French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Monday sharply criticized a New York Times (NYT) article in which French Muslim women described being ostracized by non-Muslims, discriminated against when they sought jobs and made to feel persecuted.
The article, which was based on numerous comments from European Muslim women, most of them French, was written in light of the controversy over the full-body bathing suit known as the Burqini.
More than 30 French cities and towns had banned the Burqini from public beaches, although an increasing number of those bans have been overturned by French courts.
In an opinion piece published on The Huffington Post’s French Web site, Valls described the Times piece as presenting an “unacceptable image of France, because it is false.”
He also accused the Times report of drawing its conclusions based on interviews that did not reflect reporting that was broad, but rather done in the context of an event being discussed in French media at the time: a “summer camp” that was “forbidden to people with white skin,” where those who attended opposed the mixing of whites and non-whites.
He was referring to a gathering near the city of Reims that the organizers described as a “De-Colonial Summer Camp,” where minorities could gather to talk about their experiences of discrimination.
According to the organizers, about 170 to 180 people attended from Aug. 25 to Aug. 28.
The Times responded that Valls was mistaken about how the reporting for the piece had been done.
“Our story was rigorously reported and based on responses by more than 1,200 readers to an online call-out in English, French and Arabic asking for the views of Muslim women in Europe after the Burqini ban,” said Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for the Times. “We stand by the article.”
In the piece he published by The Huffington Post, Valls said he “contested with the greatest vigor” that the Times article quoted “Muslim women, while suggesting that their voices are muzzled to depict France as oppressing them.”
Valls also made clear that he did not accept the contention of French Muslim women that the Burqini was a chance for them to participate in summer activities.
Some women said that because their interpretation of their faith demanded that they dress modestly, the availability of the Burqini had allowed them to go to the beach.
Valls said the Burqini was “not an anodyne bathing outfit, but a provocation.”
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