美国国家公共电台 NPR Beach Season Winds Down, But Burkini Debate Rages On In France（在线收听）

Beach Season Winds Down, But Burkini Debate Rages On In France 

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Here's a major political issue in France - the burkini. Some French mayors tried to ban the garment designed so conservative Muslim women can go to the beach and actually swim. Now, the burkini is being talked about in the run-up to France's presidential campaign. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports.

ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: About 30 French towns tried to ban the burkini on their beaches this summer. French courts overturned many bans, calling them unconstitutional. But that didn't stop former French President Nicolas Sarkozy from throwing his full support behind them. Sarkozy, who is running for president again, is determined not to be outdone by the far right.

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NICOLAS SARKOZY: (Through interpreter) We can't leave these mayors to deal with these problems alone. There needs to be a law to keep these Islamic bathing suits out of our swimming pools and off our beaches, because what will be next? Separate beaches for men and women?

BEARDSLEY: When the radio show host reminds Sarkozy that the bans were ruled unconstitutional, he says the Constitution can always be amended. France is trying to balance tolerance with security after attacks this summer by self-proclaimed Islamist radicals in a Normandy church and the southern city of Nice. A lot of people in France feel the burkini is part of a repressive or extremist clothing and represents a reluctance to adopt French values. Prime Minister Manuel Valls said as much when he equated women's equality with the symbol for the French Republic, Marianne.

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PRIME MINISTER MANUEL VALLS: (Through interpreter) Marianne has a bare breast because she feeds the people, and she is not veiled because she is free. That's the French Republic. That's Marianne.

BEARDSLEY: University history professor Mathilde Larrere says Valls' comments made her blood boil, so she fired off a history lesson in a series of tweets. Larrere says Marianne is an 18th-century allegorical figure, created at a time when women couldn't vote and had the status of minors. She says Valls' comments have turned many French feminists into burkini supporters.

MATHILDE LARRERE: (Through interpreter) Granted, the burkini is not a neutral piece of clothing, but it is out of the question to restrict what women wear. The 1905 law separating the church and state was meant to give room to all religions, but secularism is now being used for xenophobic, Islamophobic and sexist purposes.

BEARDSLEY: Muslim activists Yasser Louati says the constant talk of secular values is a way to make some Muslims feel they're not full French citizens.

YASSER LOUATI: What's happening today is that we see politicians constantly using and playing the identity card for political gain.

BEARDSLEY: When it comes to relations with Muslims, Louati calls the French government's approach neocolonial. He points to the example of the newly created Foundation for Islam, an organization intended to foster better relations with the large Muslim community in France. But the Government appointed a non-Muslim veteran politician as its head, someone who'd recently ruffled feathers by saying Muslims should try to be more discreet.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Speaking French).

BEARDSLEY: Vendors hawk their wares at an outdoor street market in Paris. Soraya Essid has been selling her fruits and vegetables at these markets for 20 years. She wears a veil and says things have become especially tense since January 2015 and the first major terrorist attack.

SORAYA ESSID: (Through interpreter) People look at you now in the metro when you're wearing a veil, but I don't pay attention. I just live my life. I think things will eventually go back to normal.

BEARDSLEY: It has to, says Essid. We live here. Our children are here. And our future is here in France. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.