Ban the Burqa

Congratulations to the Danish Police and Government in enforcing their ban on the full-face veil by imposing a fine of 1000 kroner (£120) on a woman in a shopping centre when she refused to remove her veil.
Sputnik

When will our politicians and our Gay Pride dancing, nail varnishing, panda car rainbow painting cops rediscover their balls and impose a similar ban on this symbol of female oppression in the UK.

To be totally fair to liberal Denmark the ban does not mention burkas and niqabs by name, but says, "anyone who wears a garment that hides the face in public will be punished with a fine".

'Great News': Public Reacts to Denmark's First Fine for Violating Full Veil Ban
I have discussed this topic more times than I care to remember on radio phone-in shows and TV debates and the cliché that is always put forward by members of the public is "I wouldn't be allowed to walk into a bank or a petrol station with a crash helmet on or a balaclava so why should Muslim women be able to dress like this?"

Now the liberal elite can sneer at that cliché but it is a cliché because it speaks to a plain truth but of course, as per usual, our politicians turn a blind eye to it.

"Is it because they is Muslim?!"

The libertarian and the ex punk rocker in me tells me not to get wound up about a piece of cloth and if women want to walk around looking like 400-year-old Daleks let them. It is freedom of expression isn't it? But that is the rub isn't it? Are the facts more that the Burka and veil are a real symbol of female oppression and a clear signal of sections of one community saying they do not wish to be part of a liberal UK?

READ MORE: 'You Should Look Somebody in the Face' While Speaking About Security – MP

Since Denmark imposed their ban there have been demonstrations on the street with women in the full black letterbox gear calling for their human rights, (stop sniggering at the back) and saying that they will not adhere to the ban. Well if so, I say arrest them and drag them through the courts I believe in one law for all whether it is in Denmark or the UK. To use another cliché or truth, "When in Rome".

How ironic that this is happening in liberal Denmark whilst in Iran women are tearing off their Hijabs and being carted away to Prison. In this #MeToo generation where rightly, women are standing together to fight male sexual aggression, where are the big brave Hollywood voices condemning what is happening in Iran and indeed where is their support for Denmark?  

Netherlands Introduces Islamic Burqa Ban in Public Places
Hold on, what's that bleating I hear? No, it isn't lambs on the way to their Halal slaughter (another outdated and barbaric act that should be banned in twenty first century Europe) it is the whining of the usual suspects, this time Human Rights Watch who are labelling the ban as "discriminatory" and saying it is the "latest in a harmful trend."

This is the same Guardian backed, Owen Jones style propaganda and paranoia that gets hysterical over Steve Bannon meeting with Tories or the release of Tommy Robinson and sees this as clear evidence or as some sort of signal of a rise in the West of the Far Right and that fascism is on the way back?

The same kind of logic that turns a blind eye to the fact that hundreds have been slaughtered in the past few years in Europe by Islamist Extremists and tells us we should not be worried about Jihadists and their sympathisers living in our midst (23,000 at the last count) as there is more chance of us being run over by a bus! So please people, stop looking back in anger when 22 mainly little girls are slaughtered in Manchester. Logical isn't it?!

Now this is not to say that every Dalek walking the streets is a potential terrorist although it is interesting to note that Terror suspects have escaped arrest wearing the full Burka on more than one occasion.

I wrote about banning the Burka years ago in the Sun and it provoked a massive response and as far as I can see, without my veil or my rose-tinted specs on, more people agree with me than ever.

READ MORE: Austria Moves to Ban Headscarves in Kindergartens, Primary Schools

The bottom line is that the Burka and the veil is no longer anything to do with modesty, if indeed it ever was, it is simply a visual two fingers up to our liberal tolerant democracy and a means of female oppression and as such I am more convinced than ever that we need to ban it.

However, Boris Johnson writing in today's Daily Telegraph is typical of our spineless politicians who wants his cake and wants to eat it and refuses to confront the problem by saying, "I am against a total ban because it is inevitably construed — rightly or wrongly — as being intended to make some point about Islam"

Norway Wants to Ban Full-Face Veils in Schools - Reports
No, you don't Boris it is making a point about Islamists and people not wanting to integrate or be part of mainstream British culture.

But Boris' liberal hand wringing continues with, "If you go for a total ban, you play into the hands of those who want to politicise and dramatize the so-called clash of civilisations; and you fan the flames of grievance."

Boris, there is no need to worry about fanning the flames of grievance, the fire is already raging with the nearly 500, last time I counted, who have already been slaughtered in Western Europe in the last three years.

But Boris is off on one, warning us all that a ban on the veil would "risk turning people into martyrs, and you risk a general crackdown on any public symbols of religious affiliation, and you may simply make the problem worse."

How much worse could it get Boris than report after report stating that many Muslims are leading separate lives to the rest of the UK?

How much worse could it get than British born Muslims going to Syria and Iraq to train how to kill us?

How much worse could it get Boris than people repaying our generosity and tolerance by making a bomb out of Tupperware in their foster parents kitchen table and trying to kill 93 people at Parson Green?

How much worse can it get Boris than Salman Abedi being rescued from Libya by our Royal Navy and then deciding to kill innocent children in Manchester?

READ MORE: 'Is It About Muslims?' Sweden Pledges Crackdown on Religious 'Free Schools'

Boris then insults the intelligence of every Brit by saying "Like a parent confronted by a rebellious teenager determined to wear a spike through her tongue, or a bolt through her nose, you run the risk that by your heavy-handed attempt to ban what you see as a bizarre and unattractive adornment you simply stiffen resistance".

Boris, I do not see the veil as a bizarre and unattractive adornment.

I see it as two fingers up to liberal Britain.

I see it as a clear symbol of otherness.

I see it as visual statement of rejecting our values and customs and law.

I see it as stopping thousands of young British born Muslim girls and women being able to take part freely in modern British society.

This is why I want it banned in public. And I believe that millions of Brits agree with me including sizable amounts of British Muslims.

Let's be clear, as even Boris admits, "The burka and the niqab were certainly not always part of Islam" and he also states correctly that, "I can find no scriptural authority for the practice in the Koran"

He is 100 percent correct on this.

But completely wrong on his next statement, "In Britain today, there is only a tiny, tiny minority of women who wear these odd bits of headgear. One day, I am sure, they will go."

I wish I could share your confidence Boris, but the truth is, with your hand wringing, the numbers are actually increasing not decreasing.  Separation is widening and I believe fear is increasing.

Unlike Sadiq Khan I do not believe we should live in fear or get used to terrorism as part and parcel of living in a big city or whatever other nonsense he came out with instead of actually confronting the problem.

Instead of talking about teenagers we should be following, not only the lead of Denmark, but also the following countries where full or partial bans are in place, France, Austria, Bulgaria and Bavaria in Germany, I could go on.

Last year even the European Court of Human Rights upheld a similar ban to the Danish one in Belgium saying that, "Communal harmony trumped an individual's right to religious expression"

Put that in your diary, I am agreeing with the European court of Human Rights and I am fed up of the discussion we need to ban this symbol of otherness, oppression and fear now.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.

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