Being American, I normally follow American news with regard to happenings about Islam and Muslims (the CAIR newsletter helps tremendously in that regard). However, I came across the following Australian news story today that, alhamdulillah, was resolved in our favor. What follows are several news stories that chronicle this case of Australian Islamophobia, along with a few of my own comments.
Scarves more rebellion than religion: Lib
Samantha Maiden and Nicola Lipman, The Australian (26 August 2005)
LIBERAL MP Sophie Panopoulos has backed a ban on Muslim girls wearing headscarves to school on the grounds it is "more an act of rebellion" than religion.
Attacking "politically correct" orthodoxy that a ban should not be debated, Ms Panopoulos said girls attending school in Australia should wear the official school uniform.
"For a lot of younger people it seems to be more an act of rebellion than anything," she said yesterday.
Hmmm, perhaps you would wear a hijab for rebellious reasons as it seems like that's the nature of your personality. However, just because you think that's so doesn't make it so. In fact, I suspect that you don't know anything about how Muslim women think regarding hijab because, if you did, you wouldn't have made any of these silly comments.
"My personal view is I would put a ban on those headscarves, as governments have overseas. That's up to individual schools and state governments but if a school has a uniform that's pretty much it."
Her comments sparked a sharp reaction last night from Sydney's Minaret College principal Mohamed Hassan, where students and staff are required to wear the hijab. "If you go to any beach, you will see people who are almost naked, and nobody tries to make a law about that," he said. "So you have the right to be almost naked but not the right to keep yourself covered?"
Great riposte, brother!
Sydney's Lakemba Public School students Katelyn Hamilton, 11, and her twin Courtney said they proudly wore the headscarves "for our religion". "We should be able to wear them to school. I like wearing it," Katelyn said.
Courtney said: "We wear it so you can tell Muslims apart from other religions. Our God says it's the right thing to do."
Mariam Basheti, 9, who attends Rissalah College, also rejected suggestions that young girls wore it as an act of rebellion against Western culture.
"No, I wear it for the sake of my God, Allah," she said.
Ali Roude, principal of Rissalah College in Lakemba, was one of 14 Muslim leaders invited to meet John Howard in Canberra on Tuesday. He said the right of women and girls to wear the hijab was raised at the meeting.
"I mentioned this to the Prime Minister," Mr Roude said. "If we are talking about tolerance, freedom, Australian values, then we are talking about the right to wear what you want, including the hijab."
Opposition education spokesman Jenny Macklin said yesterday that the ALP would not support a ban, describing the proposal as "extreme".
"There is no place for extremism in Australian society and Sophie Panopoulos's extreme comments are at odds with important Australian values such as tolerance and respect," Ms Macklin said. Education Minister Brendan Nelson told The Australian last night he did not back a ban on Muslim headscarves in Australian schools as long as students' dress was compatible with the school uniform.
"I strongly defend the right of Islamic students, female students, to wear dress to their schools ... which comply with their religious convictions," he said.
Alhamdulillah. May Allah (swt) bless you for this.
Headscarves deny women rights: MP
Patricia Karvelas, The Australian (6 September 2005)
VICTORIAN Liberal MP Sophie Panopoulos has described Muslim women's headscarves as an "uncompromising retrograde curtailment of women's rights".
In a speech to parliament, she defended her recent call to ban Muslim girls wearing headscarves to school, arguing the hijab oppresses women.
No, you're suppressing women who want to dress as they feel is appropriate. Who gave you the right to decide how people dress?
"Why should one section of the community be stuck in the Dark Ages of compliance cloaked under the veil of some distorted form of religious freedom?" Ms Panopoulos said.
Oh, so then you admit that women have the religious freedom to wear hijab if they so choose! So why are you butting into a decision-making process that doesn't pertain to you? Is this "white woman's burden?"
She said it was wrong to compare the hijab to turbans or nun's habits, as her critics had.
"What's not mentioned is that none of these other articles represent the uncompromising retrograde curtailment of women's rights, as does the hijab.
Of course she's not going to like a comparison between hijab and a turban because men wear turbans and that's irrelevant to a feminist. She doesn't like a comparison between hijab and a habit because almost all Christian women who wear a habit are Catholic nuns, and they, of course, have segregated themselves from mainstream society and are few in number, so why should she care? But a hijab, now, that's a problem for a feminist like this woman, because lots and lots of Muslim women wear hijab, and that goes against feminist dogma! Muslim hijabis show an alternative way of life to everyday, ordinary women. Horrors!
