The events of September 11th 2001 no doubt spread widespread fear, confusion and anger at the lengths Islamic fundamentalists went to outline their distaste of western society and culture. But almost a decade later, the confusion and fear have hardly subsided. It comes as no surprise, as we are constantly told by the government that another terrorist attack is imminent; it’s just a matter of time before the next plane is blown up, another set of over-zealous journalists gets kidnapped or a transport system gets ripped apart by suicide bombers. However it seems that this is being used as an excuse for unfounded religious intolerance and xenophobia.
The French Governments proposal to ban women from wearing their Burka (A full length veil worn covering the face and body) in hospitals, schools, public transport and government offices is not only proof that The French government lack empathy for their own citizens and residence, but shows a distinct lack of concern for freedom of choice and freedom of religion- both fundamental features of common human rights in all western countries. Banning a person’s religious garb from our so called tolerant and free society would surely be no different than the act of forcing women in Middle Eastern countries to cover themselves thus making them 2nd class citizens, with little or no job opportunities that are of equal position to Men.
The hypocrisy astounds.
Apparently this law could be justified as a French University Law lecturer points out it could be “a problem of security . . . in places where we need to identify people." I thought that’s what security guards and Identification Cards were for.
What makes this contentious issue so frustrating is the lack of cohesive argument from the French government and Nicholas Sarcozy himself. On one hand they state the ban is due to the fact that the Burka goes against the France’s principles of secularism and equality, is a ‘challenge’ to the republic and contrary to social values. How is wearing a head scarf, a key element in being a faithful Muslim, contrary to French social values?
These cultural arguments are in addition to the security threat apparently these Burka’s represent. I find this particularly disturbing to the progress the western world is attempting to make in not making sweeping generalised judgments about Muslims and connecting them instantly to Islamic extremists.
The media has obviously played a big part in our understanding of what terrorists look like, sound like and act like.
Do we assume that all people wearing dark sunglasses are blind? No, we assume they can see until we find out otherwise.
I wish this value could be applied to the way we see other cultures and religions that we don’t understand because we have been so sheltered in our understanding of the world.
That misunderstanding is our fault, and so it is our responsibility to correct our views and judgments accordingly, otherwise we will end up ostracising these people we don’t understand and giving them a real reason to hate us.
This is obviously a very complex issue with many different facets to it, but what I am addressing is not the repression of women in the Muslim faith, because to that I am totally and unquestioningly against. What I am trying to point out is that we need to be aware about the motives of politicians and other law makers when they try and strip away peoples' rights and act unconstitutionally for what they say is for the good of the constitution.
