French senate approves burqa ban, what about Australian parliament?

    http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/eu...ban/index.html

    Paris, France (CNN) -- The French senate approved Tuesday a law banning any veils that cover the face -- including the burqa, the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women -- making France the first European country to plan such a measure.

    The law passed by a vote of 246 to 1, with about 100 abstentions coming essentially from left-leaning politicians.

    The legislation was overwhelmingly approved by the lower house of parliament in July and will go into effect next spring.

    French people back the ban by a margin of more than four to one, the Pew Global Attitudes Project found in a survey earlier this year.

    Some 82 percent of people polled approved of a ban, while 17 percent disapproved. That was the widest support the Washington-based think tank found in any of the five countries it surveyed.

    Clear majorities also backed burqa bans in Germany, Britain and Spain, while two out of three Americans opposed it, the survey found.

    A panel of French lawmakers recommended a ban last year, and lawmakers unanimously passed a non-binding resolution in May calling the full-face veil contrary to the laws of the nation.

    "Given the damage it produces on those rules which allow the life in community, ensure the dignity of the person and equality between sexes, this practice, even if it is voluntary, cannot be tolerated in any public place," the French government said when it sent the measure to parliament in May.

    The law imposes a fine of 150 euros ($190) and/or a citizenship course as punishment for wearing a face-covering veil. Forcing a woman to wear a niqab or a burqa will be punishable by a year in prison or a 15,000-euro ($19,000) fine, the government said, calling it "a new form of enslavement that the republic cannot accept on its soil."

    The French Council of State has warned that the ban could be incompatible with international human rights laws and the country's own constitution. The council advises on laws, but the government is not required to follow its recommendations.

    The ban pertains to the burqa, a full-body covering that includes a mesh over the face, and the niqab, a full-face veil that leaves an opening only for the eyes. The hijab, which covers the hair and neck but not the face, and the chador, which covers the body but not the face, apparently are not banned by the law.

    However, a 2004 law in France bans the wearing or displaying of overt religious symbols in schools -- including the wearing of headscarves by schoolgirls.

    The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life estimates that France has about 3.5 million Muslims, or about 6 percent of the population.

    France does not keep its own statistics on religious affiliation of the population, in keeping with its laws requiring the state to be strictly secular.

I think the French have got this right. Acting with a little bit of courage now is the best way to avoid, or minimise future heartache.

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One thing the Americans do seem to understand is the value of personal freedom.

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They could have made this a good law if they had stuck to banning men from denying women the freedom to choose. Instead they have denied women the freedom to choose.

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They don't seem to have thought this through.

abu_rashid wrote on Sep 15^th, 2010 at 9:22pm:


It's Allah's will, isn't it, that this law was passed. Isn't everything Allah's will? WHo are you to ridicule what Allah ordained, you naughty, naughty pseudo-moor.

Insh'allah, non?

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Something like 0.01% of Muslim women in France wear Niqab (ie. Burqa), so it's quite clearly very misplaced if that was the intention.

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It's not going to cause anyone to move back anywhere, it's just going to cause resentment, alienation, anger and mistrust from both sides, which in the end is going to be a _source_ of heartache.

abu_rashid wrote on Sep 15^th, 2010 at 9:22pm:


I didn`t expect you to comprehend Abu, but these Muslims were originally taken into France, and given refuge by the charity of the French people. Now the French are recognising their mistake in that the Muslims don`t respect, or appreciate the kind actions of the French, but hold the French in contempt as infidels, or lesser beings.

As with Muslims everywhere, immigrant Muslims carry with them the arrogant attitudes and beliefs that have made their own countries the hell holes they have always been, and will always be.

The lesson that the French, English, Danes, Dutch, Belgians etc. have, and are learning, is :- "Never invite a pig into your home, a pig won`t appreciate your charity, but will foul your home, leave the pigs in their stys where they belong".

abu_rashid wrote on Sep 16^th, 2010 at 8:05am:





Abu, you are a stupid, dogmatic peudo-Muslim.

If you really though everything was God's will and human freedom didn't come into it, you would not constantly blame non-muslims and the west especially, for all the ills of the muslim world.

If everything is Allah's will then who are you, worm, to apportion blame to anyone? But you are so stupid and so full of resentment that you don't believe your own stupid dogmas (mostly because they are absolutely unbelievable and unlivable nonsense).

The irreconcilable tention between your baseless and unlivable dogmas and the demands of sanity is obvious from your every utterance.
Hence your desire to escape back into the imaginary simplicity of Mohammedan Araby. This irreconcilable tension between reality and your menatal world is called psychosis.

athos wrote on Sep 16^th, 2010 at 12:54pm:


I`ve protected a few from loneliness while their master`s been down at the "little boy`s club".  Muslim women love a man who`s not an insecure fruitloop.