Public Indecency

Certain voices in France are beginning to question whether the war against extremism can best be won with bans on beachwear. In the name of secularism, law and order and good manners, women who choose to cover themselves up on French beaches have been stopped and surrounded by armed police, yelled at by mobs with legitimate concerns, and accused of "provocation" by Nicolas de Racaille. Doubtless in the name of liberty, fraternity and equality, the deputy mayor of Nice, a party colleague of the ever-emollient former president, has also threatened legal action against anyone publishing images of municipal police. Nevertheless, as the education minister has pointed out, it remains unclear how far public safety and secular values can be upheld by ordering women to dress in accordance with some arbitrary prohibition, after the fashion of the sky-daddy's more fun-loving friends.