Burqa Ban Spreads in Europe
Along with the start of the holy month of Ramadan, the last few weeks have seen an increase in momentum for laws that ban the wearing of the burqa and niqab in European 
countries. We’ve talked about France before, where the implementation of its law banning Muslim face covering began this past spring. Now Belgium, which passed a similar measure last year, has begun implementing its ban on burqas as of July 23rd, and in Italy, new anti-burqa legislation was just passed by a parliamentary commission this week.
In both countries, like France, a miniscule number of women actually wear the burqa or niqab, begging the question of why an increasing number of European nations feel so threatened by it.
In Belgium, the lawmaker who proposed the bill, Daniel Bacquelaine, “said it was necessary to forbid the wearing of clothes that ‘totally mask and enclose’ the wearer. He described wearing the burqa as ‘not compatible with an open, liberal, tolerant society.’ Peter DeDecker of the Flemish separatist NVA saw the ban as a way of defending ‘our fundamental principles of the enlightenment.'”
Just as in France, what I would argue (and have previously argued) is an attack on religious freedom is being justified with the rhetoric of freedom and liberty (and public safety).
And now Italy too. According to Time,
The legislation, which was approved by a parliamentary commission on Tuesday, occupies a strange place in the Italian political spectrum, uniting the socially liberal left with the xenophobic right. (A similar measure was floated by the previous left-wing government.) If approved by parliament, it would close a religious exemption to previous legislation that prohibits anybody in Italy from donning garb that would make their identification impossible. The proposed law has the support of the Northern League, a populist political party that has built its electoral success by fanning fears in a country being changed rapidly by immigration.
Interestingly in Italy, the bill’s main sponsor is an immigrant Muslim woman from Morocco, making it easier for the bill’s supporters to disregard accusations of Islamophobia. Also interesting is that she used to be a member of the National Alliance, an Italian political party with fascist roots.
Could criminalization of the burqa and niqab become the norm in Europe? The Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark are currently considering similar bills, and a city in Spain has already adopted such a law. What does this mean for Sikh Europeans? Could more countries follow in France’s footsteps to ban turbans in schools?
Reiterating what I’ve asserted previously, this question here is not about whether we think wearing burqas or niqabs is a good idea or not. The real issue is whether a government should be able to impose its notion of national identity on its citizens (and non-citizens for that matter).
According to Izzeddin Elzir, head of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy (UCOII), the country’s largest Muslim organization:
[T]o reject the bill is to stand for religious freedom — a devout woman should be free to cover herself if she wants. “We say we are for the liberty of all,” says Elzir. “If there’s a woman who is obliged to [wear the veil], let’s work together to help get her out of this situation. Let’s not make a law against her.” He believes the bill is more about politics than policy, a distraction from the bigger issues. “Our parliament should focus on issues that impact all citizens, not just one or two people,” he says. “The citizens of Italy need an answer to this economic crisis. And instead our parliament is studying whether our Islamic women should be covered or not.”
19 Responses to “Burqa Ban Spreads in Europe”
I wouldn't read too much into any of these burqua bans in France and Belgium. France because its a country where 3rd world politics is played and Sarkozy is merely trying to buy votes before its courts overturn the ban due to its incompatitbility with EU Law. Belgium because its a country thats barely been functioning as a country without a government for the last 2 years and even its own King admits that it has barely a year of existence left as a country. From our Sikh point of view and our quest for freedom what will happen in Belgium this coming year is extremely significant. Political commentators and the European Union acknowledge that because of Begium we will witness an unprecedented and unstoppable wind of separation and independance blowing through the world. At this very moment, as we speak, the French government is in official talks with the Waloon half of Belgium for its to officialy split from the Flemish half. If this happens….and it most definately will…..there is no way the Canadian government will be able to stop Quebec going its own way too. The EU acknowledge that the most likely result is that Barcelona and the Catalonians will break away from Spain, the Basques will finally achieve their own independant homeland and Scotland will break away from the union with England. That momentum gathering wind of change will be our opportunity as Sikhs to break from India. These kind of winds only blow once every 100 years. Our chance….our opportunity…is just around the corner….We need to be ready for it.
I honestly couldn't care less about an illegal and non-enforceable burqua ban. I have bigger things to think about when the word 'Belgium' is mentioned.
I agree that we are somehow inordinately in my opinion focused on one subset of issues here. The burial is not equivalent to the turban except that they are items of religious dress. The purpose and meaning of the turban stands alone and I cannot see that the use of the burkha should be tied so consistently to it. I’m France, Canada, Australia, let us present our belief system and history instead of simply asserting an assumed similarity with a belief system unique from our own. Orthodox Jewish men and women also have a religious dress code……where are the posts in solidarity there, or even just an exploration of this. Simply because in certain countries we are mistaken for members of another religion doesn’t mean we have to make the same inferences about ourselves. Our history tells us we are generally not to seclude women in purdah even while respecting freedom of thought and conscience to the fullest. The interacting relationship between Europe and Islam is something on its own. I feel there is almost a fetish of solidarity in only one or two directions to the detriment of our own history and culture. Yes we draw from a millue including Islam but also many other faith and philosophical traditions and our histories interrelate with many groups beyond the ones we are so often directed toward.
