More on the burka ban

[nwhyte]

Two interesting articles that caught my eye on this during the week:

The veil: a modesty slip for misogyny, by Laurie Penny over at the New Statesman: In seeking to restrict the free choice of women to dress as they please, whether in a burqa, a bolero or a binbag, European governments are not protecting women but mounting a paranoid defense of

Comments

[bart_calendar]

The point of the Burqua ban isn't really to protect women or any of the other myriad explanations Sarko and company are using.

It's simply a way to publicly say (without saying it out loud) to the Muslim community "You are not welcome here.")

Same deal with the minaret ban in Switzerland.

[nwhyte]

Agreed.

[lizatgreenside]

This one just keeps on going and getting nastier. It was already a big issue when I was living in Franch in 1988/89... I hated having to ask girls to remove headscarves in class (and boys to remove kippahs); I also didn't much like being banned from wearing a necklace with a cross on it.