Belgium Decides To Ban The Burqa

Belgium is set to become the first ever country in Europe to ban the burqa from being worn in public places.

The vote in Parliament for a nationwide ban on Islamic clothes or veils that do not allow the wearer to be fully identified was almost unanimous.

Full story here

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100430/twl-belgium-decides-to-ban-the-burqa-3fd0ae9.html

Loved the quote from Isabelle Praile, who said that this could be the start of a slippery slope. "Today it's the full-face veil, tomorrow the veil, the day after it will be Sikh turbans and then perhaps it will be mini-skirts."

As a fully red-blooded heterosexual male, I would welcome the removal of mini-skirts!!!!! :)

Quebec has already been there done that.  My instinct is to think it's a mistake, but I'd be happy to be argued with.

I don't like the idea of dress regulations. Hence, I don't like this.

where's Joanna Lumley when you need her,the Burqa's fought for this country and they should be allowed to live here!
right,nurse,give me more pills :-p

This is crazy

Hi there!

being french, living in Brussels for the last 6 years, I thought I'd give you my opinion on that matter:

I hear a lot about setting legislation on that matter, but I honestly believe that Muslim women who wear that kind of veil are a so small amount of that population.

I hear a lot of opinion about how the niqab is supposed to be linked to polygamy, to beaten-women

But I can't believe this should be the n1 matter of the moment...

anyway, I don't really care about that law, and admit that if I find unpleasant to come across somebody who doesn't show anything of her/his face (feel a little naked somehow...), I don't find it that offensive...

I don't like the idea of government regulating the way people dress, unless the person is driving and  the burqa is limiting the ability to concentrate on the road.

Then again, Muslim women who wear burqas are probably prohibited
from driving. What doesn't make much sense to me is how the Muslim
community seems outraged when western society imposes a ban on the
way they dress, but they have far more restrictions on women's rights.

I think the burqa is very unsociable - you don't know who are dealing with.  If the community involved cannot update the norms by themselves to fit into the modern society, then I think legislation is justified.

Mr.Jingles wrote:"Then again, Muslim women who wear burqas are probably prohibited from driving." Not always.


"What doesn't make much sense to me is how the Muslim community seems outraged when western society imposes a ban on the way they dress, but they have far more restrictions on women's rights." So because the Muslim community alledgedly has 'far more restrictions on women's rights' (which is incredibly debatable), it's okay for the country to restrict women's rights by telling them what they should and shouldn't wear?

tcc wrote:"I think the burqa is very unsociable - you don't know who are dealing with. If the community involved cannot update the norms by themselves to fit into the modern society, then I think legislation is justified." The burqa may be unsociable, but is that a reason to ban it? I mean, we are talking about the government enacting legislation.

My problem with this is that whatever one thinks of the burqa, I hate the idea of the government telling women (or men) what we should and should not wear. In countries like Saudi Arabia, women are banned from wearing anything but the burqa, yet you want women in Western society to be banned from wearing a burqa? I don't understand that. We also have the absurd and hypocritical situation of France, which itself bans the veil in public schools and is contemplating a burqa ban, condemning Sudan for arresting a woman for wearing jeans.

I think it's irrelevent as well how sociable or not the burqa is. Plenty of things are unsociable, sunglasses indoors for example, but we don't force people to cease wearing sunglasses indoors. You also mentioned social norms, but is society really so intolerant of difference that it deals with people violating social norms through legislation?

In the case of sun glasses, you can see the person except his eyes.  In the case of the burqa, you cannot see anything except the eyes. :-)

I am saying it in the context of a multi-racial society.  In their own country where the burqa is the norm, there is nothing we can say.

tcc wrote:"In the case of sun glasses, you can see the person except his eyes. In the case of the burqa, you cannot see anything except the eyes. :-)

I am saying it in the context of a multi-racial society. In their own country where the burqa is the norm, there is nothing we can say."

Is that such a bad thing that you can't see anything but the eyes? Anyway the question still remains. Would you be happy to live in a nation in which the government isn telling people what they can and can not wear? I wouldn't.

In a liberal democracy, people are going to wear/do/say things that one might not like at all That doesn't mean we should ban them. Especially when the woman in question may not want to show you anything but her eyes. Surely it's her right.

You assume that it is a woman wearing a burqa.  It could be a man inside - we don't know.

As I am a word lazy person, I don't engage in arguments or debates.  So I will stop here.

I'm just waiting for the day when someone robs a bank in a burqa, gets arrested, is forced to take the burqa off in jail, throws the freedom of religion card, and gets away with the crime.

This is one of a thousand reasons why revealing one's identity is a cornerstone of western culture.  Ban the burqa in public now.