Saturday 3 April 2010

A Question of Cultural Integration

DEBATE






No Burka please! We are European


Belgium has moved towards becoming the first European country to ban the burqa and niquab in public. The Brussels Federal parliament voted unanimously to ban total and partial covering of the face in public.

Centre-right MP Denis Ducarme said, "I am proud that Belgium would be the first country in Europe which dares to legislate on this sensitive matter." He also stated, "The Burqa is contrary to the dignity of women. It is a walking prison." This ban would be imposed in streets, public gardens etc, Isabelle Praile, vice-president of the Muslim Executive of Belgium warned the move could create a dangerous precedent. "Today it is the full-face veil, tomorrow the veil, the day after it will be Sikh turbans and then perhaps it will be mini skirts," she said.
From "Insula Nobilis" blog 


Comment: When in Rome do as the Romans do. Western customs and dress-codes are not welcome and are punishable in strict Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia.  Why should it be any different in Europe?
If people choose to live in other countries with different customs they should conform to the culture in which they reside and attempt to integrate with it. What do you say?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"When in Rome do as the Romans do. Western customs and dress-codes are not welcome and are punishable in strict Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia. Why should it be any different in Europe?"

Isn't there a paradox in this comment? Aren't you, in fact, saying that you'd like us to be exactly as intolerant and right-wing as Arab dictatorships? Surely it's because we live in Europe that we should have a different attitude to them. Where would this leave motorcyclists, skiiers and mountaineers, all of whom routinely cover their faces to protect from the cold. The number of people wearing burqas and niquabs is absolutely microscopic in Wales. And what actual problem do they cause? I don't like them either but is it honestly worth all the time and the raising of racial tensions to clamp down on such a tiny number of people? And, by the way, why is it always men who call for them to be banned?

Unknown said...

Men like to see women in all their glory ;-) It's perfectly natural.

kerdasi amaq said...

They'd be better off banning Muslim immigrants, than burkas.

Cibwr said...

I find the idea that the state should dictate what someone should wear to be deeply disturbing. I don't like the idea of the veil but I defend the right of women to chose to wear it.