Sorry for the typos above….autocorrect giveth and taketh away.
Don’t we, men, ever get tired of telling women how to dress? I hope we eventually fatigue, but, we are a stubborn bunch.
Sorry to burst your bubble,but the author seems to forget that sovereign nation-states have every right to formulate & enforce the laws for the well being of their citizens.
A lot of draconian laws can be justified by being in the best interest of "the well being" of a country's citizens. We need look no farther than the US for plenty of examples throughout history (i.e. Jim Crow) and even currently (i.e. Patriot Act). Do you think these laws that ban the niqab protect the "well being" of the citizens of France, Italy, Belgium, etc?
The question here then, is who is considered citizens of a nation state? And whose wellbeing are we protecting?
whose wellbeing are we protecting is a good question….whose concerns and conflicts do we focus on here at TLH? Hmm.
We are basically focused here on the wellbeing of the most conservative members of one community that somehow we are consistently linked to over and above other communities. I ask the question as to why this is. I think the worldview here is shaped by the idea that solidarity here means we are in solidarity with the most conservative members of Islam and every and all times almost without consideration of what actually we are in solidarity with.
Do you seriously consider the purpose and meaning of the turban and the niqab to be similar? Is the niqab a mandatory part of Islam? Or is it a cultural marker favored by conservative and decidedly non-progressive movements within that religion. Would there be a similar post in favor of a regressive movement within other faith movements? If Sikhs decided to endorse purdah or some other misreading of our faith? Or if some conservative Hindu faction wanted to endorse some strand or misreading of Hinduism? Why do we consistently here see that we go out of our way to support things that are inimical to the broader strand of our community?
I can't see that consistently we put ourselves on the line for things we cannot really find within our own religion. And yes, I know some will say we are to defend the rights of all, no matter what the exercise of those rights leads to. However this views seems to include the premise that every and all reactions to Islam are racist and Islamophobic.
France is directly limiting the rights of Sikhs….you do not need to have a proxy fight on this. Get in to the fight on behalf of the turban and see how strong the solidarity for the turban is for a change.
See we can get thousand and perhaps millions of non-Sikhs in France to march for our rights and our community. Not one of two statements or a few thousands of euros. Sikhs put their lives on the line in many countries around the world simply because of who they are mistaken for and consistently we do not engage in blame-shifting.
Currently I wear a beard and not kes and as I was being called all sorts of names and threatened multiple times I never shifted blame or tried to focus racist energy onto another community. However I can count on one hand the times I was actively supported in solidarity at the time. And I can note that this solidarity on a few occasions was rescinded when it was discovered I was Sikh and not Muslim.
We do have our own history and we are not what we are mistaken to be.
Whether you agree with women wearing full burqas is not the point. The point is that the government of Belgium is targeting Muslim women and criminalizing them for the way they practice their faith, all in the name of gender equality. When has revoking women’s basic freedom to choose ever resulted in gender equality? Imagine the heavy decisions that lay ahead for our Muslim sisters. What will they feel on the day that the law is implemented and they are forced to decide between the law and their faith?
And to be clear, this is not only a Muslim issue; this is very much an issue for all South Asian communities, which we should take very seriously. The passing of this bill is only another example of Europe's longstanding battle against Muslims and religious minorities. You may recall the French Law on Secularity and Conspicuous Religious Symbols in School, which came into effect 6 years ago and forced children to remove their religious headdresses at the threat of being expelled from their schools. Further, since 2005, people with religious headdresses are being refused the right to cover their heads in their drivers licenses, upholding a law that requires French motorists to appear “bareheaded and facing forward” in all driver’s license photographs.
As people of conscious, we must remember to always make the connections between our plights and those of others. Muslim women in burqas are targeted today and it is only a matter of time until these laws begin to apply to other people with visible religious articles of faith. So, let us stand in solidarity with Muslims in Belgium and France and support their struggle to practice their faith and religion freely.
"Sorry to burst your bubble,but the author seems to forget that sovereign nation-states have every right to formulate & enforce the laws for the well being of their citizens"
^ First of all that is factually incorrect because all european countries in the EU have signed over their sovereignty to Brussels. What that means is that Brussels has the final say…..a nation state can do what it likes and pass any laws it likes only as long as it is compatible with the law emanating from Brussels.
Secondly……by passing laws such as this all that the European former colonial powers are doing is biting themselves on their own bottom. The demand from many of their respective non-white / non-christian populations is a form of legal pluralism. The European countries are deeply opposed to legal pluralism….which is ironic because when they ruled over the countries from which many of those new citizens came, they were all in favour of legal pluralism. i.e….when it suits the white christian european legal pluralism is a wonderful thing……….When it doesn't suit him its a bad thing. Everything is designed to reinforce his belief that his western system of law is the not only the best but also the only decent one. To get this message across he knows he has to have a bogeyman…….a ready made excuse on which to base his claims. For this purpose he has created the twin bogeymen of 'forced marriage' and 'women's rights', He uses these excuses to mash up any talk of legal pluralism. It is though, a false excuse. Lets look at English divorce law for example. Under the Family Law Act, if a man wants to divorce his wife….there is absolutely nothing a wife can do to stop him. However, under muslim sharia law and their system of mediation she does still stand a chance of stopping it from happening. For the last 30 years legal pluralism hasn't been seen as a problem at all in the hassidic jewish neighbourhoods of north London….where the police, courts and social services have officially let the community police themselves and sort legal matters themselves according to jewish law. So you see legal pluralism ain't a problem when you're dealing with fellow white people. It only becomes a problem when you're dealing with non-white people because…as we all know….we've only just come off our elephants and figured out how to walk……We couldn't possibly have any decent, humane laws.
