21st Feb 04
By A Chew, Voices News Network (VNN) writer
Déjà vu for some…Dhol and Turbans for others…as
thousands descend on London’s French embassy to remind the world
o
f the Sikhs’ Right To Turban .
Sarabjit Singh had seen this coming for a long time. After all, he
had stood his ground for his Right To Turban many years ago when he
went to teach in a Paris suburban school in 1998.
(Sarabjit at the rally) |
Sarabjit Singh had seen this coming for a long
time. After all, he had stood his ground for his Right To Turban
many years ago when he went to teach in a Paris suburban school
in 1998.
Today he was milling amongst the thousands of UK Sikhs who had
descended on Knightsbridge where the French flag looked limp on
the Embassy building.
A doctor who walked about in his ‘cultural turban’
and a Nihang Singh who wore his high Turban in pride, Turbans
of all shapes, sizes and colours paraded this trendy part of London.
Protesters waved their Right To Turban placards to the beat of
the Dhol as battle cries were heard, perhaps for the first time
by the bourgeoisie in London.
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Tarsem Singh of the British Sikh Council, who
organised the rally with the Akhand Keertani Jatha, said that
20 coach loads had arrived from all over the UK, joined by a
thousand Londoners.
Today he was milling amongst the thousands of UK Sikhs who had
descended on Knightsbridge where the French flag looked limp
on the Embassy building.
Sarabjit felt a sense of déjà vu. After completing
his law degree, Sarabjit had gone to Paris in 1998 to teach
English and learn some French in exchange.
"Instead what I learnt very quickly was that
France was where Britain was in the 60s," he said.
On his first day
(UK Sikhs protesting in Knightsbridge)
at the Lyceé George Clemenceau, Sarabjit
was introduced to some pupils and teachers and given a tour
of the school. On the third day he was asked to go and see the
head master. On the fourth day he was asked to leave the school.
"At that point I did not speak much French
and the headmaster spoke no English. He told me that I could
not wear my turban in school. I couldn't believe what he was
saying so I asked him to get an English teacher to translate.
He gave me an ultimatum - don't wear your Turban or don't come
back to school."
The organisation that sent Sarabjit to France,
the British Council of Educational Visits and Exchanges, had
inadvertently assigned him to a school whose headmaster had
had taken a stand against the Jewish Kippa and Muslim Hijab
in the school. The headmaster was worried that Sarabjit’s
Turban would cause 'an eruption of religious signs' in the school.
The head teacher’s actions in 1998 were
not illegal. Then a headmaster had a discretion whether to allow
'religious signs' in his school.
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6 years later, Sarabjit was standing in the cold, with 2,000 other
Sikhs from all over the UK because the French government had decided
that a headmaster would not have a discretion anymore. A bill was going
through parliament which would make it illegal for Turbans, Hijabs and
Kippas to be worn in public schools.
In Sarabjit’s case then, there was a solution. He was reassigned
to another school in the heart of Paris, the third best school in France,
Lyceé Fenelon, where politicians sent their children. Even though
it was a state school, Sarabjit was allowed to wear his Turban.
"I had no problems with the children and just one teacher objected
to my presence. However, what was clear was that the law was against
the poor and especially against the Muslims and Jews. When they were
well off, these rules did not apply," Sarabjit lamented.
Sarabjit’s problems did not end there.
"When I went to get a carte de séjour, my work permit,
I was asked to provide photographs of myself. When I did, I was told
it was not acceptable because I was wearing my Turban," Sarabjit
said.
They told him that he would have to take it off. He refused and enlisted
the help of the British Consulate which wrote to the Ministry of the
Interior (French Home Office) and also the French Sikhs.
"Eventually an exemption was found, which applied to the catholic
nuns. I was allowed to have my turban as long as I showed the roots
of my hair, my ears and my neck," he recounted his story.
(UK Sikhs with banners)
Sarabjit was the first to turn up at the rally today and the last to
leave. As he left he promised himself that he would leave no stone unturned
to help the
Sikhs in France stand their ground for their Turban.
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