I don't think yesterday's blog went down too well. No comments have been posted, but none needed to be after seeing LMA's reaction! Absolute silence! I might have to consider deleting it all together! Maybe talking about personal topics isn't such a good idea, I should revert back to my random ramblings that we're bringing such success earlier (yeah right)!
Jack Straw, former foreign secretary, has been all over the news for the past 24hrs after commenting on the veil's worn by muslim women. He initially stated that he would prefer if women who choose to cover their face, didn't do so, because it prevents having proper conversation and communication with them. You never know what they are feeling due to a lack of expression. As a result of this, he blamed the veil to cause separateness within the community. He then went onto say that he opposes muslim women wearing any veil because of the restrictions it places on the interactions within a community.
As a muslim, I am extremely concerned but not surprised by his comments. It is yet another attack on muslims in this country disguised as something that is in the best interest for the muslim community, similar to John Reid's speech a couple of weeks ago attempting to teach muslim parents how to raise their children (read my "Spying on your children" blog for more details).
As far as his first remark goes, regarding the removal of the veil covering the face, I can see his point but I totally disagree with how he has presented it. To just come out and say it at random is extremely inappropriate. Where are all the reports of Jack Straw (and other politicians for that matter) attempting to establish multi-cultural relations within their constituencies for the past few months? Where are the reports that Jack Straw has tried to establish communication but has struggled because of muslim women in his constituent have struggled mainly because their faces are covered? None of these reports exist, because no effort has been made by the politicians to try and increase interactions within communities. If after making such efforts, which the public was aware of, Jack Straw then came out and said it had been difficult because the face-covering veil was providing a constant barrier, then perhaps muslims could respect his opinions, but that has not been the case, and yet again muslims are being painted as a group of people who struggle to intergrate in Britain because of their lifestyle and attitudes. Total utter rubbish!
His follow-up remarks about preferring muslim women not to wear the veil at all is completely out of order. Wearing hijab is compulsory for all muslim women. It's each individual woman's choice to follow these rules. Who is Jack Straw to then go out in public and effectively condemn these rules? We never hear of prominent muslims criticising Christian beliefs and rules. People will argue that it is just an opinion and everyone is entitled to that, but working as a public servant, surely some opinions should be kept to yourself and that is exactly what Jack Straw should've done. Instead his comments and comments by other politicians just add further tensions and create more anti-muslim sentiments which is becoming far too frequent!
There is an effective solution for this. Jack Straw's constituent is Blackburn, which is made up of a 30% population of muslims. If all of these muslims (of voting age) actually voted against Jack Straw, he would lose his seat. It's as simple as that. Whether that will happen is a completely different matter because unfortunately muslims across the country tend to be quite apathic towards politics and the government and don't realise how much power we could wield if we were to unite. But that's another problem altogether!
I think I'll sign off for the weekend now. Thankfully the weekend has arrived and I can catch up on my sleep! I look forward to any comments from people reading this blog. Please leave a comment, all you need to do is click on the comments icon at the bottom of each blog and write whatever you want!
Take care all,
Thoughts just flow, when do they have to make sense?
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1 comment:
I completely agree with what your saying about Jack Straw coming out all wrong, he basically pretty much attacked all muslims with that comment. However, i think i know where he's coming from in the sense that its true that women who wear the 'nikaab' do get separated and isolated from society. When you see one, you automatically get the feeling that your not welcome to go up to them and you feel awkward and uncomfortable and not sure how to go about talking to them. At the end of the day, wearing hijaab is completely compulsory whereas wearing the nikaab is not. Even then, i guess its down to the individual whether or not they want to wear it.
Big controversy, lets see what the outcome is!
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