Behind
The Governments
Veil Of Deceit
By Ridwan Sheikh
24 November, 2006
Countercurrents.org
Never
before has such a small percentage, of an estimated 1.6 million Muslims
living in the U.K, seen to be the root cause for the failures in integration.
Yet, Muslim women wearing the veil, (niqab), are increasingly blamed
for the apparent social dysfunction in society.
But is this really about
community ‘separation’? Is the niqab responsible for the
‘difficulty’ in fostering positive community relations?
Or is there a real danger for the nation to fall in line with the vision
of a secular ‘apartheid’ Europe?
Much of Europe is still reeling
from comments made by the Blackburn MP and Leader of the House of Commons,
Jack Straw, concerning the veil (niqab) furore, written in October.
When the Prime Minister,
Tony Blair, was initially quizzed about the damaging column published
in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, it was seen to be a gilt-edged
opportunity to condemn the remarks, in an attempt to mend an already
fragile relationship with the Muslim community.
Instead, Tony Blair opted
to endorse his colleague’s view by stating the niqab is a “mark
of separation”, and believing it to be the reason for the country’s
integration problems.
The Tony Blair-Jack Straw
‘axis of deceit’, proved to be the catalyst for an unrelenting
media campaign, demonising women who wear the niqab, even questioning
the need for such a dress code in the west.
The floodgates opened for
Islam-hating preachers in the press, such as the Times, David Aaronovitch,
who proclaimed, ‘they enjoy being a victim’, to, Suzanne
Moore, of the Mail on Sunday, who wrote an article with the headline:
‘The veil has no place...in Kabul or Blackburn’, to gleefully
peddle a message of religious hatred.
This was only part of the
story. It is widely believed Tony Blair needed to create a diversion,
after coming under intense scrutiny in his handling of events in Iraq
and Afghanistan, so chose to create a catastrophic rift within the community.
The Prime Minister moved
to lend his backing to the Kirklees Council, in suspending the teaching
assistant, Ms. Azmi, for refusing to remove her niqab at Headfield Church
of England Junior School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
This was met with fierce
criticism from Ms. Azmi’s lawyer, as the tribunal was yet to deliver
a verdict at the time.
Worse was to follow. The
Government minister, Phil Woolas, fuelled the issue further by even
calling for the 23-year-old teaching assistant to be sacked.
Not to be outdone, Jack Straw
wasn’t quite finished. Tensions deepened in the Muslim community,
following his appearance on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. The MP
firmly stood by his comments, but added he would rather see the niqab
not being worn at all.
The remarks didn’t
have the desired effect of taking a step towards segregating communities,
but merely strengthened it.
A joint statement, soon followed,
signed by nearly 30 leading Islamic groups, telling Muslims to "remain
united, regardless of their differences of opinion in the wearing of
the veil ... and to defend the veil with all their ability.”
Jack Straw’s racial
discrimination slur, hiding behind his ‘integration’ argument,
also received a stinging response from the Islamic Human Rights Commission
(IHRC), in its Press release, stating:
“Muslims, particularly
Muslim women, are persistently being preached at to engage in the political
system and to gain a voice for themselves. Yet, here are Muslim women
who are willing to actively engage in the system only to be told that
they must compromise their religious beliefs and practices if they want
to be heard.”
But support for the niqab
was not just limited to the religiously inclined. Solidarity came from,
perhaps, a most unlikely source – the progressives.
Ms. Pari Esfandiari, is one
such supporter. She is the founder and Editor in Chief of IranDokht.com,
an American based Iranian women’s lifestyle magazine. As an Iranian,
she has witnessed both worlds of the miniskirt age of the Shah to the
conservatism of the Khomeni era.
“What are missing from
this political debate are the voices of women and the very personal
nature of each woman's decision to cover--or bare--her hair and the
emotional and complex consequences that she has to face once she has
made a choice…”, she remarks.
“…I also wish
to see an eclectic mix of men and women wearing what truly reflects
their own choice of outfit supporting women’s basic human right
to decide and choose what they wear for themselves. By doing so no matter
what their faith, gender or political belief -- they support a woman’s
freedom to choose how, whether and when she veils.”
