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Nothing wrong with belonging to big international organizations, but you do want to keep an eye on what their subcommittees come up with.

“Freedom is in hijab” crows the new Council of Europe anti-discrimination campaign — in which we are to applaud a mark of religious submission as a mark of personal freedom.

It’s not sitting well with the French.

“Reminding that women are free to wear the hijab is one thing,” Socialist Senator Laurence Rossignol said, “but saying freedom is in hijab is another. It’s promoting it. Is this the role of the Council of Europe?”

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Gabriel Attal, [French] government spokesman, said after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the campaign defied common sense “because one shouldn’t confuse religious freedom with the de facto promotion of a religious symbol”. Such an “identitarian” approach was “contrary to the freedom of conscience that France supports in all European and international forums”, Attal said.

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Taking note of the universal fury, and perhaps reflecting upon an anti-hate campaign that has given the French right one hell of a shot in the arm, the Council has, er, issued a statement. “These tweets have been deleted and we’re going to think about a better presentation for the project. [The wording reflects] individual statements from people who took part in one of the project’s workshops, and doesn’t reflect the position of the Council of Europe or its secretary-general [Marija Pejčinović Burić].”

Oh, so the sec gen didn’t see the thing before it went out to the whole world, either! In fact, nobody knows who the hell…

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Next up in the Council’s anti-discrimination campaign: A young Brooke Shields smolders at the camera and purrs: Nothing gets between me and my Calvin Klein hairshirt…

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Another case in point.

Margaret Soltan, November 3, 2021 8:00AM
Posted in: forms of religious experience

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3 Responses to “Nothing wrong with belonging to big international organizations, but you do want to keep an eye on what their subcommittees come up with.”

  1. University Diaries » More on the Hijab Dust-up. Says:

    […] A professor of English describes university life.Aim: To change things. UD at Inside Higher Ed About Margaret Soltan Other Writings Subscribe to UD's Feeds ← Previous Post: Nothing wrong with belonging to big international organizations, but you do want to keep an eye on w… […]

  2. University Diaries » The only response to a ‘holiday’ that asks women lucky enough to have a choice not to cover themselves to … cover themselves. Says:

    […] Socialist Senator Laurence Rossignol said, “but saying freedom is in hijab is another. It’s promoting it. Is this the role of the Council of […]

  3. University Diaries » Pick your battles. Read the room. Says:

    […] that hijabs don’t seem to most people to have jackshit to do with gender equality. (Recall this unfortunate campaign.) On the contrary. Drop that quixotic quest, and confine your language to […]

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