Mumbai: Of late, India has seen the fury of right-wing haters who forced a number of ad campaigns (also see here) which talked about diversity and the country’s composite culture.
Probably taking a cue from their right-wing friends in India, haters led by xenophobic France has forced Europe's top human rights organisation to withdraw a Hijab campaign launched last week against anti-Muslim discrimination.
The campaign shows portraits of two smiling young women spliced in half and fused together to show one with hair uncovered and the other wearing the hijab.
“Beauty is in diversity as freedom is in hijab,” was one of the slogans.
“How boring would be the world if everyone would look the same? Celebrate diversity and respect hijab,” was another. The campaign also included hash tag “#JOYinHIJAB”.
The simple campaign launched by the Council of Europe (CoE) however touched a nerve in France on all sides of the political spectrum.
“I was profoundly shocked. It is the opposite of the values that France defends. It is promoting the wearing of the Hijab”, Sarah El Hairy, minister for youth, France said expressing her Macron government’s “displeasure” over the campaign.
Eric Zemour, a possible French presidential candidate, who has been in the limelight for his far-right views and anti-Muslim statements, also accused the campaign of promoting “the veiling of Europeans”.
The unlikely outburst by the haters forced the Council of Europe (CoE) to pull down the campaign. “We are reflecting on a better presentation of this project", the Council told the BBC after it deleted the tweets related to the campaign.
On the other hand, European Muslims say the decision to withdraw the campaign is "an attack on human rights" and exposes France's "double standard".
"Attacks on this vital campaign take place in a wider environment of a shrinking of civic space, where government actors routinely censor and limit the freedom of speech when it doesn't fit their political agenda”, said the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organizations (FEMYSO).
Members of FEMYSO were part of the project along with a number of other Muslim and non-Muslim groups, according to the CoE.
"It is another example of how the rights of Muslim women are non-existent to those who claim to represent or protect notions such as liberty, equality and freedom," said FEMYSO head Hande Taner.
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