The Burkini Incident

Last week, the mayor of Cannes decided it should be illegal to wear a burkini on the beach. Naturally, this was not the narrow-minded decision of a bigot, intent on preventing Muslim women from joining the very society he insists they are opposed to, but a fair-minded decision to keep a symbol of religious extremism from Cannes sandy shores. Because nothing says terrorism more than a beach holiday. Presumably, he will also be banning trousers, shirts and wetsuits, all of which cover up a similar amount of flesh. It'll be the first time a venue has imposed a maximum dress code.

Sadly, this radicalisation of Muslims simply adhering to their religious beliefs is not new. No one would describe a Sikh wearing a turban as an extremist, nor a Jew wearing a yarmulke. Islam, however, seems to be the current easy target. Already, there has been a knock-on event, where the mayor of Corsica has responded to a beach brawl involving hatchets and harpoons (honestly, I'm not making this up) by... banning burkinis. One would have thought banning hatchets and harpoons would have been more effective.

The problem, of course, is that Muslims have been placed into that little box that all of us have inside our heads, the one marked 'the reason for all my problems'. There always has to be someone in that box. Otherwise, the only explanation for our failings can be ourselves and that would never do. If we can form into little tribes, little gangs to reinforce the feeling that we are being persecuted, to agree with each other that the real reason for our lack of success, our inadequacies, is a group of people with funny clothes, and funny skin, who clearly don't belong to our tribe, then so much the better. The most evil three words in the English language are 'us and them'. Us, who are the good guys, and them who are the enemy. North vs South, Catholic vs Protestant, Arab vs Jew, rich vs poor. Which side are you on? It doesn't matter which side you picked; if you picked a side at all you're on the wrong one. It's only when we break those barriers down, realise that we have more in common than we have differences, that real progress begins to be made.

But I can't fight nature. We are all biologically driven to belong to a tribe. So instead, I have one thing to ask. If we have to belong to a tribe, let's make it a really big one. One that includes every single person, rich, poor, young, old, black, white, man or woman. A tribe so big that we'll have no need of them and us. Just us. And us is a very powerful word.