Togs reveal limits of diversity and multiculturalism

A swimwear outfit designed in Australia is pulling apart the ruling coalition of the world’s sixth largest economy and in doing so is granulating the two central pillars of modern social democracy—diversity and multiculturalism.The beach togs are unraveling the threads of these backdrop tapestries of contemporary liberal belief not because they reveal too much. But too little.The burkini has become the symbol of the limits of diversity and multiculturalism. Throughout France, local municipalities, notably in the Nice area, continue to defy a high court ruling to the effect that their wearers are entitled to wear them on public beaches.The argument against the burkini goes like this:-   · It is a symbol of a religious extremism   · As such its wearers are deliberately being used to display this extremism and thus to promote it by pushing out the boundaries of public tolerance   · The coverall design of the burkini is unhygienic   · Lifeguards would find their work impeded by the multi-layer structure of the costume   · The voluminous composition of the outfit means that it is suitable for hiding explosivesThe beach outfit has split the women’s movement with those on the left saying it is women’s right to wear what they want, when they want, and where. The feminists in president Francois Hollande’s government have seen the burkini in the context of womens’ right to choose instead of in the context of a visible signal that women are obeying males.France’s prime minister the energetic Manuel Valls has sided against a large proportion of his ruling Socialist Party coalition by backing local seaside authorities and supporting their ban on the burkini, and their right to arrest wearers of it.France’s president Francois Hollande has stood aside from the issue. He is known for his analysis by paralysis, a process known in France as being uncertain about who is the goat and who is the cabbage? Is one the eater or the eaten?Mr Valls is in no such quandary. He was an early opponent of eye-slits only religious street garb and followed through when the burkini became a much more intense symbol of rampant sectarianism and thus absence of assimilation.With Mr Hollande being devoured by the polls, Mr Valls (above in a cartoon from the Liberation daily) is viewed as the obvious last minute presidential substitute.The burkini meanwhile can take many forms ranging from home-made rigs resembling hooded anoraks complete with leggings to variations on the original and much copied Australian design.This centres on a fabric wetsuit style with a modified turban headpiece with flashes of colour and varying volumes of shrouding and enveloping drapes – the cause of the live-saving chagrin.

From the MSCNewsWire European reporters' desk - Thursday 1 September 2016