Burqa-Clad Muslim Women Get Wooed To Cast Vote: Mumbai NGO
New Age Islam News Bureau
5
Oct 2014
Photo: Burqa-Clad Muslim Women Get Wooed To Cast Vote
• Niqab-Wearing
DAP Member Hits Out At Critics, Says Religion a ‘Private Affair’
• Muslim
Outfits in Kerala, India, Back Yesudas's Remarks Against Girls Wearing Jeans
• How a
Tattooed, Blonde Muslim from Texas Became an ISIS Twitter Star
• Young Muslim
Women Turn To YouTube to Showcase Islam Their Way
• Team
Australia Should Encourage Young Muslims, Not Ban Niqabs
• Isil
Atrocities on Women Exposed On 'Shocking Scale'
• Europe
Grapples With Whether to Ban Muslim Burqas and Niqabs
• Swaziland
Mulls Monthly Grant Scheme for Girls in AIDS Fight
• Bombay
High Court Gives Maharashtra Government Ultimatum on Women's Safety
• Perth’s
Muslim Children Bearing Brunt of Public Backlash over IS
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Burqa-Clad
Muslim Women Get Wooed To Cast Vote: Mumbai NGO
Mohammed
Wajihuddin, TNN | Oct 5, 2014
Hidden
from news channels and press photographers are an unpleasant truth. Muslim
women don't vote in droves as photographs of Burqa-clad women proudly showing
their inked fingers or queuing up outside polling booths suggest. In fact, one
of the reasons for low percentage of voting in Muslim-concentrated areas is the
poor turnout of women voters. A city-based NGO, Being Women: Socio-Economic,
Cultural and Educational Society, has launched a drive to ensure that Muslim
women don't miss the chance to vote on October 15.
Being
Women's volunteers are creating awareness among through corner meetings, camps
and door-to-door visits. "When we analysed the reasons for poor turnout in
Muslim-dominated localities in the last few assembly and Lok Sabha elections,
we found that women were reluctant to step out. We want to change this
apathetic attitude and encourage women to vote," says Shadaab Siddiqui,
Being Women's president. The NGO was registered in April this year, adds
Siddiqui.
A
five-member-group are reaching out to female voters mostly in the impoverished
pockets like slums and chawls where poor education levels, conservatism and
patriarchy have colluded to keep most women indoors, even on polling days.
"In many homes it is men who decide everything on behalf of women. We tell
the women to shake off the herd mentality and choose candidates of their
choice," says Shabana Khan, Siddiqui's colleague. Khan adds that many
women give ludicrous excuses that range from being preoccupied with cooking to
looking after babies so they cannot go out to vote. "We tell them that a
few minutes off their domestic work will not bring the roof down," says
Khan. "We are also gearing up to bring maximum women voters out of their
homes on polling day," adds Khan.
Sometimes,
women show deep indifference to participating in this festival of democracy,
says Being Women's joint secretary Farzana Chougle. "Mere Ek Vote Se Kya
Hojayega (What can happen with my one vote), many women tell Chougle when she
approaches them. "The idea is to make women aware of the value of their
votes," says Ghazala Azad, an activist with another NGO, Neo Education and
Employment Development Society (NEEDS). It too has discussed internally to join
the movement to make women reach the polling booths.
Azad was
among a few women who attended a Khula Manch (open discussion) organized by a
group of Muslim activists last week in the city to discuss which parties the
community members should vote. While most male speakers railed against
"poor representation" of Muslims as candidates by various political
parties, Azad chose to hammer home the point that Muslim women voters need to
be encouraged to go out and vote.
"This
has been one of our major concerns. If our women voters turn out in good number
the stigma of low percentage of voting in Muslim pockets will vanish,"
says Salim Alware, one of the organisers of Khula Manch.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/maharashtra-news/Muslim-women-get-wooed-to-cast-vote/articleshow/44376232.cms
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Niqab-Wearing
DAP Member Hits Out At Critics, Says Religion a ‘Private Affair’
Oct 5, 2014
DAP’s
Niqab-wearing activist Jamila Rahim, better known as Melati, believes there is
no conflict between her faith and the party she has joined, despite its
socialist and secularist ideology.
“I was
attracted to DAP because it rejects racist politics and focuses on justice and
welfare.
“The
main thrust of Islam revolves around welfare and being humane,” she said.
The
22-year-old activist braved a storm of criticism over the week after it was
discovered she had joined DAP, with one Malay blogger even saying she was
better off as a prostitute.
To her
detractors, Melati has this answer: “Allah has never given anyone the right to
insult others.”
The
activist and novelist told The Malaysian Insider she did not expect such
backlash after joining DAP.
