Moderates in Europe ask for Burqa Ban

Europe's Burqa Wars
by Daniel Pipes - (August 25, 2005) updated Aug 17, 2009

Read all here: http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/08/europes-burqa-wars#unicorns

Fadela Amara, French minister for urban regeneration

Aug. 15, 2009 update: Fadela Amara, a former women's rights campaigner and now minister for urban regeneration in France – and herself a Muslim, says she favors the burqa "not existing in my country" as a means to stop the spread of the "gangrene, the cancer of radical Islam which completely distorts the message of Islam."

The garment represents, she told the Financial Times, "not a piece of fabric but the political manipulation of a religion that enslaves women and disputes the principal of equality between men and women, one of the founding principles of our republic." It also represents "the oppression of women, their enslavement, their humiliation." In addition to sexual oppression and poverty, she asserts, Muslim women suffer "a third form of oppression - extreme religiosity." She holds that the "vast majority of Muslims" are against the burqa.

Eliminating the burqa helps women stand up to the extremists. "Those who have struggled for women's rights back home in their own countries - I'm thinking particularly of Algeria - we know what it represents and what the obscurantist political project is that lies behind it, to confiscate the most fundamental liberties."

Naser Khader, integration spokesman for Denmark's Conservative Party

Aug. 17, 2009 update: Naser Khader, a Muslim from Syria, participant in the Modern Muslims group, and integration spokesman for Denmark's Conservative Party, says the burqa is "un-Danish" and should be completely banned in public places: "We do not want to see burqas in Denmark." The head covering symbolizes the oppression of women and not Islamic. Rather, "The modern burqa was instituted by the Taliban when it came to power" and is "a symbol of the Taliban." The same would apply to the niqab but not to lesser forms of covering such as the hijab.

The Conservative Party won support of its ally in the government, the Danish People's Party, and also (surprisingly) the opposition Social Democrats. But the prime minister's Liberal Party rejected the idea, with one slight exception: "Burqas should not be permitted for people who work in the public sector," said the party's political spokesperson, Peter Christiansen. "But that's where we draw the line."

Comments: (1) How interesting that two major Muslim politicians, Amara in France and Khader in Denmark, have almost simultaneously come out with the same reasoning and policy prescription. Their resolve supports my view that Muslims must battle and ultimately defeat radical Islam, even in the West. (2) To those who claim no moderate Muslim exist, Amara and Khader are the unicorns who do exist.