I WISH I COULD SAY FROM PARIS WITH LOVE BUT I CAN'T

The allure of Paris for a poet is like the pull of a magnet on a nail. For two months I have been dreaming and my heart watering to experience Paris from the artist point of view. I’ve been their twice but each time I was heartbroken and failed to enjoy splendor of the city. I’ve had been secretly planning to steal away with my love to experience the romance of the city of lights but all that changed when she refused my invite; I hoped to rekindle the torch that I had done so much to put a year ago. I had the option to go alone but I decided against because I have been feeling negative energy in the way the French have treated their Muslim population. I dress in a hybrid style combining Islamic clothing and western style, I wondered if I dresses like I do here in the states would I be setting myself up for unwanted attention and scrutiny? Now the stupid underwear bomber has made things even more difficult for a traveling Muslim. The antimuslim feel of Europe caused me to decide against traveling their at this time. Their president who I once admired has made crusade of battling the basic freedom of Muslim woman to dress in a manure o f their choosing a reelection campaign which is wrong. He also support the Swiss minteret ban.
(Sarkozy defended the Swiss in arguing for the necessity of the contentious debate on national identity he has sponsored in France.
"How can you not be amazed at the reaction that this decision has produced in certain media and political circles in our own country," Sarkozy said. "Instead of condemning the Swiss out of hand, we should try to understand what they meant to express and what so many people in Europe feel, including people in France."
He was the first national leader in Europe to offer a detailed opinion on a decision that the Swiss government has criticised as discriminatory and probably illegal, if implemented.
Sarkozy called for discretion from France's 6 million Muslims, the biggest Muslim community in Europe, in their observance of religion, while pledging to fight all discrimination.
"Christians, Jews, Muslims, all believers regardless of their faith, must refrain from ostentation and provocation and ... practise their religion in humble discretion." Muslims would need to find a way of integrating in France "without conflicting with our social and civic pact" while moderate Islam would fail if Muslims sought to challenge the country's republican value system or Christian heritage.
Sarkozy's intervention in the Swiss dilemma, Europe's first direct vote on Islam, came in the midst of the bout of navel-gazing over French national identity launched by his government last month.
Despite much criticism, Sarkozy argued that the Swiss vote showed there was no point in being in denial about such soul-searching. The national identity debate is running in tandem with proposals to ban the burka and critics argue that Sarkozy's initiative has degenerated into a populist proxy debate on immigration, with the president seeking to outflank the extreme right and steal their votes.
A major conference on national identity is to be held in Paris in February after the debate moved to parliament today, preceded by town hall meetings and heated internet discussions over the past month. Next month parliament is also to consider whether the burka should be banned and in Marseilles there is dispute over the planned construction of a Grand Mosque with a 25-metre minaret.
Martine Aubry, the opposition socialist leader, says Sarkozy is making a calculated attempt to stir xenophobia by calling for the public debates.
The Swiss referendum has attracted much criticism, including from the government and the churches in Switzerland. It singled out Islam for restrictions and is seen as discriminatory and in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.
But the Swiss procedure has been seized on by far-right politicians in Italy, Austria, and the Netherlands as exemplary. The vote was unique to the Swiss model of plebiscitary democracy which compels single-issue referendums if 100,000 signatures are collected in an 18-month period.
Such direct single-issue votes are unlikely elsewhere in Europe, but newspaper opinion polls in Spain, France and Germany since last week's referendum have shown large majorities supporting a ban on minarets. The full veil is not welcome in France because it runs contrary to our values and contrary to the idea we have of a woman's dignity," he said, while cautioning against an extreme move that would further alienate a section of society.
"Let us undertake not to give opponents of democracy, dignity and sexual equality the chance for a victory which would put our society in a very difficult situation," he said, adding it was "essential that no one felt stigmatised".
It is thought that only about 2,000 women in France wear the full veil. Although making clear its opposition to the burka itself, the Socialist party came out last week against a ban, saying it would be counter-productive and opportunistic.)
I decided to take a vaction in Philadelphia instead. I just wonder why europe/france seems to be headed the wrong way. I disagree that it should be for the state to ban such items of clothing. The role of the state in such matters such be protection of decency and children. I do not see that the full veil is a threat in that sense. However, i am completely opposed to it as it acts too deny individuality, conceal identity and feels oppressive. In short i think it is antithetical to European culture. I think we in liberal countries should be more definitive and vocal in our assertion of the necessity of that liberty and in its defence. In the same way as with Islam4uk, we should speak out against them, argue why we oppose them but to ban them or the veil seems to corrupt the very liberty we seek to defend. One key to integration, in my view, is to accept differences, rather than try to force uniform uniform, in the case of Sarkozy.
The burqa is not actually a symbol similar to the swastika, it sometimes involves repressing women, but to ban a cultural (sharia is as much cultural as religious) garb is simply pathetic. Sarkozy, and many others, including previous posters, seem to think that "French" culture and values will be taken over and slowly dismantled, as if "French" culture isn't strong enough to display its virtues to people. Also, it seems some people believe black (I said it, there's the race card) Muslims have no positive affect on society. I know this article concerns the veil in particular, but behind any small action there is a larger motive, and someone please try to tell me he isn't pandering to rightwing racists. Ultimately, a solution to integration is a hybrid of many cultures, not simply ethnic and racial pockets, as demonstrated in the UK. So now I am picking out things to do in Philadelphia oh my.