Beautiful comfortable weather, gourmet food, landscapes that bring a tear to the eye, and violent phobias of most major religions. All of these characteristics can be found in France, they define the age old power of Europe. The French have a deep cultural history that revolve around food and family. When images of France come to mind I see glasses of fine wine at a table with a gorgeous feast surrounded by friends. Recently those images shift to shocking violence caused by shootings and bombings. The past year has been one of massive social upheaval in France with that change being lead by hard line conservatives. The French obsession with religion has taken a turn from harassing the Jewish community to dismantling the Islamic community.
The past two years has brought four major terror attacks to France, with all of them being perpetrated by Muslim extremists. Instead of cooler heads prevailing fear has gripped the country and those seeing the chance to pass harsh laws have seized the opportunity. Mayors of French towns have made it illegal for Muslim women to wear their head coverings called Hijabs in some areas. While the French government has said it will not institute a nationwide ban but it will also not interfere with local towns abilities to ban them.
Local towns have seen increases in attacks on Muslim men, women, and children along with harassing mosques. Once the French people are in the throws of fear of attacks on their soil the obsession begins. Schools have banned children from wearing necklaces depicting Jewish or Islamic themes. Wearing hijabs, burkas, or non Christian clothing was banned for school children as well. Many people believe that allowing the influx of Middle Eastern immigrants to flow into the country has brought about these attacks and harsh feelings. While this view is looking at a minority of immigrants it is still true. Those responsible for the attacks were recent arrivals to the country via routes from Middle Eastern countries to Europe, and they also were followers of Islam. Should we give into fear of attack or look for ways to deal with these radicals in a more humanitarian way?
