An MP has called the wearing of burkas the religious equivalent of “going round with a paper bag over your head”.
In a parliamentary debate, Conservative MP Philip Hollobone said it was “offensive” for women to cut off face-to-face contact with other people. The Kettering MP said he had “huge sympathy” with those who wanted a ban on face-covering veils in public.
The British people support some restrictions on wearing the burka in public but oppose an outright ban, according to a new poll for The Independent. The ComRes survey found that almost two out of three people believe it should be illegal to wear a burka in places such as banks and airports. But six out of 10 people oppose a ban on wearing it in all public places.
The ComRes survey of more than 1,000 people found that 52 per cent disagreed with the proposition that there should be no legal restrictions on wearing a burka, while 43 per cent agreed. But asked if it should be illegal to wear a burka in any public place, 36 per cent agreed and 59 per cent disagreed.
Some 64 per cent of people believed it should be illegal to wear a burka in places like banks and airports, while 33 per cent disagreed. By a similar margin (61 to 35 per cent), people thought schools should be allowed to prevent teachers wearing burkas if they wish.
The most striking variation of opinion among different groups of people was by age. Only 15 per cent of 18-24 year-olds believed that wearing the burka should be banned in any public place, compared to 57 per cent of those 65 and older. Women were more opposed to restrictions than men. The South east region, including London, was the most liberal, and northern England the least. The AB social group was the most liberal, with C2 skilled manual workers and the bottom DE group the least.
Full poll here.
These results are more positive that the recent Angus Reid poll which found that 72% of respondents favoured an outright ban on the burka in public places and 66% a ban on the niqab. And the strong support for religious freedom among young people (61% of 18-24 year-olds agreed that “there should be no legal restrictions on wearing a burkha”) is a hopeful sign.
Update: See also ENGAGE, 2 February 2010
The French Catholic Church warned Paris today against banning Muslim full-face veils. It said France must respect the rights of its Muslims if it wanted Islamic countries to do the same for their Christian minorities.
Bishop Michel Santier, the top French Catholic official for inter-religious dialogue, said very few women in France wore full veils and Muslim leaders agreed it was not obligatory in Islam.
“The French, including the Catholics among them, should not let themselves be gripped by fear or a ‘clash of civilisations’ theory,” he said in a statement calling for distinctions between the majority of peaceful Muslims and a minority of radicals. “If we want Christian minorities in Muslim majority countries to enjoy all their rights, we should in our country respect the rights of all believers to practice their faith.”
“The woman in niqab is the figurehead of a subversive movement that threatens all democratic nations.”
Nidra Poller in the Wall Street Journal, 29 January 2010
“Raphaël Liogier is right to point out the problems with France’s proposed ban on the veil (Comment, 27 January), which will pave the way for similar moves against other visible expressions of religion. Shutting down the right to choose to wear the veil will only further embolden Islamophobia, the far right and fascist parties. The debate has had the net effect of demonising a minority of Muslim women, who number less than 2,000 in France. It will mean the only option for many of these women will be to stay confined to their homes. All this, ironically, in the name of integration and the liberation of women. We are one society and many cultures; respecting and allowing all cultures freedom of expression, as long as this does not impinge on the rights of others, means all communities can fully contribute to society. The debate in France is already impacting here, with Ukip calling for a ban on the burka and niqab.”
Letter from Ken Livingstone and others in the Guardian, 29 January 2010
“The ‘English Defence League’ will now be calling for a total ban on the wearing of the Burkha, We view the Burkha as a significant threat to the national security of the UK as anyone can be wearing it without being identified, British people cannot wear balaclava’s into a bank so muslim women shouldnt be permitted to wear a Burkha either, The same rules should apply to all. We will continue to protest against the implementation of Sharia Law in the UK and Militant Islamists operating within our shores. We also call for the immediate halting of all construction on new mosques based on the fact our government has no idea who is living in this country and 80% of imams running these mosques cannot speak our language, We urge our government to launch an urgent investigation into the source of funding for all new mosques in the UK as we beleive Saudi sponsorship is funding the extreme wahhabi form of islam which is spreading around the UK, We shall never surrender!”
