photo Hamed Saber - http://flickr.com/hamed

Banning the burqa

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Gwynne Dyer

Eight months ago (and 10 months before regional elections were due to be held all over the country), French President Nicolas Sarkozy raised a vital issue before the French parliament. Not the financial meltdown that was undermining the world’s economies, or the threat of climate change, or even the rash of bike thefts in Paris. He wanted to ban the burqa.

"The problem of the burqa is not a religious problem,” he told French legislators in June of last year. “This is an issue of a woman's freedom and dignity. This is not a religious symbol. It is a sign of subservience. ... I want to say solemnly, the burqa is not welcome in France." The next day parliament created a 32-member cross-party committee to investigate whether wearing the burqa violates the principles of the French constitution.

The burqa is a shroud-like full-body covering worn in public by some Muslim women who take (or whose husbands or fathers take) an extremely conservative view on the need for female “modesty.” The wearer sees the world only through a narrow grill of cotton threads sewn into the front of the garment, or, in the case of the variant called the niqab, through an open slit that reveals only the eyes.

The parliamentary committee discussed the issue of the burqa for six months, and delivered its conclusions two weeks ago. It did not propose to ban the burqa entirely, but recommended that women wearing burqas be forbidden to enter schools, hospitals, and government offices or to use public transportation. Thus a bus-driver, for example, could refuse to let a burqa-clad woman board the bus to collect her children from school.

What useful purpose could such a law serve? Some of the women wearing burqas presumably do so of their own free will, while others are forced to do so by their male relatives. An anti-burqa law would violate the rights of the first group, and increase the likelihood that the second group will be entirely confined to their homes.

The French parliament cannot move fast enough to pass such a law before the regional elections are held in March, but the committee’s report ensures that an ugly debate about immigrants will be raging during the election campaign. It is part of the same disturbing trend in Europe that saw Swiss voters ban minarets in a referendum last year, and Dutch legislators vote in favor of banning the burqa in 2005. (The Dutch government lost an election before a law was passed.)

It is estimated that between 3 and 6 million (5 to 10 percent) of France’s 64 million people are Muslims. It is also estimated that only 1,900 women in France wear burqas, mostly in the immigrant suburbs around Paris and other big French cities. That is less than one Muslim woman in a thousand.

This is not really about burqas (which almost half of the French population say that they never see). It is about mobilizing right-wing voters – and to energize them even more, Sarkozy declared a “great debate” on French identity last November. His motives are cynical and his methods are manipulative – but since he has raised the issue, what about it? Is wearing a burqa compatible with being the citizen of a modern democracy?

If you have not been accustomed to it since childhood, there is unquestionably something disturbing about encountering masked people (for that is what the burqa and niqab produce) in a public space. The wearers’ gender and your own common sense will tell you that they are not dangerous people, but they are and will remain apart, almost alien, rejecting the common society that everyone else shares.

That is not ideal, but it must be tolerated in societies that accept and embrace every other kind of diversity. Fadela Amara, a Muslim-born women's rights campaigner and a minister in Sarkozy’s government, has called the burqa “a kind of tomb for women,” but she has no right to impose her view on those who freely choose to wear it.

That does not take account of the other women (probably a majority) who wear it only in obedience to their men, but this is not a matter on which legislation can be effective. Ban the burqa, and those women will simply become full-time prisoners in their own houses. Besides, Sarkozy is not really trying to free those women. He is just trying to win the regional elections by stirring up anti-Muslim feeling.

www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=banning-the-burqa-2010-02-14

Interdiction du port de la burqa

Dimanche 14 février 2010 – Gwynne Dyer – Hürriyet Daily News

Il y a 8 mois (10 mois avant les élections législatives du mois de mars dans tout le pays), le président français Nicolas Sarkozy a soumis une proposition de loi vitale au parlement français. Pas à propos de la débâcle financière qui déstabilise l’économie mondiale, ni de la menace du changement climatique, ni même à propos des imprudences routières des bicyclettes dans la ville de Paris. Il voulait interdire la burqa.

« Le problème de la burqa n’est pas un problème religieux » affirmait-il aux législateurs français en juin dernier. « C’est un problème concernant la liberté et la dignité de la femme. Ce n’est pas un symbole religieux. C’est un signe de soumission…Je dis solennellement, la burqa n’est pas bienvenue en France. » Le lendemain, le parlement instaurait un comité de 32 membres composé des différents partis politiques chargé de vérifier si le port de la burqa ne violait pas certains principes de la constitution française.]…] Après six mois de discussion sur la burqa, le comité remettait ses conclusions il y a deux semaines. Le port de la burqa ne sera pas totalement interdit, mais les femmes portant la burqa seront interdites d’accès aux écoles, hôpitaux, services administratifs et d’utilisation des transports publics. Ainsi, un chauffeur de bus peut en refuser l’accès à une femme vêtue de burqa quand elle va chercher ses enfants à l’école.

Alors à quoi sert réellement cette loi ? Le port de la burqa pour certaines femmes relève de leur propre volonté, alors que d’autres obéissent aux hommes de leur famille. Une loi anti-burqa violerait les droits du premier groupe et renforcerait probablement le confinement des autres dans leurs foyers. La même tendance inquiétante atteint l’Europe avec notamment le référendum sur la présence des minarets dans le paysage suisse l’année dernière et en 2005 le parlement néerlandais votait en faveur de l’interdiction de la burqa. (le gouvernement néerlandais perdait les élections avant le vote de cette loi).]…]Sarkozy ouvrait le grand débat sur « l’identité nationale » en novembre dernier. Les motivations sont cyniques et ses méthodes manipulatrices – mais que s’est-il passé depuis qu’il a soulevé la question ? Le port de la burqa est-il compatible avec la citoyenneté d’une démocratie moderne ?

]…]Ce n’est peut-être pas l’idéal mais les sociétés qui acceptent et adoptent toute autre sorte de diversité doivent tolérer ce fait là. Fadela Amara combattante pour les droits des femmes et membre du gouvernement de Sarkozy parle de la burqa comme « d’une tombe pour les femmes » mais elle n’a pas le droit d’imposer son point de vue aux femmes qui la choisissent librement.

Ceci ne prend pas en compte les autres femmes (sans doute une majorité) qui portent la burqa par obéissance à leurs maris, mais ce n’est pas une question qui doit se régler par la législation. Avec l’interdiction du port de la burqa, ces femmes deviendront des prisonnières dans leurs propres foyers. Par ailleurs, Sarkozy ne se préoccupe pas vraiment de la liberté de ces femmes. Il tente uniquement de gagner les élections régionales en allant chercher l’opinion anti-musulmans. www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=banning-the-burqa-2010-02-14