So, the Cabinet agreed on plans to ban the burqa here. Will I personally ever wear a burqa? No. Will I ever wear a short skirt? No. Do I judge people who do? No! Isn’t everybody suppost to have “freedom” (of religion) here? So why do we decide what people may or may not wear? How about women's right of self-determination? And most importantly, since when is our head public domain? Quite a lot of questions for just the intro isn’t it?
First off all, it’s called a burqa ban here, but it’s not only about the burqa. It’s about full faced coverage, so this includes for example also forage cap. Although I don’t ever see someone wear a forage cap while they go shopping. Unless they are planning to rob the shop maybe. According to our Cabinet the ban is important for a society where everone can fully participate in social intercourse. They say open communication is very important in places where people meet eachother. And apparantly we need this ban for the approximately 300 women who wear a burqa in this country. Cause these women are oppressed. Nobody ever asked them if they are, that’s just assumed, cause who will voluntarily wear a burqa? I often ask myself who will voluntarily wear red underwear under white clothes or parade on the boulevard in a mini bikini, but hey there’s no law against that! So let’s assume that all these women are indeed oppressed. Will that change with this ban? Should we not find these women and talk with them and the assumed oppressors? Forcing them to take off their burqa will probably not work. Better yet, if they are (as we assume) oppressed, it’s probably the only reason why they are allowed outside. Outside where we can find them and communicate with them. Not behind closed doors. So how about the “open communication is very important in places where people meet eachother”? Where are you going to meet these women now?
After reading the above it might not be a suprise I am clearly against this burqa ban. I dó believe in freedom of religion (for all) and that women have the right of self-determination. Our heads are not public domain. And neither are our bodies. And besides all this, I am also against it because of the symbolism. Cause let’s face it (take off your burqa now), this is not about these 300 women. After the suggestion of women paying taxes to wear a veil, discussing circumcision and álmost a ban on ritual slaughter (first chambre overruled it, thank God), this is the first babystep that will probably actually happen. The (probably) first official win for the right-wingers. And while we could laugh some ridiculous ideas away in the past, the majority of people is behind this one. It makes me wonder what the next babystep will be. And if everybody will stay quiet. Stay awake people, keep your eyes open, keep your ears open, keep your heart open, but most importantly don't keep your mouth closed.
