Western Traditions

While Western leaders were working themselves up into high moral dudgeon over the anti-Jewish xenophobia they said was being given a platform in Tehran, another kind of xenophobia was not so stealthily advancing in the West, pushed forward by the same leaders who accuse Ahmadinejad of being a racist.

The Netherlands announced on November 17 that legislation would soon be introduced to ban the wearing of burqas in public places. The garment, says the Dutch government, is a grave security threat. Given that only an estimated 50 to 100 women in Holland wear burqas, it’s hard to see how this is much of a security threat. Far more people, one would think, wear baggy coats, in which firearms, a bomb belt, or a dirty bomb could be concealed. By the same logic, wearing a parka in public places should be verboten. Of course, burqas, not overcoats and parkas, are uniquely Muslim, which is the point. Muslim is supposed to equal security threat. Banning burqas is just another way to drive the point home.

Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw (for brains) urged Muslim women to remove full facial veils when talking to him. Why? Because the veil is “such a visible statement of separation and difference” it imperils British social harmony. Tony Blair agreed. Come to think of it, the dark hats, dark coats, full beards and the curly locks of the orthodox Jews who trudge to temple on Saturdays are a pretty visible statement of separation and difference, too, and yet Jack wouldn’t for a moment rebuke orthodox Jews for undermining British social harmony, and nor should he. “Hey you Jews. Take off those yarmulkes when talking to me. They’re such a visible sign of separation and difference.”

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi joined the chorus, importuning Muslim women to remove their veils. “You can’t cover your face,” he said. “You must be seen.” Oh, why?

France banned the wearing of the hijab, the head scarf worn by many Muslim women, in schools. The wearing of religious symbols, the state explained, is incompatible with the secular nature of state-run schools. Of course, religious symbols, like crosses and anything else connected with Jesus and his mom, were once tolerated, indeed welcome in France’s classrooms. But now that the war on terror demands an equal sign be placed between Muslim and danger, the crucifixes stay home, along with the veils.

The Vatican’s Council for Justice and Peace Cardinal Renato Martino, is similarly vexed by the hijab, urging Muslim women to “respect the traditions, symbols, culture and religion of the countries they move to.” What’s unclear is which tradition, symbol, culture or religion in Western Europe frowns upon women drawing a veil across their face – or is he referring to the Western tradition of bigotry?