Rita's article...spot on. The dopey left virtue signalling again...
Rita Panahi: Hypocrisy unveiled when Western women don hijab for harmony
Women in New Zealand were last week encouraged to wear hijabs in a show of solidarity with the Muslim community after the devastating Christchurch massacre.We saw non-Muslim women, from police officers to reporters, newsreaders to barmaids, donning a hijab in what was a misguided and counter-productive, albeit well-intentioned, bit of activism.
I wonder how many of those who decided to wear the veil — including mothers who put their little girls in hijabs and posted the pictures on Instagram with a Headscarf for Harmony hashtag — had any understanding of what it represents.
If you are going to celebrate the hijab then you should know it’s not just a garment, it’s not just a fashion accessory you can put on like you’re playing dress up.
The hijab, and other Muslim veils, such as the niqab, burqa and chador, is imbued with deep symbolism and represents modesty culture, which requires women to cover up, marking those who don’t.
At its core, modesty culture is deeply anti-women. There’s good reason why the majority of Muslim women in the West choose not to wear the hijab and why women’s rights campaigners living under Islam fight, at great personal risk, against its imposition.
Women are not risking their life and liberty to protest against a piece of cloth, it represents much more and we betray these brave women when we embrace the hijab as a symbol of diversity and harmony.
Women in countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are required to cover up by law or social convention and there are grim repercussions for those who fail to comply. In 2019 there are still thousands of women in the Muslim world arrested, beaten and imprisoned for protesting against compulsory veiling.
Earlier this month we learned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was sentenced to 38 years’ prison and 148 lashes for defending Iranian women who have been arrested and charged for removing their hijabs. The Washington Post editorial board wrote of her plight: “The prosecution of Ms Sotoudeh is outrageous. Her crime?
She defended women being prosecuted for peacefully protesting Iran’s compulsory hijab law by removing the head covering in public.”Sadly, Sotoudeh’s case is not unique.
Women living under modesty culture requirements risk arrest by authorities and far worse from vigilantes if they do not abide by strict codes imposed on them.
Veiling was invented by men and imposed upon women to control, separate and subjugate. To this day it’s forced upon millions of oppressed women.
It was forced on me as a child and I can only shake my head when I see empowered women in the West fetishise these tools of oppression. Many in the Muslim community have applauded non-Muslim NZ women donning veils but there has also been stiff opposition from some women who wear the hijab and see the campaign as “tokenistic” and a form of “cultural appropriation”.
Professor Karima Bennoune, the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, urged NZ women to think about the broader implication of wearing the hijab.“Can I respectfully ask those thinking of participating in #scarvesinsolidarity please also consider that millions of Muslim women do not wear hijab, don’t want (to) wear it, many like #NasrinSotoudeh take great risks (to) defend this opposition?” she posted on Twitter.Women’s rights campaigner Darya Safai was disappointed by the use of a “symbol of discrimination” that many women see as authoritarian and repressive. “This is the WRONG way to show solidarity!” she tweeted.
Founder of Free Hearts Free Minds Yasmine Mohammed, who was disowned and threatened by her family when she decided to stop wearing the veil in Canada, said NZ women who embraced the hijab should feel ashamed. “We all deserve freedom ... not just you,” she wrote. “STOP supporting our subjugation.”Anti-hijab activist Maryam Shariatmadari, who in the past has been imprisoned by the Iranian regime, also hit out at privileged Western women who are wilfully blind to the symbolism of the hijab.It is bizarre to see feminists adopting a tool of oppression rejected by the majority of Muslim women in the West
The West unintentionally help fundamentalists to suppress women like me when they glorify the hijab and make it the symbol of harmony,” she posted along with a picture of Jacinda Ardern in a hijab and one of herself in Iran being assaulted for not wearing the veil.Meanwhile,
ABC feminists uncritically praised the celebration of the hijab with no consideration of the deeper implications. As usual, they were too preoccupied with moral posturing to worry about what message was being sent to those living under genuine patriarchal oppression.I find it utterly bizarre to see supposed feminists adopting a tool of oppression rejected by the majority of Muslim women in the West and fought against by women’s rights campaigners in the Muslim world. Also bizarre are supposed secularists applauding NZ state media broadcasting an Islamic call for prayer on Friday.
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