Cross posted from Radarsite
http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKL1173478020080711?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&sp=true
Muslim woman deemed too submissive to be French
By Estelle Shirbon
Fri Jul 11, 2008 1:31pm BST
PARIS (Reuters) - France has denied citizenship to a veiled Moroccan woman on the grounds that her "radical" practice of Islam is incompatible with basic French values such as equality of the sexes, a legal ruling showed on Friday.
The case will reignite debate about how to reconcile freedom of religion, which is guaranteed by the French constitution, and other fundamental rights, which many in France feel are being challenged by the way of life of some Muslims.
Le Monde newspaper said it was the first time a Muslim applicant had been rejected for reasons to do with personal religious practice.
"She has adopted a radical practice of her religion, incompatible with essential values of the French community, particularly the principle of equality of the sexes," said a ruling by the Council of State handed down last month and sent to Reuters on Friday to confirm a report in Le Monde.
The Council of State is a judicial body which has final say on disputes between individuals and the public administration.
Married to a French national, the woman arrived in France in 2000, speaks good French and has three children born in France.
She wears a black burqa that covers all her body except her eyes, which are visible through a narrow slit, and lives in "total submission" to her husband and male relatives, according to reports by social services. Le Monde said the woman is 32.
The woman's application for French nationality was rejected in 2005 on grounds of "insufficient assimilation". She appealed to the Council of State, which last month approved the rejection.
In the past, nationality was denied to Muslims who were known to have links with extremist circles or who had publicly advocated radicalism, which is not the case here.
VIRGINITY ROW
The ruling comes weeks after a heated debate over whether traditional Muslim views were creeping into French law, prompted by a court annulment of the marriage of two Muslims because the husband said the wife was not a virgin as she had claimed to be.
In the case of the Moroccan woman, Le Monde suggested the Council of State had gone to the opposite extreme by rejecting the woman's beliefs and way of life rather than accommodating them.
"Is a burqa incompatible with French nationality?" the newspaper asked.
The legal expert who provided a formal report on the case to the Council of State wrote that the woman's interviews with social services revealed that "she lives almost as a recluse, isolated from French society," Le Monde reported.
"She has no idea about the secular state or the right to vote. She lives in total submission to her male relatives. She seems to find this normal and the idea of challenging it has never crossed her mind," Emmanuelle Prada-Bordenave wrote.
Le Monde quoted Daniele Lochak, a law professor not involved in the case, as saying it was bizarre to consider that excessive submission to men was a reason not to grant citizenship.
"If you follow that to its logical conclusion, it means that women whose partners beat them are also not worthy of being French," Lochak said.
(Additional reporting by Gerard Bon; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)
A note from Radarsite: "...she lives almost as a recluse, isolated from French society," Le Monde reported. "She has no idea about the secular state or the right to vote. She lives in total submission to her male relatives. She seems to find this normal and the idea of challenging it has never crossed her mind," So there you have it, in one short paragraph: the key perhaps to that impenetrable Muslim female mindset. Ignorance is bliss. To a westerner, the submissive compliance of Muslim women -- indeed, their often passionate defense of their obvious subjugation, their ignoble state of second-class citizenship, has always been something of a mystery. We wonder how they can accept a fate which to us appears so bleak and unfulfilling, an existence so circumscribed and limited. Not only accepting it, but vigorously defending it.The bird in the gilded cage. If submission is all you have ever known, then submission becomes the norm, the status quo. And people tend to defend the status quo.
So, actually we have two stories here in this one small article. Story number one treats us to the welcome news that one more European nation is getting fed up with Islam, getting fed up with their Muslim immigrants incessant demands for more and more cultural concessions, for more and more rights and privileges. They are finally beginning to draw the lines: This is where you end and we begin. This is what you must do to adapt to our society if you want to become a member of our society. This is of course very good news; any news of European societies fighting back against this Muslim onslaught is good news and should be celebrated and encouraged.
The second story is a peek behind the veil of Muslim obscurantism. This is the mindset we must understand. This is the enemy we must keep from our shores. This is the evil of ignorance. This is not just another religion, this is the death of the soul. This oppressive cult of darkness deserves no place at our table, deserves no more accommodation and respect in our western world than does Nazism or Fascism. And, hopefully, some of our European cousins are finally waking up to this fact.
So, yes, Viva la France! May you succeed in this crucial battle for your national honor. America wishes you well. - rg
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