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Why so much fuss about ‘a piece of clothing’?
In Defence of Banning Veil for Young
Girls
By Azam Kamguian
Why so much fuss about ‘a piece of clothing’? In France and
elsewhere in the west, teachers have a hard time with girls who come to
school wearing the veil, who refuse to attend gym or biology courses, and
who won’t read Voltaire because he was a non-believer.
In my speech, I will argue for banning the veil for young girls. I
will refute views that promote and support veiling for young girls and try
to demonstrate how banning the veil is vital for the advancement of
children’s rights and the progress of our civil society.
Some feminists oppose the law to ban veil in state schools and
institutions on the grounds that it will strengthen Islamism. But
high-ranking Islamic clerics strongly dispute this assertion, and argue
that banning the veil is a direct attack on Islam.
Western leftist intellectuals apologists for Islamism say that
“whatever the rationale among progressives for supporting the ban, it
cannot be judged apart from its role in the rising tide of racism against
Muslim populations throughout the world. They further argue that “In this context,
France’s ban on the veil can only further inflame anti-Muslim racism and
that no law reeking of such racist hypocrisy is intended to advance the
cause of women’s equality. They conclude that it is just a short leap from
the assumption of Christian religious and European cultural superiority to
outright hostility to Islam.”
Apologists claim that veil is worn voluntarily by millions of Muslim
women around the world as a symbol of cultural pride and in opposition to
western imperialism. Along with the Islamists who marched against the ban
in the streets of Paris and London, these apologists call the ban a ‘racist
law.’
Apart from these bizarre apology for the Islamic reaction by western
‘intellectuals’ and ‘feminists’, when one sees girls as young as four years
old wearing the veil in the street of Paris and London, for example, can
anyone seriously claim that they are doing this voluntarily, expressing
their religious beliefs? Is this heated debate surrounding the veil “a fuss
about a piece of clothing”? Is banning the veil in schools and state
institutions as proclaimed by Islamists and apologists for Islam, a
‘restriction of religious freedom’? Is it a ‘restriction of freedom of
expression’? Or is it ‘religious intolerance’? Or is it ‘a violation of
Muslim women and girls’ rights’? Or is it ‘racist’?
I start with the law banning the veil and other religious symbols in
state schools and state institutions in France. In my view veil must be
banned for young girls not only in schools but altogether. Public
institutions belong to all citizens: schools and universities, in
particular, are open to all. They are places from which all external marks
of denomination and distinctive signs should be excluded. I believe that
secularism is essential for maintaining our civil society. It means that
states are duty - bound to ensure that all state schools, state
institutions and government offices work in a neutral and impartial manner.
Government officers, teachers, legal authorities and people working in the education
system must not use their position to impose their beliefs and values on
other people. This would be against the essence of a civil society. For
this reason, I believe that religion and using religious symbols are
private affairs of adult individuals not the affairs of a state. One’s
religious beliefs are a private affair and they shouldn’t promote or impose
their beliefs in school, in state institutions and in public life.
In my view, veiling in general and veiling of young girls in
particular, is not about a piece of clothing; and banning it, is defending
the essence of the human rights of young girls and women in Islamic
communities across the world. Banning the veil is essential and an
important step forward in the defence of secularism and children and
women’s rights.
Of course, Islamists, ardent Muslims and apologists will tell us
that the girls themselves ‘choose’ the veil: ’Freedom of the Veil’! This is
absurd! How can one believe that a little child would don”attire” that
deprives her from playing freely and openly with her friends? Not to be
able to adjust her dress to the changing weather, not to be able to swim,
climb a tree or pat a cute animal or do what children always have done all
over the world! I ask why subject any young girl to this ancient curse?
But, sadly and unfortunately, it has become a standard in our society to
force and coerce a young child under a veil. It really is inhumane and
socially unacceptable. It is said that girls choose the veil willingly. How
do we expect a girl child resist veil? Can anyone really expect a loyal and
loving child stand up and rally against the strong will of her parents and
thus be able to escape from being confined inside veil?
Up to the age of 16th, most children merely reflect the religious
views of their parents. Most children do not have sufficient education and
knowledge at early ages to make an informed belief choice. Their parents
should be restricted from imposing religious attire on them. For children veil is not a matter of
choice. If they are veiled, it is their parent’s decision, not theirs.
Banning veil for children is similar to banning child labour, and
protecting children from abuse and providing them with access to education.
What seems often to be overlooked in discussion about the French ban is
that dressing children in religious attire imposes a belief system upon
them, and is therefore a form of indoctrination. Do we support the rights
of parents and schools to indoctrinate children or do we uphold the rights
of children to be free from indoctrination?
It has been argued that “freedom of belief includes the right to
manifest your faith in public and Muslim girls should be free to choose
whether to wear the veil or not." The key question however is this.
Whose freedom is being exercised? For many girls and women living in
Islamic communities, it is the Islamic regimes, sheiks and mullahs; the
elders, or husbands, fathers and male relatives who decide for them; they
have virtually no freedom of personal expression outside the home - and
young girls none at all. For women from Muslim origin everywhere, veil is a
symbol of oppression and religious domination. Contrary to what apologists
claim, their veil is anything but a choice. Veiling women and the Koran’s
and Sharia’s edict on women renders them from any right, and brutally
violate their basic human liberties. Women have ‘accepted’ the veil under
an enormous pressure, if not through acid throwing, threats and
intimidations. Few women have the real freedom not to wear the veil. The
very same Islamists who brutally impose the veil on women and girls through
acid throwing, flogging, imprisonment and torture in Iran, Iraq, Algeria
and Afghanistan, oppose the banning of veils for young girls in schools in
the west, and call it a restriction of freedom of expression. This is
utterly hypocritical.
Contrary to what the opponents of banning the veil claim,
maintaining secularism has nothing to do with racism. It is in fact racist
to create different legal systems for different religious communities in
the West. This would hinder women and girls’ access to the advances of
civilized societies. Defending the ban on veil is not defending the
imperialist French government. It is about progressive human values, it is
about children’s rights.
Here, I would like to briefly address one related issue which is the
issue of Islamic schools. I believe
that protecting minors, particularly young girls from undue influence by
bizarre metaphysical dogmas, at least in their formative years, will
ultimately benefit society. Moreover, it may well stop certain kinds of
discrimination on the basis of religious affiliation.
The most fundamental freedom we should seek to protect is freedom of
thought. To deprive children of this most basic human right is unethical.
Children are not "born Muslim" or anything else. Rather, juvenile
indoctrination is the primary mechanism of religious propagation.
Religion is illogical, irrational and harmful - especially to young,
impressionable minds. It has no place in the public school system, which
remains the last, desperate hope to establish an open-minded quest for
knowledge in our kids. Religious dogma should be strongly countered in
schools. Funds should be allocated for this very purpose. The importance of
rational thought, critical thinking, and the scientific method is enormous,
and theocratic worldviews are so harmful. Theocratic views do not deserve
equivalency. Let's not turn our schools into balkanised religious cliques.
Children must be free from religious indoctrination. So, Islamic schools
must be banned altogether.
Looking closely at this business of veiling, we realise that it
doesn’t simply violate the secular and modern law and culture; it is above
all, an insult to oneself; it is a violation of human liberties. In
conclusion, let me say that religious beliefs that impose the veil on girls
and women, reveal a mentality that is not content merely with veiling girls
and women, but seeks to shroud men, society and life.
Veil must be banned for young girls. It is the duty of the state to
safeguard children rights by banning veil and enforcing the ban.
Adapted from the speech delivered at
the third international conference of Children First, on 11 & 12
February 2005, in Stockholm – Sweden.
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