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Islamists’ Campaign for Veiling is the Ultimate Hypocrisy

Mahmood Ketabchi | 29.01.2004 21:41

Progressive humanity must stand up to Islamists who epitomize barbarism, misogynism, gender apartheid, the raping and molesting of children, and the complete rightlessness of people.

These reactionary dangerous gangs must be stopped now.

 http://www.workersliberty.org.uk/

Islamists’ Campaign for Veiling is the Ultimate Hypocrisy

The French government’s decision to ban religious insignia from the public schools has the Islamists scurrying to mount an international campaign to oppose secular and progressive rules. The Islamists are running this campaign under the rubric of “personal freedom, secularism, and protection of people’s privacy.” But, they are lying for they never stood for these principles when Islamic atrocities occur on a daily basis in Islamic stricken countries both where the Islamists are in power or in opposition. This campaign is founded on sheer lies and demagogy.

When was the last time that these hypocrites supported even the basic and rudimentary rights of women and children in Islamic imposed countries? When did they ever condemn misogyny, woman hating, and gender apartheid which their co-religious brothers in “Islamic countries” imposed on the society with guns, knives, machetes, whips, imprisonment, and stoning? Can they tell us when did they come to the street to oppose their beloved Talibanite brothers when they turned Afghanistan into a mediaeval, inhumane, and barbarian society? Where did they demonstrate when thousands of women in Iran under Islamic rules perished under the barbaric punishment of stoning just because they had an extramarital affair?

If dressing is a private and personal matter as the Islamists assert, why is it that it only applies to “Moslem women” who want to wear hejab? What about women who do not want to? Can they wear what they like? If yes, why didn’t they ever raise their voice against forced veiling in Islamic stricken countries, such as, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait….? Can they prove to us that they have exposed and protested against Islamic gangs who beat women or pour acid in their face just because they do not observe “proper” Islamic dressing codes, just because they put on a lot of make up, speak loudly, laugh and smile in public or even shake hands with men?

Let them show to the world when and where they opposed child raping and molestation. Where is their outrage about Islamic marriage laws in countries such as Iran which sanctions the marriage and the rape of children and young girls? Let them give us proof that they oppose the beating, harassing, and murdering of gay men, lesbians and transgendered people and that they are willing to protect their personal right to privacy. These are just a few questions out of hundreds that I have for the Islamists.

The organizers of the campaign against the banning of hejab in public schools in France are the same people who have erected the machinery of gender apartheid, barbarism, and savagery in Islamic imposed societies. Every conscientious person, freedom-loving individual, and progressive organization, who hears the Islamists talk about “secularism, freedom, and the right to privacy, should confront them with the above questions. We must demand an answer. Let them show us where they truly stand.

The kinds of lies they are telling us are familiar ones. We should not forget the religious Right and the Operation Rescue gangs who attacked and bombed abortion clinics and assassinated physicians who performed abortions under the guise of protecting the life of the child. Don’t anti abortionists claim they are staunchly pro-life? Don’t we know how Christian religious gangs want to push prayers into the public school by claiming that they want to practice their religious rights? Don’t we know how Jerry Farwell, Pat Robertson and other religious goons around Bush incessantly push religion into our lives under the rubric of religious freedom and personal rights? We cannot stand by and let Islamic demagogues expand Islamic barbarism to our lives here or anywhere in the world.

Banning hejab and other religious insignia in public schools has nothing to do with banning hejab in the society or limiting freedom of religion. Religious manifestations in schools, whether imposed by the government or religious industry, must be prohibited in order to create a free, creative, healthy, and lively learning environment. Moreover, it is an important step toward protecting children from religious proselytizing and coercion, ideological conditioning and manipulation by religious industries and institutions.

Religious clothing for children is a clear violation of their rights. Religious recruitment, teaching, and clothing for children must be banned altogether, not only in public, but also in private school and the society as a whole. Children are not the property of their parents. They are human beings who have certain rights that must not be violated, including the right to live free of religious manipulation imposed on them by the parents and the religious sect their parents are associated with. A humane and progressive society must provide children under legal age with such protection against religious and ideological indoctrination.

Religion and god must be separated from the state completely and unequivocally, and public officials should be prohibited from symbolizing any religion at work and in government buildings and offices. Freedom of clothing for private adult individuals must be protected as long as it does not hamper or impede their mobility and safety as well as the well-being of others in workplace and other public spaces. Religion must become strictly and totally a private affair of the individual.

The Islamist campaign against the French Government’s decision to ban veiling and other religious insignia from public schools is an open and flagrant attack on freedom, women’s rights, children’s well-being, and secularism. It has nothing to do with defending freedom. The Islamists, with the help of the Islamic and reactionary governments in the Middle East are seeking to expand and spread their inhumane influence and medieval political power in the west. They want a share of political power in Europe. The Islamists’ audacity to mount an offensive campaign has only become possible because of western bourgeoisie governments’ policy of appeasement, reactionary theories of cultural relativism and post-modernism that justifies Islamic brutalities and atrocities under the guise of respecting “diversity” and the “cultural heritage” of “Third World” people including “Islamic Nations.”

