France: Muslim minister calls to ban burka
An outright ban of the wearing of the burka in France would help stem the spread of the "cancer" of radical Islam, according to the country's Muslim minister for urban regeneration.
Fadela Amara, who is of Algerian descent, said the veil and headscarf combination covering everything but the eyes represented "the oppression of women, their enslavement, their humiliation".
In an interview with the Financial Times, Ms Amara said she was "in favour of the burka not existing in my country".
Along with sexual oppression and poverty, she said, Muslim women suffered "a third form of oppression - extreme religiosity, the presence of fundamentalist groups who continue to propagate their discourse".
France was a beacon for an enlightened Islam at ease with modernity, so it was necessary to fight the "gangrene, the cancer of radical Islam which completely distorts the message of Islam", she said.
Getting rid of the burka would help women to stand up to the extremists within their communities, she argued.
"The vast majority of Muslims are against the burka. It is obvious why. Those who have struggled for women's rights back home in their own countries - I'm thinking particularly of Algeria - we know what it represents and what the obscurantist political project is that lies behind it, to confiscate the most fundamental liberties."
(more)
Source: Financial Times
An outright ban of the wearing of the burka in France would help stem the spread of the "cancer" of radical Islam, according to the country's Muslim minister for urban regeneration.
Fadela Amara, who is of Algerian descent, said the veil and headscarf combination covering everything but the eyes represented "the oppression of women, their enslavement, their humiliation".
In an interview with the Financial Times, Ms Amara said she was "in favour of the burka not existing in my country".
Along with sexual oppression and poverty, she said, Muslim women suffered "a third form of oppression - extreme religiosity, the presence of fundamentalist groups who continue to propagate their discourse".
France was a beacon for an enlightened Islam at ease with modernity, so it was necessary to fight the "gangrene, the cancer of radical Islam which completely distorts the message of Islam", she said.
Getting rid of the burka would help women to stand up to the extremists within their communities, she argued.
"The vast majority of Muslims are against the burka. It is obvious why. Those who have struggled for women's rights back home in their own countries - I'm thinking particularly of Algeria - we know what it represents and what the obscurantist political project is that lies behind it, to confiscate the most fundamental liberties."
(more)
Source: Financial Times
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