The dangers of a burqa ban
Valérie Hartwich, Open Democracy, July 19, www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/val%C3%A9rie-hartwich/dangers-of-burqa-ban
Since the end of 2009 a number of European countries have made moves towards a banning of the burqa, or hijab, the full Islamic headdress for women. Belgium has passed a law to be ratified by its Senate. France is pondering the constitutionality of such a legal decision, whilst Italy has seen its implementation at a local level. Various justifications have been put forward: national security, integration and women’s liberation.
As has been pointed out by Sara Silvestri in her piece “Europe’s Muslims: burqa laws, women’s lives” much unease is felt by the public, civil society and decision-makers in relation to the ban, yet the idea seems to appeal to a large portion of the electorates. She argues that it is because to debate about the burqa or niqab is to debate about much deeper and larger matters, many of which she exposes. However, the affair can be disentangled further, and we should also pragmatically consider whether a ban would be an efficient solution given the aims declared. So is this wave of burqa banning really about the burqa? And is banning it the best way to tackle these issues anyway?
Women’s liberation is a battle that has been fought for over a century, and will have to continue through sheer dedication, advocacy and dialogue. Equally, ensuring national security and cohesion is a tedious task, which requires enormous amounts of personnel, intelligence and dialogue. In neither cases will a law banning the burqa truly help. It might give the illusion of political action, and reassure some that ‘sacred Western values’ are being preserved. But in fact, it will go a long way towards entrenching positions further, rendering dialogue harder, and making tensions run higher. A law will not resolve the identity crisis many European countries are going through, nor will it help towards the integration of European citizens. The burqa is but a crystallisation, an expression of these tensions.