The Islamists are mounting an attack against civilized humanity. Today, they want hejab in schools; tomorrow they will demand Islamic courts as they are already campaigning for in Canada. Later, they will insist on marrying four wives, turn women into subhuman beings barred from certain jobs, entitled to half of the inheritance their brothers receive, and considered unfit to testify in the court. Maybe in the distant future they will want us to give them the right to stone their wives and daughters. All these under the guise of the right to “religious freedom.”

Progressive humanity must stand up to Islamists who epitomize barbarism, misogynism, gender apartheid, the raping and molesting of children, and the complete rightlessness of people. These reactionary dangerous gangs must be stopped now. Tomorrow or the day after might be too late. We should not allow them to manipulate and falsify the ideas of freedom, personal privacy, and human rights. Such a travesty must never occur.

 http://www.workersliberty.org.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1719&mode=thread&order=0

Mahmood Ketabchi
- Homepage: http://www.workersliberty.org.uk/

Comments

Hide the following 16 comments

You vill accept our progressive vestern values und iff you von't ...

29.01.2004 22:14

This is a lovely little rant which I expect took you weeks to pen. Obviously you think that these naughty muslims shouldbe put in the cupboard under the stairs until they learn not to be religious and if the best way to acheive that is to line up with the French ruling class, that's just the way life is.

Of course some nasty sectarians might argue that this is bound to drive a significant number of mulsims into the arms of the islamists, but I appeal to the comrades of the AWL to shun these people: they are dangerous reactionaries.

Skyver Bill


What ever happened to freedom of expression and religion

29.01.2004 23:12

I live in the US and became a Muslimah few years back initially I did not use to wear a hijab (head cover) but few years later I started wearing it. Some of my muslim friends dont wear it and some do. It didnt matter to them when I didn't wear it and it does not effect our relationship that I do now.

What bothers me here is that liberalism and secularism has become a religion. If one beleives in freedom of speech then she must also be against relious conformity or the death penalty and that is the creed of liebralism and secularism run amock.

This is an out rage and transgression on an individual's rights. When a woman has the right to sun tan naked on a beach then a woman should have a right to cover her heard.

What the followers of secularism can not get through their heads is that Muslim women cover their heads out of their free will not out of opression or enforcement, and that is why in the US you see this good mix - where women with exreme liberal values would still wear head covering and women with conservative view would still chose not to.

It is a private matter and should be left to the individual the state has no business in telling me how I should or should'nt follow my religion.

M. Furgoson


Goodbye Freedom Welcome Communisim

30.01.2004 04:05

Lets see where this is going:

1. Muslim women can't have scarf and Muslim men can't have beards
2. Jewish men can't wear traditional caps or curl their hairs
3. Christians can't wear cross, and nuns can't wear head covering
4. Hindu men and women can't wear the red marker
5. Buddhist women can't wear jade lockets
6. Sikh men can't wear traditional metal bangle (bracelet)
7. Shias can't wear black clothes - a religious symbol for them

. . . so now we have nuts trying to control what we wear and we look. Pretty soon everyone in France will be dressed in White, of sorry that too is a religious symbol for Muslims, ok then may be rainbow color shirts and pants and would believe in one religion - which would be "I believe in no religion" and all we do is work work and work to feed the economy and that is the only god I know . . . sound familiar

COMMUNISM.

This law is absurd and has no merit what so ever. It is a disgrace that a country like France that calls it's self a developed country is going in this direction.

Rudy M


.. at least they are ....

30.01.2004 10:54

France is at least attempting to remove the influence of the nonsense that is organised religion from everyday life. Sure it will annoy people and will be difficult to make work but at least someone is standing up to the stupid influence that religion has in peoples lives.

The sooner these people can be shown the stupidity of all religion the better

Dave


yes Dave at once Dave

30.01.2004 11:21

How dare people have different beliefs to you? Don't they understand disagreeing with you is undemocratic?

;-)


You support organised religion ?

30.01.2004 12:08

I am surprised to see you equate holding a different viewpoint with organised religion. Here we have a series of systems that have been responsible for women's suppresion, war, inter community violence, poverty and poor education to name a few. Religion is a menace and has no place in a 21st Century world.
To defend it is just foolish I'm afraid. If people want free speech religion is not the way to achieve it.

Your right my views do disagree with many that are posted here and I enjoy debating and offering alternative viewpoints but I'm glad to say they are my views not those of a cleric being imposed on me.

Dave


The Popular Judean Front

30.01.2004 13:29

Ohmigod its the AWL.

Hiya! Have you recruited your fifth member yet?

Brian


a voice of sanity

30.01.2004 17:10

A sane post for once exposing the Islamists for what they are.

To all british leftists, you should read what people REALLY think of the Islamists. Amongst French Muslims themselves 48% actually SUPPORT the ban and only 43% oppose it, the Iraqi Worker-Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist- like the SWP!) supports the ban and has several times spoke about how the left is unfortunately getting into an alliance with Islamists in Europe over some guilt-trip about colonialism and how the SWP is worst, reaching a full-on pact with Islamic fundamentalists (the MAB have links to the Muslim Brotherhood). Feminists in Iraq and other muslim countries also support the ban.

