Take off your veils, says Straw

The Daily Telegraph ^ | October 6, 2006 | Nigel Bunyan and Graeme Wilson

[MadIvan]

Jack Straw provoked anger yesterday by suggesting that community relations would be helped if Muslim women did not wear full veils.

The Leader of the Commons disclosed that for the past year he had been asking women who visited his constituency office to remove their veils so that he could see them face-to-face. He always made sure that he was accompanied by a female member of staff and so far no constituent had refused to lift her veil.

Mr Straw said that wearing the full veil was bound to make "better, positive relations" between communities more difficult, as it could be seen "as a visible statement of separation and difference". He had felt "uncomfortable" whenever a woman had worn one in his Blackburn constituency office.

A prominent Muslim scholar described his comments as "untimely" and giving out "a mixed message".

Sheik Ibrahim Nogra, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: "On the one hand he says this is a free country. On the other, he is denying that free choice to a woman who chooses to wear the veil.

"Does Mr Straw mean that people should give up certain cultural and religious customs and practices simply because a vast majority of the country do not share them?

"That is calling for assimilation. That is saying that one culture or one way of life is superior to another.

"If we are truly multicultural, we have to accept that there will be women who want to dress in this way."

Sheik Ibrahim, who trained as an imam, said: "I have a beard and I wear a traditional long shirt. Sometimes I wear a turban and a hat. Am I going to be his next subject of concern?" He said he welcomed a debate but Muslims "would want ownership of the outcome of that debate".

Dr Reefat Drabu, the chairman of the social and family affairs committee of the Muslim Council of Great Britain, said: "If Mr Straw thinks this is going to break down barriers, it isn't. If anything, it is going to alienate Muslim women and be a catalyst for more of them to wear the veil and prove a point."

She added: "If you are trying to build bridges, you need to listen to what Muslims are saying. The problems that alienate women are to do with foreign policy and no one seems to take any notice of that. This country is supposed to celebrate diversity. That is the wonderful thing about this country: that it accepts, that it is tolerant. Women who wear the veil are making the statement that they are separate from society and that is why they wear it."

Mr Straw, a former foreign secretary who has sought strong links with Muslims, said: "The Muslim Council of Great Britain has made clear that this is an issue that theologically the Islamic community is divided on. Most of my Muslim constituents don't mind if I ask them to lift their veils."

He said he began "mulling over" the matter a year ago after a veiled constituent attended one of his surgeries and said she was pleased to meet him face-to-face.

" 'Chance would be a fine thing,' I thought to myself but did not say aloud," he wrote in his weekly column for the Lancashire Telegraph. "It was not the first time I had conducted an interview with someone in a full veil, but this particular encounter, though very polite and respectful on both sides, got me thinking." Mr Straw's intervention was backed by Ann Cryer, the Labour MP for Keighley in West Yorkshire, who has been a leading campaigner against forced marriages.

She said: "I'm quite sure that there will be hundreds of people saying it's awful and insensitive and disgraceful but I agree with every word.

"I have no problem with Muslim women wearing a scarf but to exclude the person you are talking to from your facial expressions is not reasonable." However Hazel Blears, the Cabinet minister without portfolio, said on BBC1's Question Time that while it was right to discuss such issues "I do not think it's right for Government to lay down laws about what people should wear".

Appearing on the same programme, Oliver Letwin, the Conservative's policy chief, said: "Muslim women who want to wear a veil should be able to wear a veil."

The Bishop of Burnley, the Rt Rev John Goddard, said he hoped that Mr Straw's comments would act "as a catalyst for debate and real dialogue".

[blasater1960]

Could it be that English "footballers" will save Western Civilization? Imagine that!

[TheWorldsWorstLurker]

I detest the thuggish undercurrent that runs through much of the population of a certain strata in the UK, most of whom happen to be football supporters. But they have that reputation for a reason and it is one that the British have used to great effect in the past by channelling it into the armed services in times of war.

Islamists really should watch out.

[SuziQ]

"That is calling for assimilation. That is saying that one culture or one way of life is superior to another.

Nope, that's just showing respect to the dominant culture. Would this Muslim cleric be offended if he were in, say, Iran, and a Western woman was walking around in shorts and a tank top? Methinks he would be horridly offended. And it would be disrespectful of that woman to dress that way, knowing the culture of the country.

When in Rome, as they say.

[Dutchgirl]

That is saying that one culture or one way of life is superior to another. Why yes, I would say that societies that don't stone rape victims are superior in compassion to societies that DO.

"If we are truly multicultural, we have to accept that there will be women who want to dress in this way." Especially if MUSLIM multiculturalism does not allow for the dissenting opinion of women...

Freakish video here.