Ian Buruma: The Burqa and Civil Rights
by Habitus · 02/12/10
Our friend and adviser Ian Buruma, who has long been at the forefront of the debate over Islam and its encounter with Western societies, has published an essay in Beirut’s Daily Star about recent legislative battles in France over banning the burqa.
A strong opponent of the proposed ban, Buruma argues:
Some women may, indeed, be forced by family or peer pressure to cover themselves up. The same is true of orthodox Jewish women who must shave their heads and wear wigs when they marry. It is not immediately apparent why Jewish or some extreme forms of Christian orthodoxy should be more compatible with Republican values, let alone feminism, than Muslim Salafism.
