Dutch Government Backs Burqa Ban
The Dutch cabinet has backed a proposal by the country’s immigration minister to ban Muslim women from wearing the burqa in public places. The burqa, a full body covering that also obscures the face, would be banned by law in the street, and in trains, schools, buses and the law courts. The cabinet said burqas disturb public order, citizens and safety. The decision comes days ahead of elections which the ruling centre-right coalition is expected to win. Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk is known for her tough policies, and has clashed with past coalition partners. Late last year she said the government would look into a ban after a majority in the Dutch parliament said they were in favour.
This is a gimmick. This government is about to change, and Verdonk and her co-bigots want a quick electoral boost with the xenophobes (of whom there are many) before next week’s vote, knowing damned well that any such law will not survive a European Human Rights Convention challenge in court.
In my 3 years in Amsterdam I’ve seen precisely 3 woman in burqa or once a year – and 2 of those sightings were the same woman, who lives right up the street. This move is cynical in the extreme and typical of the loathsome slime that calls itse;f Rita Verdonk. How I loathe that bloody woman.
It’s also likely to be counterproductive too: as in the UK, continued negative focus on Dutch Moslems and the more extreme examples of religious clothing, while ignoring the mass of Moderate Dutch Moslems – who’re just going about their daily lives and who are neither radical not particularly pious, just decent people like everybody else – will make even more young Moslem women feel that they must wear burqa as a political statement.
But what does Verdonk care so long as she gets the votes?
Read more: Netherlands, Holland, Burqa ban, Verdonk
