within the multicultural French society. France is home to both the largest Jewish and Muslim minorities in Western Europe. Educators In the mid-2000s, a majority of French educators opposed the veil in general, and particularly in classes. General public The majority of French people, according to a survey conducted in the last four months of 2003, responded that they would be in favor of a law forbidding the veil in schools. In 2013, 86% of respondents in a poll for i-Télé were in favour of a ban for headscarfs and other religious and political symbols in both public and private institutions for children. The poll was made after the Court of Cassation ruled that a private crèche did not have the right to fire a woman who wore an Islamic headscarf. Motivations of French people who do not oppose the hijab According to the same surveys, more than 30% (about 10% of the population of France is Muslim) of the French do not want a law forbidding the veil in schools. Many individuals and organizations have been opposed to the idea of a law forbidding the veil since it was first proposed. The collective "Les Blédardes" sees the controversy over the veil as a manifestation of colonialist sentiments. In 2003, they demand: "Give the veiled girls back their status as students - democracy and the State of justice will come out of this more mature, just as they matured through the rehabilitation of the Dreyfus Affair." Furthermore, some Islamic feminists have expressed offense at double standards implicit in some (non-Muslim) feminist arguments. Thus, when some feminists began defending the headscarf on the grounds of "tradition", Fadela Amara countered: "It's not tradition, it's archaic! French feminists are totally contradictory. When Algerian women fought against wearing the headscarf in Algeria, French feminists supported them. But when it's some young girl in a French suburb school, they don't. They define liberty and equality according to what colour your skin is. It's nothing more than neocolonialism." Some would argue that the government attempting to protect Muslim women from the supposed repressiveness of the hijab is a form of paternalism. The banning of the hijab can be viewed as just another way of controlling how women dress by a patriarchal society. A third interpretation of the principle of secularity based on its original formulation recalls that, according to the law, "all are equal to show