A French Muslim woman: Sarkozy will you wear this burka?
Nicolas Sarkozy: No.
Woman: Why not?
Sarkozy: Because I don’t agree with it.
Woman: Okay. I hope you find god.
Sarkozy: Women remove that burka?
Woman: No.
Sarkozy: Why not?
Woman: Because I personally see it as my religious commitment and wear it as a display of my modesty and devotion to my god. I want to inhibit material distractions and the gaze of strange men to focus more on the spiritual aspects of my life.
Sarkozy: Well you need to remove it or get the h*ll out of my country.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave a speech to the French Parliament last Monday that there is no place for the burqa in France. The burqa is a Muslim head dress that is worn by some Muslim women. It is common mostly worn by the conservative populations of Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. It is assumed by some in the west that the burqa is forced upon women but this is not so for the vast majority of Muslim women who wear the burqa by choice. However, Sarkozy and his French policy makers are working towards a full scale burqa ban. He is quoted as saying:
"We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity," Mr Sarkozy told a special session of parliament in Versailles. "That is not the idea that the French republic has of women's dignity.
"The burka is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience. It will not be welcome on the territory of the French republic," the French president said.
What Sarkozy fails to see is, well everything. I am sure that his statement did not take into consideration the Muslim population of France which is the largest in Western Europe, estimated at 5 billion. The burka is a sign of religion as much as the veil the catholic nun wears. He will not allow the Muslim women’s dress but he condones young pubescent catholic school girl uniforms with short plaid skirts and black knee highs. Would he ask our conservative and modest daughters and sisters to unbutton their blouses and let their hair down if it made them uncomfortable? What are our values?
The veil is a choice, a part of identity and culture for a majority of Muslim women. Following the Islamic clothing guidelines reaches into the deeper desire for one’s own cultural heritage. Girls wear the veil because it is what their mothers do, and their grandmothers and great grandmothers just as I like to wear fancy scarves like my mom does. I don’t wear scarves just because I think they look good but because it is something that I identify my mum with, something she collects. I think they look beautiful on her and as most young girls I want to be like my mum. Since I was in high school or maybe younger I started looking through my mum’s scarf drawer and thinking of how I could pull them off. This also goes for girls who like to wear their mum’s heels or lipstick. It is part of our identity and connects us to our culture and family.
Veils are a fashion still prevalent in western culture. Nuns still cover their heads and bodies. Shall we ask the Vatican to unveil their female statues and images which they once cloaked out of protection for the sake of female sexuality?
When we are married in Christian communities do we not veil ourselves? It is an ancient ritual symbolizing a man taking over his wife and her giving up our virginity to our husband. It stood as a symbol for his future wife’s purity.
All traditional images of Mother Mary show her veiled.
In the 1960’s it was common for women to wear hats to church that had a sweeping piece of cloth to cover ones face, who knows maybe it will come back into fashion one day again? Let’s think of some fashions we have that might offend people like excessively tight and revealing clothing, facial tattoos, piercings, dreadlocks, leather, shoulder pads and out of style prints.
This statement by Sarkozy only marginalizes the France Muslim population and Muslim community as a whole. The women who want to wear the head covering will just not leave her home for fear of backlash from the public. They are forcing her to take the veil off in opposition to the stereotype that men are forcing her to put it on. Where are the civil liberties and tolerance? We are trying to ease tensions with the Muslim world not increase them. I am ashamed. I also fear for Morocco as it is a completely Muslim country which was colonized and still is run by the French. What will happen to them and their relationship with France?
The West wants people to give up who they are to be like them because it is easier for them then trying to except people for who they are, as if it would be no problem for them to give up their cultural identity, religious and individual freedoms. When they rebel towards this colonization of western infliction we call them tyrants and uncivilized. What a war of words, what a war of intolerance and misunderstanding. What about choice and religious freedom? Are those not our western values, is that not what we are trying to encourage?
FOLLOW UP ARTICLE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gioia-diliberto/muslim-chic_b_221382.html
2 comments:
GOD ENJOYS A GOOD LAUGH!
There
were 3 good arguments that Jesus was Black:
1. He called everyone brother
2. He liked Gospel
3. He didn't get a fair trial
But
then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Jewish:
1. He went into His Father's business
2. He lived at home until he was 33
3. He was sure his Mother was a virgin and his Mother was sure He was God
But
then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was
Italian:
1. He talked with His hands
2. He had wine with His meals
3. He used olive oil
But
then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was a
Californian:
1. He never cut His hair
2. He walked around barefoot all the time
3. He started a new religion
But
then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was an American Indian:
1.He was at peace with nature
2. He ate a lot of fish
3. He talked about the Great Spirit
But
then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was
Irish:
1. He never got married.
2. He was always telling stories.
3. He loved green pastures.
But
the most compelling evidence of all - 3 proofs that Jesus was a
woman:
1. He fed a crowd at a moment's notice when there was virtually no
food
2. He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who just didn't get it
3. And even when He was dead, He had to get up because there was still work to do
Can
I get an
AMEN!!
author unknown
somethings never change
right on, sister!
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