13th April 2011
Muslim Women – Liberté Is Not For You!
Mark Hanson
In a dubious world first, France has now banned the traditional Muslim face coverings that have come to epitomise the image of strict Islam.
Although the niqab and burqa are not a religious requirement, many Muslim women choose to wear them. Now Nicolas Sarkozy and his government in France have outlawed the wearing of face coverings in public, a law that whilst worded generally, is widely seen as an attack on the liberty of Muslims.
Since the law was passed Sarkozy has been accused of inciting religious intolerance, and on Monday the law came into effect. In an interview with the Observer, Kenza Drider says:
"When President Sarkozy said: 'The burqa is not welcome in France', the president, my president, opened the door for racism, aggression and attacks on Islam. This is an attempt to stigmatise Islam and it has created enormous racism and Islamophobia that wasn't there before."
Drider is one of the small number of Muslim women who choose to wear the niqab, and the housewife has vowed to go about her daily business without obeying the new law.
On Monday, when the law came into effect, Drider and a handful of others attended a protest at Notre Dame Cathedrel. From the accounts a peaceful protest, nonetheless two women (one of them Drider) and two accompanying men were detained. Police said that this was for attendance at an unauthorised protest.
There have been growing moves throughout Europe to clampdown on religious symbols. Crosses have come under attack in Italy and the UK, and now the moves seem to be targeting Muslims. Belgium has also passed a law banning veils, though this has not yet been enacted. There are also moves to outlaw them in the Netherlands, and in the UK Philip Hollobone MP has presented a Bill before Parliament that would also outlaw the traditional Islamic dress.
Although Hollobone’s Bill is a Private Members Bill, and does not seem to have the support of the Government or the Parliamentary authorities – it was first presented on 30th June 2010 and it’s next stage has been postponed until later in 2011 on a day that the House of Commons is not expected to meet – it is indication that there is a growing militant tide against religion, especially those deemed, however flippantly, as “extreme”.
In a report on Al-Jazeera, Drider’s husband, Allal, said: "According to this law, my wife would have to remain cloistered at home. Do you find that normal? She has been wearing a veil for 13 years and it has not shocked anyone". Sarkozy would argue that the veil is a symbol of male oppression, yet in a survey it was found that most women who wear the veil do so for similar reasons to Drider. As she says: "There was no mosque involved, no pressure from anyone. It is not a religious constraint since it is not laid down in Islam or the Qur'an that I have to wear a full veil. It is my personal choice.”
It is a choice that now means she breaks the law.
