The organization BOEH! (boss of our own head) carried out a demonstration during the Fashion Show in San Marco Village in Schelle. The members of BOEH had organized a "fashion show with a mission" to make it clear how important it is for most Muslim women to wear a headscarf, says Laila Ekchouchou of BOEH.
The reason for the demonstration during the Fashion Show is the planed debate Monday evening in Ghent. Almost all the political parties will be present there. This is the result of the insistence of Vlaams Belang to ban the wearing of the headscarf by Ghent city workers, which is now allowed. The immigrant community of Ghent has already announced a demonstration on the debate evening.
In order to add more power to the demonstration, the BOEH! organization organized its own demonstration. A fashion show to clearly show that it should be possible to wear the headscarf everywhere, for everybody who wants it, according to Liala Ekchouchou. They want to signal that they won't let anybody else decide above their heads. BOEH is also shocked by the sudden about-face in Ghent.
"We are also enormously shocked by the sudden about face in Ghent. We saw this city as a model city, the city that showed that everything is possible without problems. Now they want to introduce it there and you'll create problems, where there are none. There are already women working with a headscarf after all."
BOEH! came into being after Antwerp implemented a headscarf ban. Laila says that they have already called for people to be present Monday evening in Ghent, and during the voting on November 26."
Source: HLN (Dutch), pictures available on the site.
See also: Antwerp: Municipal veil ban drawing protest
3 comments:
Turkey banned the veil and headscarf in govt buildings because it recognised its political significance. I don't understand why people have to parade their religion. In the UK a worker for British Airways was suspended for wearing a crucifix yet muslims wear the headscarf all the time. A uniform should be a uniform and religious dress should be reserved for the church or the mosque.
There are many protests going on in various forms. Check this one out, being done by a therapist using his patients as the ones to perpetrate offense:
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Psychologists are always seeking ways to categorize every aspect of human behavior into a compartmentalized system of labels, all in an attempt to try and comprehend the incomprehensible.
The therapist(s) who formulated this technique for mental health remain elusive, for I have as of yet to discover the identities of who is behind this phenomenon. Attempts at contacting members of this network have been futile. I even doubted the true existence of this group, at least until I was shown a CDR containing a lengthy video of numerous different sessions of this therapy technique for people suffering various mental health issues, and who appear to have found a new high in self-confidence they never thought possible in their own lives.
The video is mostly a patchwork of clips thrown together in a very unprofessional manner, thus making it hard, at times, to understand who is saying and doing what.
What these people were instructed to do was to go into parking lots of various meeting places for Muslims, whether it was mosques or activity centers, in cities all across the country, armed with only a small cloth dipped in pig's blood. What they did was wipe a very small, unnoticeable trace of the pig's blood on the door handles of the vehicles, and on the handles of the doors on and inside the buildings, and then get away without being caught in the act.
In some scenes, the patients were wearing traditional Muslim clothing, consisting of what looked like two white sheets, and a copy of the Koran, also with traces of pig's blood on its cover in case one of the staff or members stopped them and wanted to see what the book was or ask what they were doing. Two different scenes showed two different sessions, one at night and one during the day, where the patients were confronted as to what they were doing. Claiming they were walking about in prayer and meditation seemed to satisfy the staff that there was nothing amiss.
What was even more astounding was that some of the sessions in the video showed a number of the more wealthy and daring patients actually traveling to, and doing these same deeds in Middle Eastern countries, at some of the major mosques where Muslims go on pilgrimage. They would even smear traces of pig's blood on all the Muslims they could as they went to, or were coming from, the mosques.
They walked along the public walkways and rode on buses packed with Muslims, and wiped pig’s blood on the seats, passengers and passersby as they brushed by. They even went into marketplaces swarming with Muslims, wiping pig's blood on everyone they could, especially on exposed skin such as hands, and even on exposed foods being bought by the Muslims.
In a few of the scenes, a makeshift catapult was used to lob small bags of pig’s blood to splatter on the domes or roofs of mosques and other Muslim meeting places they were otherwise not allowed to approach.
One of the videos showed a bag of pig’s blood being lobbed directly onto what looked like the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, with the people in the video, in low voices, excitedly exclaiming that they had scored a direct hit. The thought that pigs blood would bathe the Dome of the Rock until the rainy winter season washed it all off seemed to give the participants a strange sense of glee and accomplishment.
Needless to say, I was completely beside myself that any person could possibly need therapy so hazardous that they would risk their own lives to regain self-confidence, self-esteem, or whatever else they and their therapist(s) think is needed in their lives. According to the videos, no serious mishaps have happened as of yet, although there were some close calls and strange looks aimed their way by members, staff, and in some cases, security.
What this shows me is that there are those who will go to almost any length to get what they want, or what they think they need. Is taking risks, some that could cost one's own life, worth the healing some seem to desperately want?
Granted, this may be an offensive thing to religious groups such as Muslims, but to those who are seeking what they cannot get elsewhere, risky extremes seem to become a diminished threat when wholesome, mental health is at stake; which is something most of us take for granted.
Risk therapy that does no harm to persons or property has the appearance of being the wave of the future.
Freedom, yes!
Freedom NOT to wear the veil is the real issue.
Ask the women in Iran, Saudi Arabia and lots of others who are being intimidated to conform, to submit.
Those who choose to wear the scarf carry a heavy burden for the extra difficulty they place on women who want to be seen without being insulted.
They should feel guilty, even selfish.
Wearing a veil doesn't make you a good Muslim. It just makes the statement that you claim to be.
"Going to church (or the mosque) no more makes you a good Christian (or Muslim) than sitting in a garage makes you a car."
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