Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

A Big Debate in the French Parliament

Aired February 03, 2004 - 05:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In Paris, France today, a big debate in the French parliament. It swirls around the wearing of religious garments in public schools, an issue that has sparked demonstrations across that country.
Let's head live to Paris now and Jim Bittermann to explain more -- good morning.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Yes, in fact, the parliament's going to take up this debate this afternoon, about five o'clock in the afternoon Paris time. They'll continue for about three days and then take a vote on the bill a week from today. Now, it's a measure of how strongly the government feels about this that the prime minister himself is going to kick off the debate and 140 members of the 577 member parliament are going to speak about the bill.

Now, having said that, it may be a debate in parliamentary terms. It's not much of a debate in substance. Most everybody is going to come to agreement on this legislation, apparently. The government already controls about 63 percent of the seats in the parliament and even members of the opposition parties say that there should be some kind of legislation. They quibble over the wording of this bill. In fact, some think it should be tougher.

Basically, they want to ban any signs of religious activity, any conspicuous signs of religious belief from the high schools, mainly. And this would include Jewish skullcaps, Christian crosses, but, most importantly, head scarves. That's really the point of this bill, the Muslim head scarves worn by young Muslim women.

And what I think basically summarizes what the government's argument is is something that a colleague of mine in the media wrote here the other day. He said basically the French are trying to not only guarantee freedom of religion, but freedom from religion, because there is a feeling that some of these young Muslim girls in high school are being coerced into wearing head scarves by either their peers or their parents or perhaps fundamentalist Muslim organizations -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

Does it go beyond that? I mean do they think that somehow this will calm fears of -- I mean where is this coming from?

BITTERMANN: Well, I think there's been a large feeling here that the Muslim community, which arrived in France in the late '50s and '60s, has not integrated into the country's life as other immigrant groups have. And as a consequence, there's a feeling that there are many in the Muslim community who like, who emphasize the differences rather than the similarities to French society. And they believe the head scarf is one of the ways that the fundamentalist groups, for instance, are showing that difference.

Now, the people that argue on the other side of this bill say the same thing, there should be freedom of dress, there should be freedom of conduct and these young ladies should be able to wear whatever they want. They also say that this legislation, by attempting to legislate this problem away, you're going to cause more problems than you solve, that you're going to stigmatize young ladies. They're going to be isolated and not integrated into French society, as people would like -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Jim Bittermann live from Paris this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 3, 2004 - 05:16   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In Paris, France today, a big debate in the French parliament. It swirls around the wearing of religious garments in public schools, an issue that has sparked demonstrations across that country.
Let's head live to Paris now and Jim Bittermann to explain more -- good morning.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Yes, in fact, the parliament's going to take up this debate this afternoon, about five o'clock in the afternoon Paris time. They'll continue for about three days and then take a vote on the bill a week from today. Now, it's a measure of how strongly the government feels about this that the prime minister himself is going to kick off the debate and 140 members of the 577 member parliament are going to speak about the bill.

Now, having said that, it may be a debate in parliamentary terms. It's not much of a debate in substance. Most everybody is going to come to agreement on this legislation, apparently. The government already controls about 63 percent of the seats in the parliament and even members of the opposition parties say that there should be some kind of legislation. They quibble over the wording of this bill. In fact, some think it should be tougher.

Basically, they want to ban any signs of religious activity, any conspicuous signs of religious belief from the high schools, mainly. And this would include Jewish skullcaps, Christian crosses, but, most importantly, head scarves. That's really the point of this bill, the Muslim head scarves worn by young Muslim women.

And what I think basically summarizes what the government's argument is is something that a colleague of mine in the media wrote here the other day. He said basically the French are trying to not only guarantee freedom of religion, but freedom from religion, because there is a feeling that some of these young Muslim girls in high school are being coerced into wearing head scarves by either their peers or their parents or perhaps fundamentalist Muslim organizations -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

Does it go beyond that? I mean do they think that somehow this will calm fears of -- I mean where is this coming from?

BITTERMANN: Well, I think there's been a large feeling here that the Muslim community, which arrived in France in the late '50s and '60s, has not integrated into the country's life as other immigrant groups have. And as a consequence, there's a feeling that there are many in the Muslim community who like, who emphasize the differences rather than the similarities to French society. And they believe the head scarf is one of the ways that the fundamentalist groups, for instance, are showing that difference.

Now, the people that argue on the other side of this bill say the same thing, there should be freedom of dress, there should be freedom of conduct and these young ladies should be able to wear whatever they want. They also say that this legislation, by attempting to legislate this problem away, you're going to cause more problems than you solve, that you're going to stigmatize young ladies. They're going to be isolated and not integrated into French society, as people would like -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Jim Bittermann live from Paris this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com