Playtime is over. The Conceil d’Etat, France’s highest administrative court, ruled against the “anti-burkini” bylaw of the municipality of Villeneuve-Loubet (French Riviera). In France, the end of the summer was given rhythm by a sad debate. This was an embarrassment to our politicians and around thirty mayors who decided to implement limitations, limiting the access of beaches to the women wearing this garment.
The Jeunes Radicaux de Gauche – JRG are terrified by the lamentable quality of this debate, orchestrated by those who twisted the notions of secularism and respect for the law and order. Today, these politicians delight in a situation which can only serve their interests and do not defend our republican values.
JRG wants to reaffirm, for those who have forgotten it, that secularism means, before anything else, the neutrality of the State. The freedom of cult guaranteed by this principle is not there to plunge the country and its citizens into an identity conflict, which reminds us of dark hours in our history. Today, it is the obscurantisms of the margins, which are looking from the shadows for the weaknesses of our Republic.
The JRG, although conscious and watchful in the face of the crawling Islamization of certain practices, urgently reminds our public authorities of their responsibilities. First of all, they have to make the values of freedom, equality and brotherhood take centre stage, and not the division, the stigmatization and the intolerance. This is the only way to defend our Republic.
This is a statement, translated form French by IFLRY member organisation Jeunes Radicaux de Gauche, the original French version can be found here