The rejection by the Council of State of the summary against the ban on the wearing of abaya and qamis in schools, feeds a liberticidal and authoritarian vision of a pseudo-secularism that is taking hold in our country.

We strongly reaffirm that the decision of the Minister of National Education Gabriel Attal to prohibit access to schools to students wearing these outfits is both anti-secular, sexist and racist. Anti-secular because the minister flouts the law of 1905 which establishes together the freedom of conscience, worship and the separation of Church and State. Therefore, just as religions do not interfere in the affairs of the state, the state does not concern itself with matters concerning religions. It cannot decide what is religious or not. The application of secularism in schools in accordance with the spirit of 1905 cannot arbitrarily assign pupils or signs to proselytizing behaviour. Sexist because this measure is aimed overwhelmingly at young girls, whose free will is denied and whose bodies are publicly the subject of inappropriate or derogatory comments. Racist because it targets these teenagers because of their real or supposed membership of the Muslim religion and introduces a racial profiling check at the entrance to establishments. In this respect, the words of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, making an ignominious amalgam between the wearing of these clothes and the assassination of Professor Samuel Paty by an Islamist terrorist are particularly serious and shocking. All this is part of a strategy of dividing the population: by stigmatizing one part, to mobilize another around reactionary identity themes and thus weaken the capacity for collective mobilization against the misdeeds and bad moves to come of the government. Because, at the same time as pointing the finger at students who wear a certain long dress, the Macronist government is leaving 2,000 children without accommodation on the street, closing 1,900 classes and leaving 3,100 teaching positions vacant. Making a Republic is not about forbidding teenagers to choose their outfits. It is to respond to social, democratic and ecological emergencies through wealth-sharing policies, the overhaul of the worm-eaten institutions of the 5th Republic through a new constituent process, and the commitment of a bifurcation that allows us to adapt our society to climate change. We call on the many to reject division and stigmatization. Saturday, September 23, at the call of more than a hundred associative, trade union and political organizations, let us demonstrate our unity to defend our fundamental rights and freedoms, demand social justice and obtain an end to police violence!