exploring muslim identities in europe & north america

The debate about the face veil, and more generally the acceptability of other forms of female Muslim attire in the West, is not a novel one. Muslim notions of modesty, have often been subverted and colonized by patriarchal practices seeking to restrict women's autonomy. As such, the veil issue has mobilized social forces inspired by liberalism and feminism and generated valuable criticisms of patriarchy in Muslim communities. On the other hand, the 'out of place' look of veiled women in European public spaces has provided fertile ground for the transformation of the veil issue into a potent mobilizing symbol for xenophobic, right wing forces only too happy to jump into the bandwagon of the secular, liberal and feminist opposition to the veil and, often, to incorporate these discourses into their own arguments. In this way, for example, spokespersons of the conservative Spanish Partido Popular such as Alberto Fernandez, a Barcelona city councillor, shed crocodile tears about...

The French Conseil d'Etat considered back in May that a total ban of the face veil in France would present serious constitutional risks and could not rest on any sound juridical foundation.           Burqa : le Conseil d'Etat écarte l'interdiction - kewego Une interdiction totale du port du voile intégral en France présenterait de sérieux risques constitutionnels et ne pourrait trouver aucun fondement juridique incontestable, estime le Conseil d'Etat.     Keywords: voile intégral nijab burqa musulman conseil etat loi interdiction                 Video from bfmtv    

Earlier yesterday members of the French parliament approved with 336 votes for and 1 against a controversial law banning the voile intégral (the burqa). The vote has not come as a surpise as it has been discussed and anticipated for several months. Although the reasons put forward in support of the ban consider the burqa a “prison for women” and a “sign of their submission to their husbands, brothers or fathers” and therefore identify Muslim women as the target of this law, the legislators crafted the law in such a way as to ban any face-covering material, to “forbid concealing one’s face in public.” On the surface, a gender blind piece of legislation whose authors claim no intention to discriminate against Islam, the law curiously contains elements that clearly negate the declarations of its sponsors. In a display of determined arrogance that totalitarian regimes would envy, the law stipulates that, alongside a fine of  €150, women who will be caught covering their faces will b...

In my post of 26 June, I expressed my doubts as to the stated rationale behind Barcelona’s ban of the face veil from civic buildings. Despite the feeble attempts of Barcelona’s mayor, Jordi Hereu, to decouple the burqa ban from popular and official unease and prejudice towards Islam, the statements of Spanish Justice Minister Francisco Caamano reveal the complexity of the issue: the Spanish Government is prepared to repeat the onslaught against Muslim women at national level on the grounds of safety and security and of its concern about the dignity of Muslim women. Poster from the Swiss minaret referendum where the face veil is recruited to add to the moral panic about the Islamization of the country "We have to defend women's dignity and the burqa and similar garments - regardless of the religion they are from - that do not permit identification of the wearer, affect the dignity of that person, and in this case women," Caamano told reporters. Spokespersons of the cons...