Banning the Burka

I was shocked to hear the UK Independence party’s announcement that it would campaign to ban the Burka in Britain.

 

The Guardian newspaper reported that UKIP’s leader Lord Pearson declared “We are not Muslim-bashing, but this [the wearing of the Burka] is incompatible with Britain’s values of freedom and democracy.”

 

It is Muslim bashing, though, he can’t distance himself from this issue with a few mealy mouthed words.

Here in the UK, there is an overwhelming undercurrent of thinly disguised Muslim bashing- the British public are worried about fundamental Muslim’s, they fear Muslim terrorists, they fret about immigration and none of this is being addressed in the political platform, so who ends up getting the wrath?

 

The Muslim women who wear the Burka- that’s who and they are using the guise of ‘liberating these poor women’ to get their point across.

 

I think that criminalising women is not in any way liberating them.

Not every Muslim woman is forced to wear the Burka as is widely believed, and I hate to think of the Muslim women who are made to wear it; in that case it is oppressive and that needs to be addressed.

 

Women dress to keep their men happy, whether it is overtly sexual or totally covered, there are many ways to oppress a woman and controlling their clothing and appearance isn’t just relegated to Islam.

 

I had a friend whose husband demanded she dressed in a mini skirt, bare legs, full make up and high heels for every day wear. She felt sexualised and undermined as a person; he liked parading her in front of his friends. They divorced; she was relieved to finally wear flat shoes to work.

 

Many people in the UK believe that women wearing a Burka can be intimidating, and the knee jerk Red Top tabloids keep reminding us of how a Muslim Terrorist dressed in a Burka and escaped the UK.

Terrorists have been dressing in disguises for decades to leave the country, and it isn’t just Muslims who use this form of diversion.

 

We also hear how parents are determined not to let their kids be taught by a woman in a Burka with her face covered and I agree that can be difficult. Muslim women should not have their faces covered when going through security, working with kids or dealing with the public in sensitive situations like healthcare. There has to be a way round it.

 

Some politicians say that the wearing of a Burka displays a statement of their religion and therefore is divisive.

 

But where does it stop? Do we now demand nuns disrobe? 

Bishops get rid of their garb?

When I see a nun in a black robe with her head covered I feel distant and I am immediately aware she is a Catholic, is that a bad thing then?

 

Do we stop Hasidic Jews from wearing their big side locks and black fedora hats? I find them curious to look at but I don’t find them offensive.

Is the Sari going to be banned? Shall we remove the endearing red dot off the foreheads of Asian women in the UK?

 

I tell you what does offend me in Muslim men, that they dress Western and their wives are dressed traditional, that’s just a personal annoyance for me, because if they prefer their wife to follow the religion, then why don’t they? But that’s just me!

 

We have to embrace that people want to dress as they please to reflect their beliefs.

 

This façade that big political men want to protect Muslim women from being forced to wear a Burka makes me sick. If these women are already under house rule by their domineering men, then jailing them won’t help.

It means Muslim women will be even more isolated within their own communities.

 

The UKIP party base themselves on their principles of freedom; well shame on them, being British is not about stamping on the rights of others.