Posted on 10/17/2006 9:54:24 PM PDT by MadIvan
Britons gave overwhelming backing last night to a call for a ban on full-face Muslim veils.
Ninety-eight per cent of Daily Express readers agreed that a restriction would help to safeguard racial harmony and improve communication.
Our exclusive poll came as ministers stepped up the pressure on Muslim leaders to demonstrate "real leadership" in the fight against extremism.
Thousands of readers registered their alarm amid mounting concern that the veil is a barrier to good race relations.
The controversy was underlined by yesterday’s Daily Express revelation that bosses at a medical school have barred Muslim students from wearing the veil. Instead, they must show their faces when talking to patients and in meetings with colleagues.
The debate – sparked when the Commons Leader Jack Straw said he had asked women to remove their veils during meetings – continued yesterday as two Cabinet ministers joined the row.
Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly dismissed claims that the Government was "demonising" Muslims, insisting everybody had a part to play in responding to the extremist threat.
"This is not just a problem for Muslim communities. The Far-Right is still with us, still poisonous, still trying to create and exploit divisions," she said.
"Extremism is an issue for all of us. We all must play our part in responding to it."
Councils will have to set out how they intend to prevent radicalisation in their communities. After talks with police chiefs and local authorities, Ms Kelly said: "We really have to raise our game. We have to work in a new way to face up to the size of the threat."
She refused to back down on moves to withdraw support for Muslim groups that failed to take a leading role in tackling extremism but said the Government was "absolutely committed" to working with organisations with a "genuine commitment" to pluralism.
In a letter to Muhammad Abdul Bari, head of the Muslim Council of Britain, she rejected claims that ministers would not work with those who disagreed with Government policy.
But she added: "I don’t accept that those in leadership positions can be passive in tackling extremism and yet expect government support. The question the public are not unreasonably asking is why should any organisation object to taking a leadership role in tackling extremism?"
Her letter followed Dr Bari’s claim that ministers were "marginalising" Muslims with comments such as Mr Straw’s suggestion that Muslim women should remove their veils.
Dr Bari said: "What is happening… has been a barrage of demonisation of the Muslim community to such an extent that the community is now scared and feels vulnerable."
The decision to ban veils was taken by Birmingham University school of medicine. In the Daily Express poll, 98 per cent of readers said veils should be banned from all hospitals.
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said women who covered their faces were failing to take their full place in society.
"The veil is a symbol of women’s subjugation to men," she said. "Women who are heavily veiled, whose identity is obscured to the world apart from their husbands, cannot take their full place in society."
But one Muslim Labour MP accused colleagues of playing into the hands of racists. Khalid Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, warned that "hype" over a small number of people encouraged "Muslim-bashing".
"The only people this will benefit is the Far-Right BNP," he warned. "It will also encourage extremists from the Muslim community who will say, ‘We told you so’."
Labour former Home Office Minister John Denham said ministers’ comments were exacerbating matters.
"In a situation where there is too little understanding between the Muslim community and the wider community, and vice-versa, it seems to be producing a defensiveness and lack of willingness to debate on the Muslim side and in the majority a sort of generalised feeling that Muslims as a whole pose some sort of threat to our entire way of life," he said.
Tory leader David Cameron said everyone in Britain had a right to wear what they liked although Mr Straw had "raised a legitimate issue".
Well, to some, things like self-protection don't matter. It's all about "freedom." So, if the weather outside gets too cold for the rattlesnakes, we must bring them inside our homes to warm up. If they bite us and kill us because that's what rattlesnakes do, well, that's just part of "living in a free society." Or, I suppose, dying in one.
I went to high school in Cairo and understand what the citizens were banned from doing. However, Egypt does not proclaim to be a free society while the US and UK do claim to be free societies. Thus, is a free society people should be permitted to wear a veil a bikini or purple paint.
There is no such thing as too much freedom.
Good luck to you folks on outlawing that nonsense. Hope you're successful.
Apparently, you have never been in Minnesota in January.
Go for it.
You should walk into a bank wearing a ski mask, to see how free you are to wear masks, here.
You are now confusing Private Property with the Public Street.
Exactly.
I used to work with a Muslim woman that wrote code and wore a veil at work. I have to admit that it made meetings a little uncomfortable but she was damn good at what she did. However, i think the veil held her back in her career but that was her choice.
Predicton:
This friday = MORE ARAB STREET OUTRAGE!!!!
Code for an automated trading system.
In addition, she would not talk in meetings but instead passed a note around of anything she had to say.
However, there's no good reason to hide your face in public. Only bank robbers and KKK members hide their faces in public.
Carnival often involves wearing masks and hiding ones identity in public.
Like I said, there's no good reason to hide one's face in public. Carnival is NOT a good reason.
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