Paris Imam Backs France's Burqa Ban
THE TELEGRAPH: Hassen Chalghoumi, whose mosque stands in a northern Paris suburb where many Muslims live, said women who wanted to cover their faces should move to Saudi Arabia or other Muslim countries where that was a tradition.

A French imam active in Muslim dialogue with Jews has backed a law against full face veils, parting ways with most Muslim leaders in France urging parliamentarians not to vote for a planned "burqa ban."

France's National Assembly is likely to pass a resolution soon denouncing full veils and to try in coming months to hammer out a law forbidding them, deputies say.

President Nicolas Sarkozy calls the veils an affront to women's dignity unwelcome in France, home to about five million Muslims. Fewer than 2,000 women wear the veils, known here as burqas although most are Middle Eastern niqabs showing the eyes.

"Yes, I am for a legal ban of the burqa, which has no place in France, a country where women have been voting since 1945," Hassen Chalghoumi, 36, told the daily Le Parisien.

Chalghoumi, who has received death threats for his promotion of dialogue with Jews, said that full face veils had no basis in Islam and "belong to a tiny minority tradition reflecting an ideology that scuttles the Muslim religion."

"The burqa is a prison for women, a tool of sexist domination and Islamist indoctrination," said Chalghoumi, whose mosque stands in Drancy, site of a wartime camp where Jews were detained before transport to Nazi concentration camps.

Chalghoumi criticised some of the tougher measures proposed by conservative politicians, such as imposing fines or cutting off child support payments for veiled women. >>> Sophie Taylor, for Reuters in Paris | Friday, January 22, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Vicki Woods just doesn’t get the idea of a ban on the burqah, does she? She doesn’t seem to understand that these Muslimatoon (Arabic plural of the singular Muslimah) are trying it on. She criticizes the French for wanting to introduce a ban, but has no better suggestions of her own with which to replace the proposed measure. Of course, the French government could always decide to deport these women who won’t integrate. Maybe Vicki Woods would prefer the French to legislate for that! >>>

Protests Fail to Halt Passage of Chavez's [sic] 'Socialist Indoctrination Law'
Scuffles broke out outside the National Assembly. Photo: TimesOnline
TIMES ONLINE: Police in riot gear used tear gas yesterday against Venezuelan demonstrators angry about a law that they believe could lead to the "socialist indoctrination" of the nation's schools.

Officers fired tear gas into crowds who were protesting in Caracas against President Chávez's plans to broaden state control over the education system.

Scuffles broke out as clouds of caustic, white gas wafted through the air outside the predominantly pro-Chávez National Assembly.

Inside, legislators began debating a Bill which would order schools to base the curriculum on "the Bolivarian Doctrine" - a reference to the ideals of the 19th-century independence hero Simon Bolivar.

After a marathon ten-hour session, the assembly — where Mr Chávez's party commands a majority — approved the Bill in the early hours of today.

But close to a dozen members sided with the opposition and walked out of the assembly in protest against the ruling party’s refusal to compromise on the Bill’s most contentious articles. >>> | Friday, August 14, 2009