So….on the one european countries are trying to rubbish the argument in favour of sharia law by stating that the one national law sufficiently deals with their needs and is sympathetic to their culture. And then……they go and do the exact opposite and give the islamists more justification for asking for a shariat system. Its obviously a case of shooting oneself in the foot…..but as I stated before, in may ways France is a third world country where a third world politics are played. Very few people take what they do seriously……least of all themselves.
Oh deary me. Are you all philistines when it comes to worldly affairs ? What is so difficult to understand here ? There are some countries in the European Union that have a more developed rule of law…..as such they do not tend to deliberately pass National laws that they know will conflict with EU Law….unless there is a deliberate political will to pick a fight with the EU : The UK and Germany for example. On the other hand there are some countries in Europe that we know as serial flouters of EU law. They do it habitualy all the time : France, for example. They see their position at the heart of the EU as undesputable and natural and as such, they like to ritually play little games like ignoring EU Directives until they are forced to obey. Britain and Germany, on the other hand, obey Directives and Regulations immediately.
Look, it's really very simple : Every one of us European countries has signed over our sovereignty to Brussels. We've given away thousands of years of sovereignty. EU Law is supreme over National Law. When there is a conflict between the 2….EU Law must prevail. Thus, each and every one of our national law must not contradict EU Law. Now….the French government and the lady in a burqua knows that the burqua ban is in conflict with EU Law. A lady in a burqua is brought before a local magistrate. The magistrate will have to make an Article 234 (Art 267 TFEU) reference to the ECJ for clarification before it passes judgment. The ECJ will state that that the law is clearly incompatible and thus the French law must be struck down.
You see thats why very little fuss is made about this issue by us Europeans. We hardly ever mention it let alone start threads on message forums about it. We know how French politics work…..we know the mechanism of EU law and the time it takes…..and we know Belgium hasn't had a government for a couple of years and is now on its last legs of existence.
But forget all that. Why don't you all do what you always do and give me some thumbs down negative markings.
Ok look…..I've just noticed that some people have given me negative thumbs down again for the above comment. I realise now that nothing I say here is making any sense whatsoever to any of you so I'll end my contribution to this topic by dumbing it down to a very simple level :
The women in France and Belgium that wore a burqa before the ban are still walking around with a burqua on today. The reason for this is that none of them have been actually prosecuted. Every one of those women have desperately wanted the French and Belgian authorities to prosecute them because if they did……and the judgment was upheld by a higher court…..the women could then take the matter to Strasbourg where they would quite clearly win under article 9. The French government and prosecuting authorities know that. They're not silly. Thats why they don't prosecute anyone. This whole ban is a political vote winning gimmick. Thats all it is.
And as for thinking it could be extended against turbans then I suggest you keep up to date with case law and educate yourself with last years decision in last years 'Ahmet Arslan' case decided by the court of human rights. That case involved a sect of muslims and their right to wear turbans and 'salwars'. (incidentaly another point of interest thrown up with that case was how our sikh words 'dastar' started in Turkey as a fabric or shawl and by the time it reached Persia became a turban……but lets not digress).
Now….I suggest you all be true to form and give me a thumbs down and go back to taking gimmicky bans that ain't really a ban very very seriously indeed.
“But forget all that. Why don’t you all do what you always do and give me some thumbs down negative markings.”
Last I counted you got only three thumbs down.
Once in a while I get between 8 – 20 thumbs down even without commenting because there is this guy who comes along and makes scandalous comments under my name. Those thumb downs reminded me of mothers oil massage of my head as a child after a head bath. She probably was trying to rewire loose neural connections in my brains. I don’t think that worked. It probably caused some damage on the right side. But I started doing better in math.
I think its those guys getting thumbs up who need to be careful and wear safety glasses.
Ideally I am aiming for a overall safety oriented zero response.
France, Belgium and now Italy seem to forget the notion of religious freedom. In all these countries, passing the niqab-ban law just increase islamophobia and Muslim-hatred among people. This law is restricting individual freedom (imposing a dress code with a law, really ?), stigmatising the Muslims and not helping integration. Even the Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner, Thomas Hammarberg, deplored the ban as a symptom of "Islamophobia and anti-Muslim prejudices which continue to undermine tolerance in Europe". To fight against the growing Islamophobia, join the Mass Protest of Stop the War Coalition on October 8th in Trafalgar Square.
To get more information go to: http://antiwarassembly.org/
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