debate article
Headline
This summer the French Parliament made an important new law official. They have decided to make it illegal to wear the burka in public. The burka is a whole covering piece of fabric that a few Islamic women wear in the purpose to cover their body for other men than their husband. This is not a part of their religion but it’s still an important tradition. By banning the burka in France the discussion has grown bigger than ever, “will other European countries follow?”
I think this is wrong; a burka is just a piece of clothing and should not be banned!
Are we trying to hide the Islamic in our society?
Are we trying to hide the Islamic religion in our society today? I think we all know the answer to that. The Muslims can’t build mosques without being threatened from other people, and now they also have to feel the fear of not being able to wear whatever they want. This could lead to something dramatic like the emigration is being affected. Would you like to move to a country where they don’t accept your religion and way of living? I don’t think so, so why are we so obsessed with them adapting their habits after ours. Do we feel threatened? Yes, I absolutely think that’s a way of seeing it. Something that is new is often scary, but just because we let people dress however they like doesn’t mean they are going to take over the whole country. Of course it’s important to adapt to a country by learning the language and the structure of the society, but what does your clothing has to do with that? Do we really mean that they have to become copy of the norm by saying that they have to adapt?
A burka is just a piece of clothing just as a Swedish traditional costume, or why not a black, thigh leather skirt. We would never ban that in our society. Today people are walking around with corsets in the city and we don’t react because it’s a part of the fashion. So if Prada and Dolce Gabbana started designing whole covering veils and put them in their runway shows, would we still see it as we do today? I think prejudices are the biggest problem in this question, a girl in a lace corset walking around in city is still the same person if she puts on a burka the next day to walk around. The problem is that she is being received in a whole different way. That means that we are afraid that a piece of clothing will infect our society in a negative way. But it’s still just fabric being worn in a different way.
As I said before, a person is still the same person if she changes clothes. And what you want to wear should be fully up to you, no one else. I would like to say that this is the human rights, and in fact, it is! Taking away the right to dress however you like is like taking a part of the personality away because we express so much in our clothes today. And building a society where you can’t be yourself and express in different ways is not a good society. In this case with the burka, you don’t just take away a bit of the personality but also a bit of their traditions. This is a huge deal because your tradition say that a certain way of clothing is recommended, by wearing this you honor you’re believes but the society say you can’t wear it. How can a person choose between holy traditions or society? I think we should just give them the freedom to choose for themselves. They have enough of a hard time being accepted on the streets, getting a job and find new friends because of the way they dress.
One counterargument that is being used is that they are being forced wearing the burka. And this is just a way of the men controlling the Muslim women. And yes I can agree that this could be the case in Afghanistan or Pakiststan but the majority of women in Europe says that they have chosen it themselves. Of course its wrong being forced to wear certain clothing, but this is just as wrong as banning it.
Another problem that is almost the strongest counterargument is security. Just because the burka is whole-covering you can never know who is behind the veil. People could use this to do crimes and be weary hard to identify for the police. Traveling could also be a huge problem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burqa
http://www.frumforum.com/france-bans-the-burqa
