The campaign launched by the Council of Europe's Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination program to popularize the Islamic headscarf, the hijab, provoked an elemental protest from French political life. The campaign was brought down by the power of internet publicity.
Citing the public outrage of the past few days, the Council of Europe has decided to withdraw its newly launched campaign on diversity, the French newspaper Le Point informs the concept of freedom.
campaign co-financed by the European Union was launched on October 28 by the Council of Europe's Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Program. In the campaign, a photo was published that depicted a woman's face assembled from two shots: the image, i.e. the right side of the face and upper body, was a portrait of a European woman with average clothing and hair, while the left side depicted the face and upper body of a woman wearing a hijab.
The cover photo's English caption on the left side of a Muslim woman's face read: "Beauty lies in diversity, as freedom lies in the hijab." And the page on the right, depicting an average-looking female face, read: "How boring the world would be if everyone looked the same!" It read below: "Celebrate diversity - respect the hijab!"
"Let's stop this vile propaganda!"
"The European Council announcement supporting the Islamic veil is scandalous and indecent! This is being published while millions of women are bravely fighting against this subjugation, " protested Marine Le Pen, president of the National Compact (RN), who is running for next year's presidential election. And his advisor, Philippe Olivier, a member of the European Parliament, protested in his Twitter post: "Unbelievable! The Council of Europe and the European Union started a campaign promoting and advertising the Islamic hijab. Let's not allow this vile propaganda, which goes against our culture and values!"
Essayist Eric Zemmour was not left speechless either, adds Valeurs Actuelles. The journalist, who is also known as one of the potential candidates for the 2022 presidential election, also explained on the Europe 1 channel: in his opinion, Brussels has launched a campaign that is the enemy of truth, even though Islam is the enemy of freedom. participated in the demographic summit in Budapest, put it this way in his Twitter post: "This is an advertising jihad financed by your taxes." He warns: the initiators are thus preparing Europeans to wear the veil.
The veil as a tool of freedom?
Michel Barnier, the presidential candidate of the center-right party, the Republicans (LR), spoke about a "completely incorrect" initiative in the evening news of France 2. The politician suggested: those "who had this bad campaign idea, if they can, should interview the women in Kabul who are fighting to stop wearing this veil. The veil is not a tool for women's freedom, but the exact opposite!"
The campaign initiative of the Council of Europe was thwarted by the sharing of the outraged photo and its spread on the Internet by Twitter posts strongly condemning the photo. The initiators of the campaign quickly announced its withdrawal, so the opinion of the French government, quoted by Politico , became known after that.
The shared image was "deeply shocking", French State Secretary for Youth Sarah El Haïry told LCI television on Tuesday evening. "This is against the values that France stands for. France has made it clear that it strongly disapproves of this campaign, which is why it has been withdrawn today.”
The European Council statement did not specify whether the campaign was withdrawn due to protests from the French government, Politico adds.
Source: hirado.hu
Photo: Twitter
