The context, Muzhgan, is one in which countries around the world are taking steps to bar people from wearing the burkas.
Egypt may well have been amongst the first countries to actually legislate on the issue, more for reasons of secular values than anything else, but various other countries have recently followed (for reasons including both secularism, security and identification - the reasons now being used in "Harper's rampage").
The most famous case is of course France. They started legislating on this issue over a decade ago and today burqas and niqabs are banned throughout the country. Belgium, yet another socialist country with a left-wing government, also banned them four years ago. Swiss Cantons, and Spanish cities (including ones as diverse and cosmopolitan as Barcelona) have also taken the same moves. …show more content…
Theres also the Liberal government in Quebec, which has proposed legislation to ban niqabs and burkas from the public sector. But they're Liberal, utterly beyond any accusations such as those levelled at Harper. In fact, many of the very same people who are accusing Harper of bigotry and xenophobia, are voting Liberal this month.
This is the context. Harper is not taking any new or novel steps. Nothing that the likes of Turkey didn't do decades
Egypt may well have been amongst the first countries to actually legislate on the issue, more for reasons of secular values than anything else, but various other countries have recently followed (for reasons including both secularism, security and identification - the reasons now being used in "Harper's rampage").
The most famous case is of course France. They started legislating on this issue over a decade ago and today burqas and niqabs are banned throughout the country. Belgium, yet another socialist country with a left-wing government, also banned them four years ago. Swiss Cantons, and Spanish cities (including ones as diverse and cosmopolitan as Barcelona) have also taken the same moves. …show more content…
Theres also the Liberal government in Quebec, which has proposed legislation to ban niqabs and burkas from the public sector. But they're Liberal, utterly beyond any accusations such as those levelled at Harper. In fact, many of the very same people who are accusing Harper of bigotry and xenophobia, are voting Liberal this month.
This is the context. Harper is not taking any new or novel steps. Nothing that the likes of Turkey didn't do decades