THE TELEGRAPH: MPs from 47 countries have unanimously voted against a general ban on the wearing of the burka in public.
The Parliamentary Assembly of Europe's human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, passed a resolution warning that if governments imposed such a ban they would be denying women ''who genuinely and freely desire to do so'' their right to cover their faces.
But while the Assembly opposed a general ban, it left the door open for targeted laws against the burka, pointing out that legal restrictions may be justified ''for security purposes, or where the public or professional functions of individuals require their religious neutrality, or that their face can be seen''.
The vote came in Strasbourg amid continuing controversy in France over efforts to introduce a general burka ban.
The Muslim Council of Britain has attacked President Nicolas Sarkozy as ''patronising and offensive'' after he declared: ''The burka is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience. We cannot accept to have [sic] in our country [sic] women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity.'' >>> | Wednesday, June 23, 2010
*How stupid and short-sighted can these MPs be? Do they want women to be kept holed up as they are in Afghanistan? Do they want to turn men into sexy lechers who can no longer control their sexual urges when confronted by a beautiful woman with bare face and beautiful hair as is often the case in the Middle East? For that is what happens in societies in which it is de rigueur for women to be kept in purdah: Over time, men lose their ability to control themselves. They become socially inept.
Nicolas Sarkozy is absolutely right when he says that the full veil is not a religious symbol. The full veil stems from the desert where it was used by women in the better-off classes to segregate themselves from the poorer women who had to labour in the fields and in the great outdoors. In other words, it was a symbol of class as much as anything else. It was also a way for Saudi women to keep their skin as pale as possible. Take a trip to the desert Kingdom! You will find that women with an English rose complexion are as prized today as they ever were. Covering the face from the brutal rays of the desert sun was a way of keeping women from the upper classes as protected as possible.
As always with these things, its significance becomes blurred, and the custom takes on a life of its own.
The Koran calls for modesty. Whose version of modesty makes a woman a non-person? Whose version of modesty places women under the control of the males in the family? Whose version of modesty states that women should be kept in purdah?
The MPs who have voted against a ban have voted for restrictions on the human rights of women, and against feminism and liberation. Moreover, this decision sends out the wrong signal: Basically, it tells Muslims that they don’t have to integrate into our societies, for truly no integration can take place where women are enveloped in such ridiculous cloth.
This is the West. They have chosen to come here to live. We have welcomed them. But they have rejected our customs. It is not, I repeat NOT, our custom to keep women in purdah. If that’s what they want, they should go elsewhere. And the people who represent us in these councils and parliaments should have the courage to stand up for OUR WAY OF LIFE. Moreover, it should be remembered that there are many Muslim women who wear the full veil defiantly, as a way of flaunting their 'superiority', for that is how these people truly feel: superior. We should do all we can to stamp this out. – © Mark
Verbunden mit diesem Artikel:
DIE PRESSE: Europarat: Schweiz soll Minarett-Verbot aufheben >>> APA/dpa | Mittwoch, 23. Juni 2010
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Vollverschleierung: Spanischer Senat votiert für Burka-Bann >>> kgp/dpa/AFP | Mittwoch, 23 Juni 2010
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