• jinarched@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I am not surprised. Currently, France’s democracy is being challenged by its current government. They also tried to outlaw filming the police in 2020 (luckily the law didn’t pass). Recently, they constantly used special laws to pass their laws even if they don’t have majority in parliament (especially their retirement law even if 70% of the population and 90% of the workers didn’t want this law to pass). They are trying to push a biometric mass surveillance law for the 2024 Olympics. The way the government has been dealing with the recent protests has been heavily criticized by Amnesty International. Police violence has been over the top (the Saint-Soline water protest was literally a war zone) and countless unlawful arrests including unjustified police custody have been done.

      It’s a real shit show.

    • amanneedsamaid@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      I’m pretty sure within the last decade France made it illegal to wear head coverings (with no exception for religious articles like hijabs) in school buildings. I could be mistaken, but I remember thinking that was extreme to the point of racist policy.

      • david@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        I think that ever since the revolution, France has been fairly firmly of the opinion that the ideals of the French nation override religion. In many European countries there’s a debate about where you draw the line between multi-culturism and religious freedom on the one hand and and women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights on the other. France doesn’t have that debate.

        It’s entirely consistent with historical French culture that when they thought “should we allow women to be required to wear the hijab in public, or should we require women to never wear the hijab in public” they sided with prohibition over prescription.

        • BreakDecks
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          1 year ago

          It’s illegal to wear swim trunks in France. There’s literally a law mandating speedo-style swimwear for men. France is weird about some stuff.