There are different Minds behind different Scarfs

Hijab (The Headscarf)—Yes; The Burqa—No
Pajamas Media 15 September 2009

Banning the burqa in the West might be one way to ban Islamist fundamentalism and the barbaric subordination of girls and women in certain immigrant communities. For this reason, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and French Minister Fadela Amara have again called for this ban. Earlier today, French immigration Minister, Eric Besson, called the burqa “debased.”

I would hope that the French take their argument further. In the past, they have mainly cited security concerns: Burqa wearing women might be “racially” attacked or burqa wearers themselves might be terrorists or criminals who are planning to attack or rob civilians.

I would hope that the French also argue for such a ban on women’s rights/human rights grounds, as I have already proposed. Thus, clothing which completely covers the face and head in a way which muffles speech, hearing, and vision, which limits or prevents all human communication and identification, and which, in effect, functions like an isolation chamber is, by definition, a violation of human rights.

None of this applies to hijab, the Islamic headscarf, which has already been banned in France in school and which is the subject of protest and controversy across Europe.
With all due respect for the good intentions of the French, perhaps Western governments should not automatically or necessarily ban hijab for women; the matter is tricky and complicated for girls as we have seen, as city after city across Europe has discovered. Indeed, this is a complex and challenging matter.

Today, in Holland, in the very country that is putting the sober and very brave parliamentarian,Geert Wilders on trial for exercising his political free speech—another bright Dutch light, Trouw historian Tineke Bennema has called on “women who were born in the Netherlands to voluntarily put on a headscarf ‘out of solidarity’ with the hijab wearers.” You know, like the Danes allegedly once wore the yellow Jewish star.

Read All here: http://europenews.dk/en/node/26287

Sweden: Islamic Minister wants Changes in Islamic Community

Meet Sweden's Muslim Minister: She wants to ban girls from wearing the hijab
Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Nyamko Sabuni wants all girls checked for evidence of female circumcision; criminalize arranged marriages and end state funding of religious school
Helena Frith Powell - The Sunday Times, UK

“Nowhere in the Koran does it state that a child should wear a veil; it stops them being children. By putting a veil on a girl you are immediately saying to the outside world that she is sexually mature and has to be covered. It’s wrong”

THE latest media darling of Scandinavian politics is not only black, beautiful and Muslim; she is also firmly against the wearing of the veil.
Nyamko Sabuni, 37, has caused a storm as Sweden’s new integration and equality minister by arguing that all girls should be checked for evidence of female circumcision; arranged marriages should be criminalised; religious schools should receive no state funding; and immigrants should learn Swedish and find a job.
Supporters of the centre-right government that came to power last month believe that her bold rejection of cultural diversity may make her a force for change across Europe. Her critics are calling her a hardliner and even an Islamophobe.
“I am neither,” she said in an interview. “My aim is to integrate immigrants. One is to ensure they grow up just as any other child in Sweden would.”
Sabuni believes all immigrants must try to become proficient in Swedish — just as she did when she arrived from Africa aged 12 — rather than alienating locals.
“Language and jobs are the two most crucial things for integration,” she said. “If you want to become a Swedish citizen, we think you should have some basic knowledge of Swedish.”
An elegant, vivacious woman who uses subtle make-up and wears soft clothes in pastel shades and tight woollen sweaters, she argues for a total ban on veils being worn by girls under the age of consent, which is 15 in Sweden.
“Nowhere in the Koran does it state that a child should wear a veil; it stops them being children. By putting a veil on a girl you are immediately saying to the outside world that she is sexually mature and has to be covered. It’s wrong,” she said.
Sabuni was born in Burundi. Her father was a political dissident who was in prison during much of her early childhood. In 1980 he was granted asylum in Sweden. The next year his wife and six children joined him and they settled near Stockholm.
Sabuni read law at Uppsala University, Sweden’s equivalent of Oxbridge, and became a public relations consultant. Her husband, who works in the travel industry and runs their home in Stockholm, took paternity leave when their twin boys, now five, were born.
In Sweden she is best known for her suggestion that adolescent girls should have compulsory examinations to make sure they have not been subjected to genital mutilation. “It would enable us to prosecute people carrying out the practice,” she said.
According to Sabuni, many politicians have shied away from talking about the need for assimilation rather than multi-culturalism: “I am one of the few who dares to speak out. Sadly, some members of the Muslim community feel picked on.”
Muslim groups in Sweden are already organising a petition to have her removed from government. “I regret that Muslims feel I am a threat to them,” she said. “Everybody has a right to practise their religion, but I will never accept religious oppression. And I represent the whole of society, not just the Muslims.”
Despite her ascendancy in her adopted country, Sabuni says that Sweden, where immigrants — half of them Muslims — make up nearly 12% of the population, has been only moderately successful at integration: “We have a whole underclass of people who don’t have jobs, who don’t speak the language and who are living on the fringes of society.”
Although fighting discrimination is one of her stated aims, she effectively closed down a Centre Against Racism last week by withdrawing its £400,000 state funding. By chance, the centre was run by her uncle.
“It didn’t achieve its aims,” she said bluntly. “It simply didn’t do what it set out to do, so I had to pull the plug. My uncle is a good and a competent man, but a whole institute can’t be run by one man. He understands that I have to do my job.”
Other ministers appointed by Fredrik Reinfeldt, the prime minister, are more concerned about their jobs. Since he took over on September 17, two ministers have resigned in a series of minor scandals involving unpaid television licences and black-market domestic help, and two more are under pressure to go.
Should Reinfeldt’s government fall, Sabuni would be willing to step into his shoes. On a TV show three years ago she declared that she would become Sweden’s first female prime minister. “I stand by that,” she said. “It’s not something I think about on a daily basis but, if I’m in politics, the ultimate aim has to be to become prime minister.”
Anders Jonsson, a political commentator on the liberal newspaper Expressen, says there is no doubt Sabuni is one to watch. “She is a tough cookie and incredibly ambitious,” he said. “But I think it’s good that a black woman is raising these issues and she has proved that she is prepared to take tough decisions in order to get things done.”