“Just
because I wear the niqab (veil), people assume I should limit my actions. But I
have the right to do whatever I want, and I don’t think joining DAP is wrong,”
she said.
“I
joined a party. I didn’t sell out my religion. I didn’t convert. I’m still a
Muslim.”
A
blogger calling himself “KuntaKinte Malaysia” said Melati’s decision to join
DAP was akin to selling herself and her religion for the riches offered.
“A
prostitute who sells herself would not decay the position of Islam in the country,
but those who join the DAP are helping them destroy Islam in Malaysia.
"The
reality is, it is more noble to be a prostitute who sells herself for a
mouthful of rice, than being those in tudung and purdah who 'sell themselves'
to DAP for the riches of the world until it weakens Islam,” he said in
www.mykmu.net.
The
irony of the blogger’s insults was not lost on Melati.
“They’re
questioning my faith in Islam, but they themselves aren’t doing the right thing
by insulting me. Islam never taught us to insult others like that,” she said.
She
described the criticism as a baptism of fire but said it has not made her
regret joining DAP or donning the niqab.
“In
Islam, wearing the niqab is not compulsory – it is sunnah (commendable). And I
made the decision to wear it because I believe it is my right to do so.”
Melati
sees religion as a personal matter and, unlike PAS, which seeks to turn
Malaysia into an Islamic state and implement hudud, she takes a more pragmatic
stance over such issues.
“Religion
is an individual’s personal right. We can’t force other people to become like
us, and we can’t force people to do what we want.
“If we
look at Tunku Abdul Rahman’s statement, he said that Malaysia is a secular
country, but Islam is its official religion.
“I am a
Muslim, and hudud is mentioned in the Quran. I do not reject it. But to
implement it in a multiracial, multi-religious country…
“It’s
like what (former Perlis mufti) Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin said, we have to
champion other issues first, such as stamping out corruption.”
Born to
a family with seven children, Melati graduated from Universiti Selangor with a
diploma in Teaching English as a Second Language in 2011.
But she
eschewed a teaching job in favour of working at an understaffed welfare home in
Teluk Intan housing 70 residents who suffer from a range of disabilities.
“I keep
telling myself, if I don’t do it, who will?” said the activist, when asked why
she took up such a gruelling job.
Working
at the welfare home opened up her eyes to the discrimination that people with
disabilities face and spurred her to become an activist and champion their
cause.
Melati
said she felt keenly for the downtrodden and the exploited, and that was also
reflected in her writings. Her novel, Pelacur Kelas Pertama (First-Class
Prostitute), is about a prostitute, an abused wife and a kidnapped bride who
are victims of domestic violence.
“Through
DAP, God willing, I will be able to further the cause of those who are
disabled, and help introduce therapeutic education for them.
“They
are a somewhat isolated group who get little attention. I also want to focus on
the rights of women, and welfare for all.”
She said
she was not interested in any party or political position, and did not have any
future plans in that direction.
“I never
considered becoming an assemblyman or parliamentarian. I joined DAP to champion
the people’s cause,” she said.
Her
family and friends have supported her decisions, said Melati, although people
outside her immediate circle have been less welcoming of the idea.
“In
Malaysia, the problem of racism is still high. So when I joined DAP, friends of
my best friends felt that I betrayed the Malays. So they asked my friends to
stop being friends with me.
“My
friends and family have faced a lot of pressure over this, but they don’t let
it out on me. They have been protecting me from the pressure.”
But
Melati is no stranger to controversy – she described how she received
threatening text messages after she took part in a protest for free education
three years ago.
“When I
was studying at Unisel, anonymous people sent messages to me, saying they
wanted to beat me up and rape me, just because they didn’t agree with me
joining such protests.”
She said
she simply ignored the messages and has chosen to do the same this time in the
face of all the name-calling online.
“We
can’t stop others from saying what they want. If I were to reply, it may just
escalate. So I’ll just wait for them to get tired and stop.”
When
asked about her hopes for the future of Malaysia, Melati said she wanted the
government to provide more aid for the disabled and the needy, as well as to
eradicate corruption.
“As for
my future – in five years’ time, I hope to open my own welfare home.”
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/veiled-dap-member-hits-out-at-critics-says-religion-a-private-affair#sthash.IrLpyc2j.dpuf
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Muslim
outfits in Kerala back Yesudas's remarks against girls wearing jeans
M P
Prashanth,TNN | Oct 5, 2014
KOZHIKODE:
Muslim organizations in Kerala have come forward to defend singer K J Yesudas,
who is facing attack from various women's organizations and social groups for
his remarks against girls wearing jeans.
