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October 13, 2005
Netherlands: Muslims Angry at Minister's Plan to Ban Burka
In a report today from the Times, there are plans afoot to ban the burka in Holland. This item of Muslim apparel prevents anyone from seeing any part of the body or face, save a narrow strip around the eyes. There are local rules preventing burka use in Belgium, where in towns such as Antwerp and Ghent, a woman can be fined for wearing this pre-medieval costume.
Holland's Integration Minister, Rita Verdonk, is the person likely to make the ban happen. She famously (in Holland) cancelled a meeting with traditional Muslim men, when they refused to shake her hand, because she was a woman. She has announced that the time of "cosy tea-drinking" with Muslims had gone.
Liberals and Muslims naturally have voiced her objections, but there is a climate in the Netherlands, post-Theo van Gogh's assassination and the revelation that there were groups of Muslims plotting to destroy the nation's culture, that is resolutely defiant , unprepared to give any more ground to the demands of imams and radicals. The proposals were originally requested by Geert Wilders, a right wing MP.
It seems likely that Ms Verdonk will introduce the burka ban "in specific situations" on grounds of public safety. In 2004 at a Dutch college, two Muslim women were banned from a course on childcare and social work. They sued, but were informed by the judge that it was important for children to see who was looking after them. They lost their case.
In France, several regions in Germany, and even Tunisia and Turkey, hijab-wearing is banned in public buildings, most noticeably in schools. In Italy, a law from the days of Mussolini is enforced, which states that bans hiding one's face is forbidden, on pain of a fine. Already in Holland, the city of Utrecht will not pay social benefits to burka-clad women who refuse to show their faces during job interviews, thus rendering themselves unemployable. Verdonk is about to use local laws to ban burkas in schools.
keyword: burka, burqa, hijab, hidjab.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 13, 2005 5:24 AM
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