Source: http://www.averroespress.com/AverroesPress/Main/Entries/2009/9/2_Meet_Sweden%E2%80%99s_Muslim_Minister__She_wants_to_ban_girls_from_wearing_the_hijab.html

Hijab is needed when a Human cannot be a Human

Wednesday, August 5, 2009
British Muslim takes off her Hijab after realizing it is worn for social reasons, not religious as claimed by Islamists

Video: http://www.averroespress.com/AverroesPress/Main/Entries/2009/8/5_British_Muslim_takes_off_her_Hijab_after_realizing_it_is_worn_for_social_reasons,_not_religious_as_claimed_by_Islamists.html

Jobeda Ali, a British Muslim, bravely rebels against the recent acceptance of the hijab and embarks on a journey to unwrap the liberal western tolerance of the hijab and discover the degree to which women in the Muslim world are prepared to rebel against the hijab.
Muslim women in the west defend their right to veil themselves only because they already benefit from the privileges of western liberalism and feminism.

The debate is overshadowed by French, British and American Muslim women, who have portrayed the hijab is an acceptable cultural norm. But by wearing the hijab, they actually do a disservice to women in the Muslim world, for whom one of the effects of wearing the hijab is to be denied equality and freedom.

Do women in Turkey defend the hijab as passionately as their western counterparts?

Source: http://www.averroespress.com/AverroesPress/Main/Entries/2009/8/5_British_Muslim_takes_off_her_Hijab_after_realizing_it_is_worn_for_social_reasons,_not_religious_as_claimed_by_Islamists.html

Hijab removal call prompts death threats

The Brisbane radio announcer who suggested the hijab be removed in banks and shops has received death threats.

4BC announcer Michael Smith on Wednesday said wearing a face-covering such as some Muslim women do posed a security risk because it made identification difficult in the event of a crime.

Wearing a face-veil in certain places, such as shopping centres, was also offensive and scared little children, he said.

In a recorded threat on the station website a caller says "you're head is on a plate (expletive beeped). You're going to be dead soon (expletive beeped), racist bitch".

Station general manager David McDonald on Friday said most of the calls seemed to emanate from Sydney and he said Smith's original comments had been taken out of context.

"This has been really blown out of total proportion," Mr McDonald said.

"There was never any racism in this at all. There was nothing about religion, it was all about purely security and safety issues."

Mr McDonald said Mr Smith's call was only to show the face, not to remove headwear.

"A lot of criminals have used this to sort of disguise themselves."

Mr Smith, an ex-policeman, was aware of the trauma robberies cause, Mr McDonald said.

"It was never about racism.

Complaints, both to official channels and those phoned in to the radio station, were based on media interpretations of Mr Smith's comments rather than the comments themselves, the general manager said.

"That is extremely disappointing that it's been hijacked for other purposes."

Mr McDonald said upset staff had been counselled and security stepped up.

On the station's website Mr Smith defends his comments.

"It seems this country's media finds it difficult to talk sensibly about certain topics," Friday's entry reads.

"I've been branded a racist in writing by a major national television network who should know better.

"How could anyone say that my comments were racist?"

Queensland police acknowledged that a complaint had been made by the radio station and said it was under investigation.

Source: Yahoo News

Retailers back call for hijab ban

January 15, 2009

A RADIO announcer's call for a ban on Islamic hijabs has been backed by the National Retailers Association.

The peak national body has called for all hijabs, helmets and hoodies to be banned in shops and banks for security purposes.

Brisbane radio presenter Michael Smith angered listeners after calling for Muslim women who wear a hijab to be fined.

The 4BC drive presenter said on Wednesday that wearing the hijab or burka posed a security risk because it obscured the face, making it difficult to identify the wearer in the instance of a crime.

Smith said it should be made an offence.

Retailers association executive director Scott Driscoll said it had been a long accepted practice to require customers to remove helmets and other identity obscuring headwear when entering a shop or bank.

"Retailers should not have to fear any form of retribution or backlash for requiring the removal of any obscuring headwear, including hijabs, as a condition of entry,'' Mr Driscoll said.

"This is about ensuring a more safe and secure retail environment for all and being able to readily identify any and all perpetrators of armed hold-ups or shop theft.''

Islamic Council of Queensland president Suliman Sabdia said he was disappointed by Smith's remarks.

"He has every right to say it but we do say he displays intolerance, and a complete lack of understanding of the Muslim code of conduct," Mr Sabdia said.

He said he did not think Mr Smith should be fired, instead inviting him to a meeting to discuss the issues.

"Does revenge really, at the end of the day, solve anything? No," he said.

"We forgive him for his lack of understanding, we pray that God almighty gives him the wisdom and the understanding to respect every other individual."

A poll on the station's website today asking, ``Should we impose restrictions on the wearing of burkas in Australia?" had a yes result of 76 per cent, and 23 per cent no, at 10am (AEST).

Comment was being sought from 4BC.

Source: The Australian