Posts in "France"

By Mikayla Hall at 8:55PM

Sep 14, 2010

France passes law banning voluntary religious practice.

The French senate approved Tuesday a law banning any veils that cover the face -- including the burqa, the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women -- making France the first European country to plan such a measure.
The law passed by a vote of 246 to 1, with about 100 abstentions coming essentially from left-leaning politicians.
..."Given the damage it produces on those rules which allow the life in community, ensure the dignity of the person and equality between sexes, this practice, even if it is voluntary, cannot be tolerated in any public place," the French government said when it sent the measure to parliament in May.
The law imposes a fine of 150 euros ($190) and/or a citizenship course as punishment for wearing a face-covering veil. Forcing a woman to wear a niqab or a burqa will be punishable by a year in prison or a 15,000-euro ($19,000) fine, the government said, calling it "a new form of enslavement that the republic cannot accept on its soil."

Read the rest of the article here.

Posted in:

10 comments

By Adam Fowler at 9:27PM

Apr 30, 2010

French Equality Veils Liberty

I thought I'd mention this post that I added to my personal blog earlier today on the French proposing to ban the public wearing of veils by Muslim women:

The recent refocus on the immigration issue here in the United States displays how segments in our society view newcomers and their place in our society. France, likewise, has been dealing with issues of immigration. Whereas the influx of Mexican immigrants has concerned Americans, the French have been dealing with the influx of various Muslim groups for quite a while now. Lately, the French have been concerned with the public religious practices of the Muslim subculture, which seem to threaten the country’s persistent emphasis on secularism and egalitarianism.

At issue is competing values of liberty and equality. The Muslims wearing the religious symbols banned in public schools in the country several years ago and those wearing the veils that may be soon be banned if French President Sarkozy has his way see such religious garb as an expression of their individual religious liberty. Those French opposed to that expression view the garb as symbolic of a Muslim counter-culture hostile to equality for women.

Read the rest here.

Posted in:

160

160 comments

By Bonnie Kristian at 12:45PM

Jan 19, 2010

The humanitarian with a guillotine? Hopefully not.

The UK's Telegraph reports on accusations coming from both the French government and internationally-renowned Swiss emergency relief charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders):

"This is about helping Haiti, not about occupying Haiti," [a French official]said.
Geneva-based charity Medecins Sans Frontieres backed his calls saying hundreds of lives were being put at risk as planes carrying vital medical supplies were being turned away by American air traffic controllers.
But US commanders insisted their forces' focus was on humanitarian work and last night agreed to prioritise aid arrivals to the airport over military flights, after the intervention of the UN....
Haiti was occupied by the US between 1915 and 1935, and historical sensitivities together with friction with other countries over the relief effort has made the Americans cautious about their role in the operation.

Here in America, some libertarians like Lew Rockwell share these suspicions of the US military's long-term motives for involvement. Rockwell commented: "Murray Rothbard didn’t call it the welfare-warfare state for nothing. It’s the social worker with a machine gun, or as Isabel Patterson put it so long ago, the humanitarian with a guillotine."

Posted in:

2 comments

By Preston Mui at 5:09PM

Aug 7, 2009

French Health Care Facing Cost Problems

We're not the only one facing growing health care costs. France's single-payer system has solvency troubles of its own:

The problem is that Assurance Maladie has been in the red since 1989. This year the annual shortfall is expected to reach €9.4 billion ($13.5 billion), and €15 billion in 2010, or roughly 10% of its budget.

Even if single-payer or other forms of government-run health care are better than free-market health care, it still wouldn't make sense to initiate such a costly (and insolvent) program when our deficit is $1.3 trillion.

Posted in: