French Veil Ban: First Woman Fined for Wearing Niqab
April 12th, 2011Via: Guardian:
Police have fined a woman in a shopping centre car park outside Paris for wearing a niqab, or full-face Islamic veil, in the first enforcement of France’s burqa ban.
The 28-year-old woman was stopped by police in the car park in Les Mureaux, north-west of Paris, at 5.30pm on Monday, the day the niqab ban came into force. Police said she was stopped “without incident” for a few minutes and given a €150 (£132) fine. She has one month to pay.
Under the law backed by Nicolas Sarkozy, it is illegal for women in full-face veils to go anywhere in public, including walk down the street, enter shops, use public transport, attend doctors’ surgeries or town halls. They face a fine or a citizenship class.
On Tuesday morning another woman in a full-face veil was stopped by police after she tried to enter a town hall in Saint-Denis, north of Paris. Followed by a French TV crew, she had brought some paperwork to the town hall for a bureaucratic issue just before 11am. She was refused by officials on the grounds that she was wearing a niqab. On the way out police asked her to remove her face-veil to check her identity.
When she refused she was taken to a local police station, where she lifted her veil but insisted on putting it back on again. She was not fined but Le Parisien reported that she had been given a written reminder and a leaflet explaining that full-face veils were no longer allowed in public and she risked a fine.
I’m not a fan of niqabs et al., but I would defend someone’s right to wear one. The French state has never been particularly tolerant of other cultures, and this ruling just exposes their secret fascist side a little too much for comfort. More to the point – does this ban affect my wearing a mask at mardi gras?
What is anyone’s take on this?
The “Libertarian” in me screams people should be allowed to do what they want to do.
But then a sober analysis finds me actually supporting the law. I find it is an attack on Western society, culture and civilization. Islam surely does not allow some of our customs in their Sharia states! I think the problem is the concerted effort by Islam to take over Europe along with its baby making machine. Double standard!
One of my (female) students wants to get active and sign a petition against it, citing women’s rights. I point out, however, that by doing so you are actually supporting the abuse of women to some extent. You have the many women who must wear it against their will (not to mention the negative health effect, lack of sunlight!).
Don’t get me wrong, I completely do not support the West’s Afghanistan “women’s liberation” movement which is used as another excuse…
I don’t know, I’ll have to think this one through…
I’m not a fan of niqabs et al., but I would defend someone’s right to wear one.
That’s exactly my position on this. Even though I’m aware of the points that savethepopulation makes, where does it stop? Why not tell Christians to cover up their crosses and Hasidic Jews to ditch their attire, and what about Catholic women wearing veils?
http://www.catholicplanet.com/women/headcovering.htm
I view very religious people as pretty much nuts, but I know that my worldview would be considered pretty much nuts to most people. I don’t want some state coming down on me for what I believe. Likewise, if you worship a cabbage or a vengeful sky cop, etc. and want to dress like Bozo the Clown, I have to be ok with that. You’re nuts, I’m nuts. We’re nuts. Fine. We’re not harming anyone, so the state should take a hike.
I have a SERIOUS issue, however, with proselytizers. I support anyone’s freedom of religion as long as they support my choice to be free of their religion. (Thank god that people here release their dogs when proselytizers are around.)
And in all my years of sending proselytizers packing, how many times have I dealt with Muslims showing up at my door?
Zero.
Do think it through, savethepopulation. Along the way, consider what the penalty ought to be, whether or not those who refuse to pay the fines should be jailed for contempt of court (or whatever) and killed should they violently resist being kidnapped and caged, all over an action which harms no other person.
And if you’re willing to accept all that, consider whether you’d sign up to be one of the armed enforcers ready to carry such a woman away to a cage, and kill her if she resists.
I am fine with your points savethepopulation, but I disagree strongly with the idea that we should define our culture and civilisation based on what others do in theirs. Islam does indeed disallow some of our customs in other countries, but that alone is not enough reason to curtail freedoms in our countries. If we value being free, then we should sustain our freedoms. It seems crazy to limit our freedoms just because others limit theirs. Let us be us and them be them, and everyone be free to choose what they want to be.
I think some activist art with Carla Bruni in a niqab should be painted on major French buildings and monuments. Air France planes draped with niqabs. The liberty statue in the Seine wearing one. A niqab on the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. Cheeses with niqabs on. Sometimes I wonder where the guts of the French have disappeared to – only a few centuries ago they rose up and cut off the heads of their oppressors, but now they want to pick on some Islamic women for dressing modestly.