English Defence League statement, 27 January 2010
Spelling and grammar as in original.
Denmark’s government said Thursday that face-covering Muslim veils don’t belong in Danish society but no ban is needed because their use can be limited under existing rules.
The center-right government said the burqa – an all-covering dress – and the niqab face veil are “diametrically opposed” to the values on which Danish society is built. It called for the full use of existing rules that allow schools, as well as both public and private employers, to demand that students, teachers and workers show their faces.
“The use of the burqa or niqab … deprives women of the right to interact in the Danish society on equal footing with men and women who do not wear the burqa or niqab,” the government said.
The statement followed months of discussion about whether Denmark should ban burqas and niqabs – a debate also taking place elsewhere in Europe. While the debate in Europe is widespread, use of the veils is not. A report commissioned by the Danish government found that only two or three women in the country wear burqas, and perhaps 200 wear niqabs.
The nationalist Danish People’s Party – a key ally of the minority government – criticized the government’s stance and said stronger action was needed to curb the use of face-covering veils. “It is a pity that the government won’t do anything about it,” deputy party leader Peter Skaarup said.
Most people in Britain hold a critical opinion on the veils worn by some Muslim women, according to a poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion. 67 per cent of respondents say that garments that conceal a woman’s face represent an affront to British values, while 25 per cent disagree with this notion. However, 58 per cent of respondents believe the government should not be allowed to tell individuals what they can and cannot wear.
Angus Reid Global Monitor, 27 January 2010
Full poll here.
Unfortunately, the apparently reassuring opposition to state interference didn’t prevent 66% of respondents backing a ban on the niqab in public places, 75% a ban in schools and universities, and 85% a ban at airports.
The Islamic full-body veil should be banned from French public offices, hospitals, trains and buses, according to a parliamentary investigation which reported yesterday. In a bad-tempered final session, the committee of inquiry angered many members of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling centre-right party by rejecting their demands for an outright ban on the burka or niqab. After a muddled and heated six-month investigation, the committee decided that such a ban might be declared unconstitutional under French and European law.
Instead, a narrow majority of the 32 members accepted a compromise suggested by Mr Sarkozy and the Prime Minister, François Fillon. They called for a solemn, but unenforceable, parliamentary motion declaring the full-length veil – a marginal but growing phenomenon in France – to be “un-French”. They said that this should be followed soon by a law forbidding people to cover their faces in “official” public spaces, from hospitals to post offices.
The committee’s recommendation split the ruling Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) down the middle. The party’s parliamentary leader, Jean-François Cope, immediately announced that he would push ahead with his own draft law calling for an outright ban. Officially, Socialist MPs boycotted the final meeting of the inquiry, alleging that it had been “polluted” by party politics and hijacked by “faction fighting” within the UMP. Several leading socialist politicians defied the boycott, however, and support an outright ban.
The possibility of a law against the full-length veil was first raised last summer by a Communist MP.
Cf. Raphaël Liogier, “France’s attack on the veil is a huge blunder”, Comment is Free, 26 January 2010
“‘As I was once strolling through the inner city, I suddenly happened upon an apparition in a long caftan with black hair locks. Is this a Jew? was my first thought … but the longer I stared … the more my first question was transformed into a new conception: is this a German?’
“That is the passage from Mein Kampf in which Adolf Hitler describes how, walking as a student through the less salubrious streets of Vienna, he had suddenly understood the true threat that the Jews presented to the Germanic way of life. I hadn’t read those words since I was a student, but somehow they returned to my mind last week, prompted by the UK Independence party’s announcement that it would campaign to ‘ban the burqa’.”
Dominic Lawson in the Sunday Times, 24 January 2010