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Racism in the UK: Jack Straw and the veil
Jack Straw is wrong to suggest that the face veil is undermining community relations, and insensitive to ask Muslim women to take them off.
Why oh why can't we Muslims just take some constructive criticism for a change? We live in ghettos, we can't accept that terrorism is our fault, our Mosques are recruiting centres for jihadis and now Jack Straw has "sensibly" pointed out that women who cover their faces are a hindrance to social cohesion, we're up in arms again ...
On the face of it, the response of Muslims to Mr Straw's suggestion seem extreme, especially as the only thing he said was that failing to show the mouth and nose was "a visible statement of separation and of difference." An innocent comment surely, and an invitation to engage in dialogue with members of the Muslim community?
While it is commendable that Mr Straw has taken the steps to educate himself about the face veil and understand why some women choose to observe this practice; I find it somewhat perplexing that he would then ask women who wear it to remove it in his presence. This shows a lack of understanding of its purpose and total disregard and disrespect for the religious practice observed by some women.
More
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/rajnaara_akhtar/2006/10/jack_straw_misses_the_point.html
On the face of it, the response of Muslims to Mr Straw's suggestion seem extreme, especially as the only thing he said was that failing to show the mouth and nose was "a visible statement of separation and of difference." An innocent comment surely, and an invitation to engage in dialogue with members of the Muslim community?
While it is commendable that Mr Straw has taken the steps to educate himself about the face veil and understand why some women choose to observe this practice; I find it somewhat perplexing that he would then ask women who wear it to remove it in his presence. This shows a lack of understanding of its purpose and total disregard and disrespect for the religious practice observed by some women.
More
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/rajnaara_akhtar/2006/10/jack_straw_misses_the_point.html
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The Commons leader insisted that he did not want to be "prescriptive" of Muslim women's dress but said the increasing trend towards covering facial features was "bound to make better, positive relations between the two communities more difficult".
The row ignited yesterday after the Blackburn MP revealed that he had made clear to women wearing the niqab [full veil] at constituency surgeries that he would prefer them to remove the facial garment because face-to-face conversations were of "greater value".
More
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,1889173,00.html
From a sizeable Sikh population in a Kent town to a Bradford suburb where 73 per cent of people are Pakistani; from atheist Brighton to Leicester's large Indian population, the breakdown provides a fascinating snapshot of 21st-century Britain.
The findings are revealed on a day when issues of race and religion are again leading the news agenda. The former foreign secretary Jack Straw said yesterday that he asks Muslim women to remove their veils when they visit his constituency surgery, because he feels "uncomfortable" about talking to someone whose face he cannot see.
In Windsor, extra police had to be drafted in following violent clashes between white and Asian youths. And a row broke out after an armed Muslim protection officer was excused from guarding the Israeli embassy in London, on grounds of "safety", during the recent war in Lebanon because he had relatives in the country.
The map marks the first time the country has been analysed not simply in terms of the ethnicity of its population, but also by its religions. It reveals diversity in some areas, and the absence of it in others.
New analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) of the 2001 census figures shows that the north-west London borough of Brent is the most ethnically diverse area in England and Wales. Ethnographers devised a "diversity index" - based on the probability that any two people chosen at random from a particular area would be from different ethnic groups, even if neither of them were white.
More
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1813592.ece
Race relations in Windsor are under increasing strain following three nights of violence sparked by plans to build a mosque in a predominantly white suburb.
Fighting between white and Asian youths culminated in a petrol bomb attack on Wednesday night on a dairy owned by the Muslim businessman whose plans for an Islamic centre have proved bitterly divisive in the Berkshire town.
The violence flared after Ramadan prayers on Monday, when a clash erupted between white and Asian youths wielding pitchforks, baseball bats and iron bars.
The next night, dozens of police were sent to Vale Road in Dedworth, a suburb a short distance from Windsor Castle, as a stand-off had developed involving around 50 youths outside a building used for Muslim prayer. A police helicopter flew overhead and officers searched youths for offensive weapons.
Yesterday, a large, black scorch mark was visible on the front of the Medina Dairy following the petrol bomb attack and repairs were being carried out on a fleet of articulated lorries vandalised in the trouble.
More
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1813595.ece
"Indeed, the value of a meeting, as opposed to a letter or phone call, is so that you can -- almost literally -- see what the other person means, and not just hear what they say," Straw wrote in his regular column in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.
"I defend absolutely the right of any women to wear a headscarf," he said, asserting that covering the face "breaks no laws."
"I go on to say that I think, however, that the conversation would be of greater value if the lady took the covering from her face."
Straw, whose Blackburn constituency has a 22 -percent ethnic minority population, claimed that most women had no problem complying.
"I can't recall a single occasion when the lady concerned had refused to lift her veil; and most I ask seem relieved to have done so."
He said he now makes sure he has a female member of staff with him during meetings in his office.
Straw was moved from being foreign secretary to the government business management job of leader of the House of Commons in May, widely seen as a demotion.
After Prime Minister Tony Blair, he is the politician most closely associated with Britain's decision to join the invasion of Iraq in2003 .
In March, when he was still foreign secretary, Straw took United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Blackburn, where the pair were greeted by a series of anti-Iraq war demonstrations.
Selective Discrimination
Straw's revelation drew immediate rebuke from Muslim community leaders.
"I was shocked and dismayed by his comments," Nasrullah Anwar, spokesman for the Council of Mosques, told Sky News.
"You would think that someone in his position would be a little more sensitive and more understanding and perhaps better advised on what is a acceptable means of communicating your wishes and what's not," he said.
Anwar said the issue revolved around respecting the wishes of the woman who has chosen to cover her face.
"It is astonishing that someone as experienced and senior as Jack Straw does not realize that the job of an elected representative is to represent the interests of the constituency, not to selectively discriminate on the basis of religion," said Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission.
Halima Hussain, from civil liberties group the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, asked: "Who is Jack Straw to comment on negative symbols within a religion that is not his own?
"The point is these women have chosen to wear the veil and it's their own decision," she told BBC News24 .
"These are not oppressed women. I don't think he's right to say this at all."
Council of Lancashire Mosques chairman Hamid Kureshi accused Straw of "giving a small point a very big importance".
He told BBC Radio Five Live that those who wanted to remove their veils could, but that many would not want to.
"Jack Straw is putting them into a very awkward position by compromising the faith they believe in and that is ill-placed," he added.
Islamic dress codes, especially hijab, has taken central stage in several European countries, especially after France banned it in state-run schools and public institutions.
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2006-10/05/06.shtml
Yeah. Why don't you ask A WOMAN?! I mean, really. The guy has never had to wear one. Even better, I think you should ask a lot of women, and then look for answers amongst multiple responses. But if you're a guy, you'd probably have a harder time getting a straight answer than if you were a woman asking other women.