Beyond Mini-Skirts and Veils

President Sarkozy’s recent declarations against the burqa have fallen out of the news headlines but his words are still ringing loudly within and outside Western Muslim communities. Opinion pieces and letters continue to flood international and local papers, tugging back and forth. While such debates may be painful and trivial to read and listen to by many, they must be welcomed as they both bring into light a far greater issue than any all-encompassing piece of fabric.

Sarkozy Reshuffles Cabinet To Pass Islamophobic Measure

French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s recent Islamophobic, human rights abusing statement calling for banning the clothing choice of certain Muslim woman seems to have caused a rift in his right wing cabinet, with the two most relevant ministers to the matter (Interior and Justice) being forced out, including the cabinet’s only Muslim member.

Sarcozy’s Islamophobic measures and his proposed legislation to curtail civil liberties through the banning of face masks in protests, coincided with his criticism of Iranian authorities for cracking down on protesters. Has he heard of credibility? Whose side is he trying to come down on here, Muslims in Iran or human rights activists in Europe?

A Moldovan-Israeli Werewolf in Paris

Israel’s racist-thug-turned-racist-Foreign-Minister Avigdor Lieberman continues his sideshow tour of Europe. While the party in the Washington DC Hilton that housed the AIPAC conference moved to Capitol Hill, Minister Lieberman made his way to Paris. In the City of Love, the chauvinistic hatemonger was a virtual Pepé Le Pew (sorry for the mixed metaphors, but there’s [...]

One Creative Way to Spread the Israel Boycott

Get 50 friends, print Boycott Israel t-shirts, visit your local grocery store, load up carts with Israeli products, have a teach-in, then leave… from Euro Palestine. This is a great action to raise awareness about Israel’s criminality and to connect it with the tacit support provided by trade. [tarboush tip: Sammy]

Au secours!

Last week’s conference in Sharm el Sheikh was co-hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. European leaders sat down with the Arab dictators who rule the nations bordering occupied Palestine; they discussed their vision of a lasting peace - the primary concern was limiting the flow of arms to Gaza. They promised to tighten the stranglehold. It [...]

Mmm. Two Headlines Got Me Very Hungry.

French Foreign Minister Kouchner was incorrectly quoted in a Haaretz headline as saying Israel will “eat” Iran before it gets nuclear weapons. He said “hit.” That French tendency to drop the “h” in English and elongate the “i” caused this, I guess. Sadly, this little mistake indirectly affirms Israel’s right to preemptively strike another country. [...]

Regulating Women’s Bodies

Faiza Silmi, a 32 year-old Moroccan woman married to a French national, was denied French citizenship this week on the grounds that the burqa she wears is incompatible with french values, specifically equality of the sexes. Denied not because she can’t speak French, or doesn’t correctly understand the french code of secularism, but rather, due [...]

Postcard from Paris: Justice and Rachida Dati

It sure has been a long while since I last wrote, my master’s defense and then structurally adjusting to a demanding Euro have really zapped my energy. But today I emerged so fresh and so clean from the wonderful Hammam (de la Grande Mosquée de Paris), I can tell you a little about the cultural [...]

Bardot the Bigot Could Be Fined For “Race Hatred Remarks Towards Muslims”

According to the Hollywood Reporter, in 2006, revered French actress Brigette Bardot wrote a letter to now president of France, Sarkozy, protesting that the Muslim method for slaying sheep for Eid Al-Kabeer. However, more problematic were the sentences that followed: “We’re fed up with being led around by this whole population which is destroying us, [...]