laïcité zealots.
The question, nevertheless, is not between religion and the state in France, but rather it has become an ideological and societal struggle in the society, beefing up the notion clash of civilizations between Eastern and Western values – the extremists define this struggle as an existential fight between good and evil.
The complexity of the question of laïcité in France in general used whether by moderates or extremists remains left to the desire of hundreds of thousands of Arabs and devoted Muslims residing in France and the extent of their perception and the prospects of their social and professional lives on daily basis roles and activities in the society. It seems clear that they are just asking for more social justice, searching for jobs, equal opportunities, housing and better lives that guarantee decent lives.
The dialectical relation between "humanistic laïcité" and "stereotyped laïcité" is pushing for the banalization of racial profiling and racism for female students who are in the republic's public schools, schools where they are supposed to learn about greater cultural tolerance for better excellence.
In summary, President Macron and Minister Attal have taken the path of political opportunism, using the abaya as a means of demagogy in lieu of dealing with the public school structural problems that are contributing a great deal to the increasing social inequality, and ethnic and religious profiling over a piece of clothing that is just another episode of summer fashion trend like the burkini in 2016 launched by young Muslim women with Maghreb and African Sahel descent, and they won.
