Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW Vol. 5 Num 115 Fri. September 17, 2004       Letters to Editor Hijab/France Abdul M Ismail, UK In the last French elections, Jean-Marie Le Pen's "Front National" party came second and this result sent shock waves throughout Europe. So, it's important to ask the question, why ban religious symbols at this point in time ? Simply putting it, banning religious symbols from schools is simply a ruse to appease those who voted en-masse for the Front National and to encourage them back to mainstream politics. From my perspective, it's really a choice of which is the worst of two evils; (1) Ban the Hijab and other religious symbols and receive the wrath of a (pro-Hijab) percentage of 5 million French Muslims and followers of other religions or (2) Not ban the Hijab and have the Front National win the next election due to popular discontent, which would then work towards having all Muslims, Jews and Sikhs deported.