"When a suggestion is made to remove from state schools a symbol of what is essentially, as one commentator puts it, 'sexual apartheid', the Labor sisterhood and the left-wing women's movement cry foul.
Hmmm, "sexual apartheid" vs. sexual decadence. I'll go with the so-called apartheid. So do millions of women around the world.
"As a female MP, I am concerned about women's rights in this country. There are those who subscribe to a belief system that devalues and degrades women, that accepts a legal system that would relegate women back to the Dark Ages."
She also warned against the emergence of a frightening "Islamic class" in Australia, supported by a "perverse interpretation of the Koran".
Thus speaketh the bigot who hath probably never read the Qur'an...or knows anything about Islam. Ignorance must be bliss.
Bishop's Comments of Hijab Un-Australian: Apology Demanded
Muslim Women's groups and Civil Rights groups have condemned suggestions by Bronwyn Bishop that the hijab should be banned in schools.
"Her likening of Muslim girls to slaves and Nazis demonstrate a complete ignorance of even basic Islamic teachings," said Ms Maha Abdo, spokeswoman for the Muslim Women's Association. "It is insulting, inflammatory and contrary to everything that the Prime Minister has said about respect for difference and religious tolerance. We are appalled and offended that Ms Bishop would compare Muslim Women to slaves or our religion to Nazism. We demand an unequivocal apology."
White woman's burden once more... After reading Ms. Bishop's biography, these comments sound like a last gasp from a fading politician, clinging to any radical position as long as it can secure her a few more votes.
"Ms Bishop's statements have achieved nothing other than inciting hatred and distrust of Muslims generally and Muslim women in particular, especially at a time when our elected representatives should be playing a role in uniting rather than dividing the community."
"Bishop's argument is Swiss cheese -- it's full of holes," adds Agnes Chong, co-convenor of the Australian Muslim Civil Rights Advocacy Network (AMCRAN). "On the one hand Ms Bishop claims it's a type of slavery, then she claims it's an act of defiance -- it can't be both. The argument itself is tainted with racist overtones, and assumes Muslim women are weak and not fully intellectually developed. We can assure her that this is absolutely not the case.
"Australia is about freedom and tolerance, and this shows neither. It is unAustralian to prohibit the free exercise of any religion. In fact, it is one of the few rights enshrined in the Australian Constitution."
We call upon the Prime Minister Mr John Howard to take on a leading role in this debate and openly condemn the statements of Ms Bishop. We urge Mr Howard to make it clear that neither he nor the Australian government hold such views nor would they consider any laws which infringe upon the rights of Muslim women in their choice of dress.
Have you noticed by now how these Australian politicians don't practice the Australian values they supposedly represent? Or is it that these two women, Panopoulos and Bishop, don't have any values (or retrograde values at best)?
Now, the good news:
Howard Opposes Bishop's Call For Ban On Headscarves
by Justin Norrie, The Sydney Morning Herald (29 August 2005)
Mr Howard [Prime Minister of Australia] said he opposed Mrs Bishop's push to ban Muslim girls from wearing headscarves at public schools because it would be impractical. But he defended Ms Bishop's "right to express a view".
Mrs Bishop has called the headscarf "a sort of iconic item of defiance", and echoed the call of the Victorian Liberal MP Sophie Panopoulos for a ban. Mrs Bishop's remark prompted much criticism, including a rebuke from the NSW Minister for Education, Carmel Tebbutt, who yesterday ruled out any change to the uniform policy, which allows schools to develop a dress code in consultation with the community. She said she supported the right of students to wear the headscarf as long as it was within the school code.
Mr Howard said: "I don't think it's practical to bring in such a prohibition. If you ban a headscarf you might for consistency's sake have to ban a yarmulke or a turban."
He said he could understand why "people might be affronted by a full coverage including the face. I don't think that is desirable."
However, Labor's education spokeswoman, Jenny Macklin, said Mr Howard had not gone far enough in opposing the MPs. "John Howard must show leadership and pull [them] into line over their calls. We need national leadership … not extremist knee-jerk reactions."
The federal Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, John Cobb, said Mrs Bishop's comments were ignorant and an insult to many Australians. In a statement he said: "The government does not seek to impose cultural sameness on Australians … Do we ban nuns from wearing a habit?"
Emphasis mine.
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