One of the monumental achievements of the great French Revolution against feudalism was freedom of religion along with the consequent French history of separation of church & state. So it’s not only regrettable but deplorable to see the French government be the vanguard in Islamophobic policies against wearing hijabs & niqabs, the headscarves worn by Muslim women. Let’s be frank: recruitment to Catholic nunneries may be taking a hit everywhere but thousands of nuns wearing nearly the same outfits, including with starched flying buttresses, are all over the place in France--& there are no proscriptions on their outfits. Most people tip their hats when they meet them; they don’t harass & arrest them.
Critiques of the headscarves are most often accompanied by patronizing expressions of solidarity with the downtrodden Muslim women wearing them--as if pity makes Islamophobia more acceptable, even progressive instead of despicable. Can we cut the crap!? Veiled women have been leading the Arab uprisings; they are kicking ass against insuperable odds & don’t appear to need much of anyone’s patronizing or pity or prejudice.
Who would ever have thought that in 2013 freedom of religion would be such an issue--though of course it isn’t religion at issue but the political awakening & momentous democratic movements led by Arabs--many of them Muslim & female. If you stand for freedom of religion, if you stand for women’s rights, if you support the Arab uprisings against tyranny, & if you oppose US-NATO wars you support religious women’s rights to wear whatever the hell they want. Revolution is a come-as-you-are event. There is no dress code for social transformation.
(Photo of Bahraini woman protestor by Mohammed Al-Shaikh/AFP)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/22/frances-headscarf-war-attack-on-freedom
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