Published: June 24 2009 18:45
It was a strange throwback to the halcyon days of the early 2000s, before the economic crisis, when European politicians had little more to worry about than what Muslims wear. Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, speaking on Monday amidst the very pre-crisis opulence of Louis XIV’s palace of Versailles, attacked an item of clothing that few French people ever see: the burka. “It’s a sign of abasement,” he told parliamentarians. “The burka is not welcome on the territory of the French republic.”
It all sounds like a rerun of Europe’s rhetorical wars of religion that followed September 11 2001. But in fact we are in a new era. It’s true that Mr Sarkozy’s speech signalled a break with French Muslim organisations. However, in this new era, European toughness with Muslims has limits. Mr Sarkozy accepts Islam’s presence in Europe. Few mainstream European politicians still regard the religion as an “enemy within”. The “burka speech”, made in a calmer climate, chiefly intends to draw the boundaries of a European Islam.
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