Council of Europe Unanimously Supports Right To Wear Burqa

[Nadir Shah]

^French North African Muslims and British Panjabee and Bengalee Muslims really believe that the Taliban are their saviours?

Deeply misguided if true. Oh well ...

Havent you heard. "Afghanistan ke Talibaan aslee Taliban they, wo Islam laana chaahte they, yeh Taliban Pakistan ke khilaaf hain, Yeh RAW kay agent hain. (The Afghan Taliban were good, they wanted Islam. The Taliban over here are bad because they are RAW agents working against Pakistan.')

There is a tendency among these Moslems to bite the very hand that feeds them.

[tor_khan]

Havent you heard. "Afghanistan ke Talibaan aslee Taliban they, wo Islam laana chaahte they, yeh Taliban Pakistan ke khilaaf hain, Yeh RAW kay agent hain. (The Afghan Taliban were good, they wanted Islam. The Taliban over here are bad because they are RAW agents working against Pakistan.')

There is a tendency among these Moslems to bite the very hand that feeds them.

Quite honestly, either this is spinning off in another direction or we're clutching at straws to explain why the basic question of why European Muslims are more insular and ghettoised compared to North American Muslims, which is about as capitalist as you can get, compared to the softer more socially liberal and leftist tendencies in certain parts of Europe.

Economics plays a part, of course, but I think deep within Euroculture, there are historic reasons why minorities - Muslims, Jews, Slavs etc. have found themselves living in enclaves and ghettos. It's very convenient to blame the minorities, but that's nothing new. It's basic scapegoating and the premise on which most prejudice and racism sits.

I hasten to add, this is not exclusive to Europe only, but these things are worth considering before we completely eulogise everything about any social system.

[Palwasha]

Burkhas come across as walking tents, a blast from the Medieval past. Imagine a person who hasn't seen someone in a burkha before. What would his reaction be if he is approached by a person who barely has her eyes revealed?

It's also a crime to make a woman wear that when it's 40C outside. But in some societies, women are expected to wear them so they don't really have a choice.

Ah, the good 'ol ''Muslim women have no choice in how they dress'', definitely haven't heard that one before.

Oh well, If a women wants to cover her whole self then its her decision but in a western society it doesnt look normal.

And how would you define normal? People have different definitions of it.. and does that also mean wherever we are, we should all dress according to the social norm?

In both posts I've quoted, both talk about the look of the burkha; it's definitely not done as a fashion statement, rather women wear in opposition to fashion. I fail to see how one could become offended by these clothes, let them present themselves how they wish to the world. It's really not such a difficult concept to comprehend.

If nuns can freely dress however they wish, without recieving as much criticism, I don't see why women who wear the burkha can't just be left alone.

[Toramana]

tor_khan, how come you so cocksuredly say that Muslims in North America are better integrated than Muslims of Europe? Give me the source of your information. Moreover, don't your Muslim-specific complains about Europe belie your pan-Islamic sentiments?

[tor_khan]

tor_khan, how come you so cocksuredly say that Muslims in North America are better integrated than Muslims of Europe? Give me the source of your information.

Cocksuredly?

There's a dearth of hard evidence to support this, but mine is simple anecdotal observation. I've lived in Europe and the US, so I'm talking about overall pictures.

French Muslims live in the arrondissements - the outer fringes of the major cities where they are concetrated.

In Britain, for Muslims the picture is the other way - Muslims tend to live within the cities and in many cases poorer quality housing , but not the nicer out of town areas towards the open countryside.

American Muslims tend to be more middle class and better integrated. This report is more for your purposes.

The diagram is quite telling (fewer poorer Muslims in the US and in the second diagram a higher alienation rate for Brit Muslims):

Moreover, don't your Muslim-specific complains about Europe belie your pan-Islamic sentiments?

????