November 24, 2006

Burqa Part III

And the burqa saga continues. A nice article (In Dutch) of a christian bishop (well, a bischop would be christian, wouldn’t he?) in Holland who believes the ban on the burqas is nonsense. He compares the burqa to the old nun-habit, where you could barely see the face of the woman, and they (in the very old days, I presume, because I do not remember that scene) could be seen by the thousands on the street, ‘and we never asked them to take off their clothes.” He argues they will eventually liberate themselves. He’s got a case in point.

2 comments:

Leila Abu-Saba said...

I think the nun comparison is apt.

When people go off on hijab, they're expressing their own fears and possibly prejudice.

How would it sound (in the West at least) if someone were to rant against the wigs of the Chasidic women? Or other traditional dress? And why is a head scarf any different from a wimple?

I realize the face-scarf (niqab) is much more extreme and raises more issues than a simple head covering.

When I see Lebanese bloggers post and repost pictures of Gulf women in niqabs, aiming to mock them, I think - this reflects their insecurity. Lebanese insecurity. You must be so afraid of being mistaken for a traditional Muslim that you have to post mocking pictures of women with face veils.

As a Christian Lebanese-American, I am getting so sick of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice that I consider wearing a head scarf around California, just to upset people. Here in America, believe me they don't care if you are a Christian Lebanese. If you have an Arab name you are automatically of suspicion. God help you if you have olive skin. Try telling them how PHoenician you really are - a "raghead" is a "raghead", whether or not she is dressed in jeans and hooked up to an I-pod.

Things were not this bad in the 1990s. 9/11 and then teh Iraq war have poisoned the air here.

This frenzy about the veil is code for fear of Muslims.

Frank Partisan said...

At my blog, I reprinted a speech by my blog team member Maryam Namazie, ai Iranian socialist and feminist, on this subject.

I found this blog, at Iranian Press Watch.

Regards.