But Madeline Bunting, Director
of the thinktank Demos, believes something more sinister is at hand.
“…The point that
intrigues me is how Straw is elevating this question as one of primary
national concern. In an article on Tony Crosland in the New Statesman
last month, Straw cited the Labour thinker’s belief that class
was the great divide in society, and added that, now, "religion"
was the great divide.
“Obviously, Straw meant
Islam. No one is too worried about a shrinking number of Anglicans or
Catholics. It’s a magnificent convenience for New Labour to let
the divides of class slip from view as they prove intractable and social
mobility grinds to a halt…
“The job of a political
leader…is to open our eyes to recognising how much we have in
common; how much of Islam we non-Muslims can appreciate and admire.
How much Islam can contribute to the far greater problems we all face?
We shouldn’t be hounding those nervous or pious women in their
niqabs. Their choice of clothing is as irrelevant as that of Goths….”
The issue has taken a nasty
turn in the Netherlands, a country no stranger to controversy in its
support of the inflammatorily religiously inciting film, Submission.
The government is on the verge of backing a landmark proposal submitted
by the Immigration Minister, Rita Verdonk, to invoke a public ban of
the burqa.
An estimated 1 million Muslims
live in the Netherlands, out of a population of 16 million. The guardian
believes only a few hundred women regularly wear the burqa, however,
the BBC quoted no fewer than 100 women.
This poses a very serious
question. Why are a marginal number of Muslim women wearing the burqa,
being targeted for possible legal precedents?
" The existing laws
are sufficient for dealing with the problems. It's over the top, a law
for a dozen people!," said Ayhan Tonca, chairman of the Dutch Muslim
organization, (CMO), an umbrella group of an alliance of Dutch Muslim
organisations.
This is racism in its simplest
form. Such a ruling will undoubtedly have a domino effect across Europe,
with Italy eagerly waiting in the wings.
Although France and Turkey
are infamous for curtailing religious freedoms, other European nations
have not gone unnoticed.
Since the collapse of the
Berlin wall, Germany has re-invented itself as a dynamic and vibrant
multicultural society, shaking off its segregated past in the process.
But the ‘new’ Germany conveniently forgets to tell the world
it has a law in place, banning teachers from wearing head scarves, (the
hijab), in public schools.
Belgium is also another State
seeking to emulate its neighbours. The city of Maaseik, on the Dutch
border, already enforces the niqab ban, but wants to impose a nationwide
ban.
But recent polls, undertaken
by Ipsos Mori on behalf of the Greater London Authority, suggest Tony
Blair, Jack Straw and the rest of the supporting cast, (including the
media), have failed in their plans to create a segregated utopia.
In its findings, 75% of those
polled in the city, supported the right of Muslims, and those of other
faiths, to dress "in accordance with their religious beliefs";
76% balked at the idea of the government dictating how people should
live their lives; and a resounding 94%, shared similar sentiments, by
disagreeing with the media having a right to dictate lives.
Buzz terms such as ‘assimilation’,
‘integration’ and the barrier to social ’cohesion’
are constantly being flouted to mask the media’s true motives
of injecting the fabricated war of ‘us against them’ to
the public, reminiscent of the George Bush school of thought.
This has led the widely supported
socialist block to strongly defend the Muslim community.
On the 18th November, a people’s
assembly was organised by The Stop the War Coalition lobby in Camden
Centre, north London. The panel showcased renowned speakers from differing
religious and political beliefs, in a display of strength and unity
against the government’s continual witch hunt against Muslims.
It’s ironic the Netherlands,
once seen as a successful, tolerant, multi-cultural community, is taking
such despotic measures. Even more alarming is the government and the
national media’s refusal to debate the findings of a parliamentary
report published in 2004, before reaching its final decision on the
public burqa ban. The report, embarrassingly, mirrors secular France
by describing Dutch society as increasingly polarised, with a huge ethnic
ghetto divide and subcultures tearing the country apart. The report
blamed successive Dutch governments for failing to create a truly integrated
multiethnic society.
Is the rest of Europe heading
towards a downward spiral of community and religious segregation? Only
if Governments repeatedly persist in ‘ghettoising’ communities
by dividing, isolating and alienating them, for the sake of fulfilling
repressive political legislation.
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