More than half of voters in four other major European states back a push by France’s Nicolas Sarkozy to ban women from wearing the burka, according to an opinion poll for the Financial Times.
As Mr Sarkozy presses ahead with plans to ban the wearing of the burka in public places, the FT’s latest Harris poll shows the move is not just strongly supported in France, but wins enthusiastic backing in the UK, Italy, Spain and Germany.
The poll shows some 70 per cent of respondents in France said they supported plans to forbid the wearing of the garment which covers the female body from head to toe. There was similar sentiment in Spain and Italy, where 65 per cent and 63 per cent respectively favoured a ban
The strength of feeling in the UK and Germany may seem particularly surprising. Britain has a strong liberal tradition that respects an individual’s right to full expression of religious views. But here, some 57 per cent of people still favoured a ban. In Germany, which is also reluctant to clamp down in minority rights, some 50 per cent favoured a ban.
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Why do we bother putting pictures on our drivers license and Health Cards if faces are covered? Of course in Saudi Arabia it doesn’t matter because women are not allowed to drive.
However, Egypt’s religious Al-Azhar University has just banned the niqab stating that it has nothing to do with the Koran.
Middle Eastern garments designed to cover a woman’s face are “medieval” and “misogynist” symbols of extremism with no basis in Islam, said a Canadian Muslim lobby group as it urged Ottawa to ban the burka and the niqab.
The Muslim Canadian Congress called on the federal government to prohibit the two garments in order to prevent women from covering their faces in public – a practice the group said has no place in a society that supports gender equality. “To cover your face is to conceal your identity,” congress spokeswoman Farzana Hassan said in a telephone interview, describing the issue as a matter of public safety, since concealing one’s identity is a common practice for criminals.
The niqab clearly has little if anything legitimate to do with any religion and everything to do with subjugating women and forcing them to be subservient. The backwards thinking insecure old fools who demand women comply with this nonsense should be forced to wear this tent themselves. So they want to come and live in the west huh? Well here’s an old western ‘belief’ for them. What’s good for the goose is also good for the gander. These sexually insecure staunch believers in maledom would very quickly be singing a different tune, guaranteed.
‘Lifting the veil on the Niqab’
“The vast majority of Muslims look on in shock, unable to understand why this country would tolerate the oppression of women in the name of religion and multiculturalism.”
http://ayeshahalam.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/lifting-the-veil-on-the-niqab/
In other news France has now banned:
Nuns from wearing habits
Priests from wearing clerical collars
Jews from wearing yamakas
Moonies from wearing robes
Sihks from wearing turbans
and Dammit the next time the Dalai Lama shows up he had better be wearing PANTS.
No word yet on banning the Pope’s beanie.
Good. The civilized world has to fight back against being consumed by the uncivilized world.
Does telling someone else what not to do because the mere sight of it offends you, represent Canadian culture now?
How will we create a list of legal offences, or will we just pick behaviours at random from races, cultures and religions that we hate anyways?
Personally, I think the greater problem is the inherent security risk of anonymity in public.
Judging from the number of anonymous bloggers on the public internet, spewing vitriol with a cowards confidence provided by anonymity, I am in the minority.