Last night I posted a status update on Facebook which sparked comments.
This is what it said:
Sarkozy: Burqa is not a religious problem, it is a problem for freedom, it is a sign of subservience and an offense to the dignity of women
First of all, to clarify what is really going on in France, nothing has been legislated banning the burqa or the niqab in public*. French president Sarkozy has formed a commission to investigate the issue. This committee has six months to give its report to the French government.
The commission is made up of men and women, all of whom are elected officials and come from all sides of the French political spectrum.
Mr. André Gérin who formally asked Sarkozy's government to investigate the issue is a representative of France's left wing - an elected official of the communist party.
Several Muslim women of Sarkozy's government (Fadela Amara - Secretary of State of Urban Policy, Social Affairs, Family and Urban Solidarity, a Muslim of Algerian descent, Rachida Dati - Former Minister of Justice, equivalent to Attorney General in the US, a Muslim of Moroccan-Algerian descent and Rama Yade - Former Secretary of State responsible for Human Rights, a Muslim of Senegalese descent**) have also voiced their unease over the growing number of women who wear the niqab in public.
A majority of officials and the public in France agrees: this debate is not about preventing people from dressing as they please. It is about putting an end to the domination and tyranny of women. Of course it won't abolish female discrimination across the world, but it will show what a democratic and secular country won't (and shouldn't) put up with in the name of freedom. Democracy is freedom (of course this too can be debated), but it is not a forum for anarchy. In this case it is not about control over a woman's body or what she wears, but it is about standing up against a symbol of oppression in a country which founded Human Rights over two centuries ago.
There have been numerous complaints which have arisen recently in France regarding women who were unwilling to disclose their faces, not only for official identification purposes (please look at my previous post here for more about this).
Clearly the role of the French republic in this matter is to protect freedom and liberty. Aside from simply protecting the emancipation of women, the French government has a serious role to play in the emancipation of Islam on its soil.
The second largest religion in France, Islam is the first to suffer from the image which the niqab and burqa propagate in the western world. It sends a signal which many confuse and incorrectly corelate with the religion. In addition, wearing the niqab or burqa sends a signal of approbation, which implies that it is alright to distinguish yourself in public by covering your head and entire body in a medieval-like cloak which represents oppression. Scholars agree that the Koran does not require women to cover their head or body in order to comply with the religion.
I received a variety of comments on my status post, namely from two American friends who fail to see why this really is such a big deal.
One pointed out that legislating to ban a religious symbol in the name of freedom seemed oxymoronic. I understand, but take for example Bill Clinton's legislation to enforce Equal Opportunity in the workplace. Of course, the bill had its share of opponents, but the government imposed minorities in the workplace in order to counter discrimination in the US. Today, the French government is debating the burqa in France in order to overcome a problem it is facing not only with discrimination against women, but also with regards to discrimination against the Islamic faith.
Consider also the position France and other European countries have taken with regards to swastikas and symbols of Nazi Germany. These violent signs are not only forbidden in most European countries, but selling an item which carries a swastika is a punishable offense. Would the same individuals who argue that banning the burqa impedes on personal freedom also argue that nazi paraphernalia should should be freely commercialized in Europe?
I believe the burqa is just as offensive to women as a swastika is to a concentration camp survivor, many of whom today still work to remind younger generations of the hatred and intolence propagated by the Third Reich.
What most people are not getting is that allowing women to wear the burqa and the niqab is in fact saying yes to extreme ideology and oppression. This is not about religious freedom.
There are lots of other things that are oppressive and degrading to women such as pornography for example, and no one wants to ban that, commented a friend on Facebook. Why is this such a big deal? Why can't people just dress as they please?
The reason is simple. Women who wear the burqa and the niqab in France or other Western countries choose to single themselves out and to stigmatize their own religion.
The pornography argument just isn't valid. Of course pornography is degrading and offensive to women. But no one is forced to look at it unless they choose to do so. On the other hand women who cloak themselves in the streets of Venisseux, Trappes or other suburban towns in France are choosing to stand out in a place where they will be considerably noticed.
You really can't miss a woman wearing a niqab in France. Even if you'd like to ignore it, the uneasiness the niqab sets off is there. You can't avoid looking at it and seeing all it represents. The woman who wears it promotes a symbol of subservience, whether she means to or not, thereby creating an environment which will push more to believe it is acceptable to require other women to dress this way in public.
When a minority, no matter how small, begins to say it is ok to promote oppression, it is time for the government to to send a strong message on where it stands.
A French quote by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "La Liberté des uns s'arrete là où celles des autres commence" (which roughly translated means that an individual's freedom ends where the freedom of another begins) comes to mind. The freedom of one woman to wear the niqab is the bane of the next who's husband will say, "others are doing it, why won't you?"
This is where the discussion becomes more delicate. While it is so difficult to get niqab-wearing women to speak up (suffice to say that if they are wearing the niqab or burqa in the first place, they have already attempted to erase themselves from public life, to make their faces and bodies invisible to the world, one can only imagine how eager they are to share their thoughts publicly on tv or in the press), their choice to segregate themselves raises the same question : even if it is self-inflicted - worn by women who freely choose to do so - does that make it alright to openly promote a symbol of oppression? Should women, and more generally the French and European governments condone the behavior and do nothing to protect the rights that women have fought so fiercely to obtain?
I believe the question deserves serious consideration not only by the French government, but also throughout the world.
* The French government legislated in 2004 to ban any signs of religion in public French schools. This did not include universities of other public French institutions. To date, the French government has not legislated on wearing the burqa or niqab in public in France.
** Addendum as pointed out by David Oberschmidt : Following last week's ministerial reorganization, Rachida Dati has been replaced by Michele Alliot-Marie as the "Ministre de la Jutice", Dati will serve as a European member of parliament, and Rama Yade as been placed within the "Ministère des Sports et de la Santé"
Why don't you speak instead about the murders in Sahara these days? moroccan police beating journalists who want to cover the news?. Thanks.
Posted by: karima | November 10, 2010 at 07:07 AM