Very recently, the French Senate has voted in favour of banning the hijab for Muslims under 18. The bill must go through the National Assembly to become law

The bill is part of Emmanuel Macron's "Separatism Bill" passed in October 2020 in a means to defend France from what he calls "Islamic separatism". Essentially the bill attempts to squash all public displays of Islam in order to fulfill France's view of secularism, called laïcité

Despite their claims, many of 5.7 million Muslims have protested against it, saying the measures single them out and essentially legalizes Islamophobia. The attacks on Muslims are becoming more frequent and apparent as the French election is coming up in 2022. Macron's horrible mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccine roll-out is prompting him to steer the conversation to identity politics and gain the support of right-wingers.

French Colonial Roots of Islamophobia

For much of the 20th century, France was a colonial power, which occupied largely Muslim-majority lands in Africa and the Middle East

Specifically in Algeria, the French took the policy of assimilating the predominately Muslim Algerians into French culture. The French believed that the Algerians were too "barbaric" and attached to their religion for the French's liking.

French colonialists especially took an interest in Algerian women.

When first coming to Algeria, French colonialists and photographers hoped to seek the sexual fantasy of pursuing Algerian (Muslim) women. They often fanatized through racist fetishization, such as hoping to see the women smoke hookah, have "erotic" powers and be topless/sexually available for them.

But when they reached the country, the French colonialists encountered women who wore the hijab/khimar and whose bodies could not be seen

This disappointed and angered the French. French women would be responsible for forcibly removing the Algerian women's veils for public events/photographs and during the Algerian war of independence, French soldiers would force women to strip naked and brutally torture them.

Quick Overview of Laïcité

Laïcité is essentially the French concept of secularism. It is a very prominent principle in France's constitution

Although the principle says it applies to all religions, the discussion around it has become increasingly focused on Muslim practices and more specifically, the fear of the spreading influence of Islam

The debate around laïcité is that it can be two concepts. It can be the freedom of conscience and the neutrality of the state or it becomes almost as a "philosophical crusade" against religions, and to aim for all to lean toward anti-belief/faith; in any sense

Though the first concept sounds promising, France leans towards the second concept, which is not what secularism really should be about. By shaming all religious expression would be to shame and invalidate different beliefs and experiences, often basing its judgement in a very Eurocentric view

Many people fail to recognize that the laws directly affect Muslims and Jewish people more as their religious items are more outwardly visible. It fails to recognize the anti-Islamic/anti-Jewish xenophobia that occurs in France, brushing it off as "fair criticism of religion".

Timeline of the Bans Placed Around Muslim Women Garments