France's burka ban

[anotheoldgit]

http://tinyurl.com/6gqmpsn

Well done the French for having the guts to introduce the 'burka ban', but it seems with a little trepidation.

/// Earlier, French police said they will be enforcing the country’s new burka ban "extremely cautiously" because of fears of provoking violence. ///

Belgium introduced a full ban last year, and a ban also looks likely in Holland, Spain and Switzerland.

Could Britain ever have the guts to do likewise?

[ummmm]

Well said Birdie...

[trt]

Look at this video, it shows why the Muslims want to rule....I just wish they would stay in their own Country's where Islam started.

http://game.giveawayo...ndering-the-legend-2/

[trt]

Sorry wrong link, its here.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/A3YQANdvvbY

[trt]

I thought it was bad in the UK, but it seems to be worse in France!!!!!

[Gromit]

The stance that many people on this thread have, which is - I don't like it so it must be banned - is both selfish and represssive. With views like that you should be running a middle eastern dictatorship rather than benefitting from the freedom of living in a democratic country.

[johnk]

The problem tends to be due to hidng the face which somertimes feels threatening, so much so that some police officers in the US have been stopped from wearing sunglasses. I noticed some of the French officers in yesterdays kerfufle wore sunglasses so they were also hiding part of their face! The scarf type over the head is not a problem

[Sqad]

The French have a democratically elected government which after hearing debates for and against voted to make the wearing of the burka illegal.

During a demonstration 2 burka clad females were arrested for violation of that very same law.

I cannot see the problem.

[johnk]

They weren't arrested for wearing the burka but for holding an illegal demonsration. The police are very wary of this law so it won't work.

[Sqad]

johnk.....point well taken......I clearly misread.

[johnk]

It was probably mis reported, there is a lot sensational footage in this one. Sarkozy needs it to distract attention from his upopularity and the far right in all countries are loving it.

[david51058]

What happens when a woman wearing a burka has to go through passport control? Do they have to remove it?

[whiskeryron]

Just a quickie, as a matter of interest when a person wearing a burka enters this country through immigration do they have to produce a passport & does their passport show a photograph of them wearing a burka ? Ron.

[pa___ul3]

It seems from last night's news that what Keyplus has said could be true also. It seems that this law has only so far brought about deliberate and highly publicised shows of defiance from Burka wearing Muslim women. The likelihood is that many Muslims, even those that don't wear the Burkas, will side on those who do as they could well feel that their faith is being victimised, which will then only create further alienation. It just seems remarkably counter productive to me!

[andy-hughes]

I have thought about the issue of 'rights' and 'repression' for some time -

it seems to me that Westerners have a dangerous habbit of assuming that their democratic freedoms are desired by everyone on the planet, and that anyone not enjoying them is being 'repressed'.

I firmly believe that people grow up accepting their culture's customs as the way things are - certainly we do over here.

is it not possible therefore that Muslim women do not feel in the least 'repressed' by their culture, but simply accept it as normality, because it is the way things are where they live?

therefore, the notion that women need to be 'released from opression' becomes somewhat hollow, and redundant.

Apart from one or two posters on here, none of us have anything even approaching direct experience of daily life for Muslim women - who are we to say they are not happy with the way they live? We may not be happy with it, but that is not al all the same thing as saying that they are not happy, and need us to 'rescue' them.

Maybe we should accept that other cultures are different, not 'wrong' or 'oppressive', just different, and they are as entitled to live their way as we are to live ours.

It's food for thought for this debate.

[david51058]

I just thought about what you said andy-hughes and i tend to agree.

[Sqad]

Andy.....I have no dispute with any of your comments, however, this is hardly the issue as rightly or wrongly it is AGAINST the law to wear a burka.

Personally I have no objection to women wearing them and incidentally, many Muslim women "shed" their burkas on entering the Western world. In fact flying AL Saudia from Jeddah to Heathrow, I have seen women go onto the aircraft toilets in burkas etc and reappear in "Western" attire.
No, I do not think that the Islamic women are necessarily oppressed,but when they come to visit or live in the Western world, they are entering a different culture as is the Western woman entering an Islamic environment.