In Manjib, Syria, the men are cutting their beards. The women are smoking cigarettes and uncovering their faces. Newly liberated from the rule of Islamic State, they're expressing the most basic freedom a human can possess: control over their own bodies.These are the freedoms that many of us hold dear. This is what we stand for: the freedom of each person to make decisions for themselves, to wake up, shave and get dressed without consulting a government or theocratic rule book.Our governments' disinterest in whether their citizens dress tastefully or badly, whether they pray or listen to the radio, and what they eat for breakfast, is a hallmark of humane and reasonable state power.The mayor of Cannes in France does not agree. David Lisnard recently issued a decree about what people ought to wear on the beach. His target: the burkini, a head-to-foot swimming costume popular among a small, devout population of Muslim women.This costume, Lisnard declared, "ostentatiously displays religious affiliation", could "disrupt public order", and might even, in the words of one official, demonstrate "an allegiance to terrorist movements".It's understandable that France is jumpy, especially in the south, where a horrific terrorist attack cost the lives of 85 people in Nice.But there's absolutely no evidence that women who wear burkinis are in any way linked to terrorism, and there is no earthly reason why banning them would help to thwart France's violent Islamists. If anything, it is more likely to alienate and upset moderate Muslims.That hasn't stopped the mayor of another resort, Villeneuve-Loubet, pushing through his own ban, though he has come up with a more creative reason: "Unacceptable for hygienic reasons." He did not specify whether he was worried about swimmers or fish.The mayor on the French island of Corsica became the third to announce a ban on burkinis yesterday.The burkini is a relatively new fashion trend, because only recently have big shops begun to cater for devout, female Muslim swimmers.It consists of an outfit made from swimsuit material, which covers the body from head to ankles. It leaves the face uncovered, so it doesn't conflict with existing French law, which bans face-coverings, and it resembles a wetsuit with a built-in hood. But while the wetsuit manages to avoid ruining public order, in France the burkini is a threat to civilisation.It is hard to muster much enthusiasm for the burkini. It harks back to an age, still dominant in much of the world, when a woman's worth was measured by her modesty. It belongs to a belief system in which women cannot experience one of the joys of the natural world - feeling the wind and sea on her body. It suggests that the female form is shameful and provocative.But those who want to ban the burkini for these reasons are forgetting one of the most important values of a free society: we don't all have to believe the same thing in order to live together.Every day thousands of people wake up and do things we might think are crazy and wrong. They have plastic surgery, get tattoos, cheat on their spouses or drink too much. They get their news from Facebook and watch hours of trashy TV. Many believe in crystal healing or sing in church with eyes closed and arms in the air. We let them get on with it.This is the wisdom of Western liberalism and it has formed an important part of political traditions for hundreds of years.The Cannes burkini ban forces some Muslim women to choose between their religious and national identities and perniciously suggests that their choice of dress is a political statement, whether they mean it to be or not.In France, nothing is allowed until the law permits it, whereas in most other democratic countries everything is allowed until the law forbids it. So, in the name of enforced secularism, France forbids covering the face in any public setting, whether it is for religion or Halloween, and bans religious symbols like hijabs (hair coverings) in state institutions such as schools.The burkini ban takes this illiberal trend even further by making it illegal to wear "ostentatious" religious symbols, even when going about one's own private business.These bans could yet get struck down by French courts, but think of the damage they have already done. A normal Muslim, who has grown up seeing a hijab as an unremarkable but important symbol of womanhood, finds herself forced to choose between respect for the law and her family's everyday customs.Is this senseless, banal and brutal ban more likely to awaken a hidden feminist creed and a love of La République in her heart or to make her feel attacked and excluded from society?Strong societies cannot permit parallel legal or political systems, such as Sharia courts or caliphates. But they can cope with differences in dress and customs. They should not allow obstructive religious clothing like face-coverings to disrupt teaching or court hearings.If a Muslim woman wants to wear a baggy wetsuit and go for a swim on a public beach, that does not make her a threat to Western society. The real enemies of freedom are not the burkini wearers, but the politicians who want to ban them. ©The Daily Telegraph..