A week ago, a French TV interview of a student union representative sparked a national debate. Not because of what she said, nor because her union supports the student protests against Emmanuel Macron’s reform of the French university system.
Maryam Pougetoux, 19, faces criticism for speaking publicly as the president of student union Unef for her university, Paris IV, while wearing her hijab. Defenders of French secularism, the media and even members of the French government have condemned her headscarf.
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“It is my faith. I shouldn’t have to justify myself.”
“As soon as they wear the hijab, they are suspected of being non-Republican.”
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