Lets get a few things straight here: this is not about freedom of religion, this is about Political Islam/islamic fundamentalism. The hijab is NOT a cultural or religious thing. There is nothing in Islam about wearing hijabs, it is something that was later picked up from the Christians. It isn't cultural: French Muslims and Arabs never used to wear the hijab, and in fact in most islamic countries where its not enforced they never used to wear it anywhere near as much. The hijab is a POLITICAL SYMBOL of islamic fundmantalism, and the wearers of it are saying 'I reject "western" values like freedom and democracy and so on, I believe that islam and allah rules all'. Parents should NOT be allowed to force their children to wear it.

In our societies people are considered responsible at 16. You can make your own free choices at this age, or maybe 18, such as voting and having your own opinions. When you are 16 you can put the hijab on if you like, but it should not be forced on children. Just like its a form of child abuse to make your child goose-step and carry the swastika or the red star, so is forcing them to wear a hijab.

fgodahfadof


comparison

30.01.2004 17:45

In what way is wearing the hijab different from shaving your legs, which all women and post-adolescent girls in the west are expected to do? Isn't that sexist + oppressive? Why is no-one calling for that to be banned?

-


Uh oh!

30.01.2004 17:57

fgodahfadof If you'd ever met a muslim and talked to her you would know that wearing hejab has nothing to do with rejecting western values(sic). There are strict rules in the Quran concerning dress - and those for women state that she should cover her neck and hair, leaving only the face exposed to the public gaze. Consequently wearing hejab is not a symbol of defiance, but an integral part of religious observance in a similar way that wearing a turban or not cutting the hair is to Sikhs. Most muslims are no more radical Islamists (in the "stage arab" villain - Osama bin Laden mode) than you are, but their religion is very important to them, and something that is worth fighting for. If small irrelevant Islamist groups are the only ones to defend freedom of religious expression then they will grow in influence. How are pompous, self-righteous, posturing, non-entities going to prevent this?

Skyver Bill


Communism

30.01.2004 18:29

How many people were killed by communists who were every but as fanatical as these religious fundamentalists? The problem is not religion, but people who are so closed-minded about their interpretation of the way things should be, who are intolerant of the ways other people live and think. This banning of the Hijab is an act by atheist fundamentalists, who want to force people to believe what they believe, by imposing their dress regulations upon people. I just feel sorry for Sikhs, they are obligated to carry about 5 different religious symbols, including a turban, to hold their hair in, because they do not cut their hair. Does this mean all Sikhs are going to have to cut their hair?

This is so facist, its unbelievable. And the orginal post is so racist, I'm just glad it comes from a fringe-left organisation, and is not the view of most of the left here, for whom secularity means lots of different cultures and religions living side by side and respecting each other. Have you met any Muslim sisters in this country? I work with several, and they do not feel oppressed. On the contrary, some of them are the most dynamic women I work with, constantly organising and campaigning, strongly involved in political life. No-one should be forced to wear the hijab, but also, noone should be forced NOT to wear it. There should be a choice. This law is ignorant of Islamic culture, as is the writer of the original post, who perhaps should get to know some Muslims and talk to them before imposing some racist mental picture of what they are like onto them.

God, you're almost as bad as the BNP, I can't believe how much you've pissed me off....
Down with Atheist Fundamentalists

Hermes


Question for Professor Skyve, Dean of Islamic Studies

30.01.2004 23:05

To Skyver Bill

As an expert on the Qu'ran, could you tell us what passages, specifically, require women to wear the hijab, or to cover their heads at all? Please do not include passages that just require women to 'be modest' or 'dress modestly' which could equally apply to not wearing PVC basques in public.

Isn't it the case that there isn't anything about the Islamist scarf in the Qu'ran at all?

Ross


Dave

30.01.2004 23:39

"Here we have a series of systems that have been responsible for women's suppresion, war, inter community violence, poverty and poor education to name a few. "

Are you able to tell the difference btwn these modes of oppression and the ones of the capitalist west? I for one can't...

Oi!


repeated question

03.02.2004 15:52

In what way is wearing the hijab different from shaving your legs, which all women and post-adolescent girls in the west are expected to do? Isn't that sexist + oppressive? Why is no-one calling for that to be banned?

Does anyone have an answer?

-


the wearing of hijab is a human right

09.03.2004 02:55

Wearing the hijab is a muslim woman's human right! Get your facts straight! Shame on you, and you call yourself a muslim! Its amazing how many ingorant people there are in this world. Mr. Mahmoud, I feel very sorry for you. May Allah help you!

Susan


Article disagreement

04.09.2004 11:05

this article is the biggest load of crap i have seen in a long time. Can I just ask what the hell do you know about islam and what goes on in it. Can I just ask are you trying to say that all this raping, child molesting only happens in islam, what about all the peadohphiles in this country. I mean even policemen are downloading child pornography of the internet. How are we safe? President Bush and Tony Blair should attempt to fix their own countries before they go around 'trying' to save the world of 'islamic terrorists'!

yarin


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