New French Ban on Islamic Garb Seen as Thinly Veiled Attempt by Macron To Steal Le Pen’s Thunder
The move comes as France’s interior minister tells a French newspaper it is ‘quite probable’ Marine Le Pen will win the next presidency.
When is a crackdown on attire often associated with Islamic religious extremism not just about choice of wardrobe? In France today, political one-upmanship is very much in fashion, and the hot new trend for fall — especially if your designer label is Macron — is giving an elbow to your chief rival on the right, Marine Le Pen, the former and likely future presidential candidate.
That is the not-so-hidden context of the decision by President Macron’s education minister, Gabriel Attal, to interdict the wearing of Islamic abaya dresses, the sartorial choice of some Muslim women, in French schools. Wearing such garments, which typically cover the entire body except the hands, feet, and (sometimes) head, violate French laws on laïcité, the strong French tradition of secularism in education.
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