The
organizations feel that more people from the field of art and culture should
show the courage to dissuade girls from going after the Western culture.
"Yesudas has done a commendable thing by reminding the new generation
about the dangers of indecent dressing," said Nazar Faizi Koodathayi,
general secretary of Sunni Yavajana Sangham, the youth wing of Samastha Kerala
Jam-Iyyathul Ulema.
He said
'immodest' dressing by women can lead to arousal of carnal desire in men.
"Women's body should not be paraded in public," Faizi said.
Yesudas
had told a Gandhi Jayanti function in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday that "Women
should not cause trouble to others by wearing jeans... What should be covered
should be covered."
P
Rukhsana, the state president of Girls Islamic Organisation (GIO), the girls'
outfit of the Jamaat-e-Islami, on Saturday said Kerala had a culture in
dressing and wearing tight jeans was against it. "Though individual
freedom is significant, what is more important is to safeguard against trends
posing threat to the society," she said.
Abdul
Majeed Swalahi, the state president of Ithihadu Subbanil Mujahideen, the youth
wing of the Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen, the Salafi organization, said there
was no need to take up cudgels against the singer's remarks. "Tight
dresses that make the contours of the body visible can lead to sin," he
said. "We don't ask all women to wear purdah, but they can opt for decent
dresses. Women's organisations should come forward to protect the dignity of
girls rather than blasting a person for airing a sane opinion."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Muslim-outfits-in-Kerala-back-Yesudass-remarks-against-girls-wearing-jeans/articleshow/44368954.cms
--------------
How a
Tattooed, Blonde Muslim from Texas Became an ISIS Twitter Star
Oct 5, 2014
Last
week, a single tweet took Jennifer Williams -- an unassuming "blonde tattooed
Texas girl" -- from relative obscurity to Twitter stardom.
The
problem is that a “healthy number” of her enthusiastic new followers may be
Islamic extremists.
“One guy
told me how beautiful I would look in Hijab (in other words, how beautiful I
would look once I covered myself up and stopped looking like an infidel),” she
wrote on the blog Lawfare about her growing Twitter fandom. “Another just
straight up asked me to marry him.”
Williams
is Brookings Institute researcher who spent years studying religious extremism
and the Middle East before finally realizing that she’d never actually read the
Quran. So she took the plunge and unexpectedly found answers to the questions
about morality and belief that she’d had since childhood. She converted to
Islam three years ago and is now finding that she constantly has to defend her
faith from the extremists who twist it to justify violence.
Last
Wednesday, she noticed that the hashtag #MuslimApologies was trending. Tired of
being asked to apologize for barbaric acts that were taking place miles away
and had nothing to do with their faith, Muslims on social media sarcastically
began apologizing for other things -- like the Twilight Saga and the fact that
Pluto is no longer a planet.
Williams
wanted to contribute. So she tweeted out a short summary of her conversion
story.
She got
a few new followers the next morning.
Then,
her Twitter notifications exploded.
Her
message has been re-tweeted more than 12,000 times as of Friday evening.
Williams started with 40 followers last Monday. She now has more than 5,000 and
counting.
But they
were not the kind of followers she wanted.
“I soon
began to notice a disturbing trend: of the thousands of people who were re-tweeting
and following me, many of them had the black flag of ISIS as their Twitter
profile photos,” she wrote. “Others had pictures of themselves holding swords,
standing in front of the black ISIS flag. Uh-oh.”
Around
the same time, she noticed ISIS graffiti at a traffic stop in Washington, D.C.
Being a terrorism researcher, she quickly tweeted out a picture.
“Call me
naïve, but it didn’t occur to me at the time that this tweet might be construed
by the pro-ISIS folks on Twitter who were already excited by my conversion
tweet as an endorsement of ISIS,” Williams wrote. “But that’s exactly how it
was construed.”
She
tried to clear things up:
But her
Twitter notoriety was sealed.
One of
her fans even tweeted out a blurred photo of her profile picture.
"You
know you’re dealing with some serious Islamic hardliners when they blur out
your face to protect Islamic modesty," she wrote. "It’s also
interesting that they chose to make it blurry rather than to black it out
entirely—I suppose they did that so you could still tell that I was a blonde,
white American girl. The holy grail of Muslim converts—so to speak."
It
didn’t matter that she’s often tweeted out pro-LGBT or tried to get the
“#No2ISIS” hashtag trending. Her followers tell her she's now famous in Saudi
Arabia.
Williams
said she doesn’t appreciate having her conversion story turned into ISIS
propaganda. But she may end up just having to ride out the wave.
In the
meantime, she has a message for her new fans.
“Try
reading the Quran instead of Twitter. It changed my life for the better. It
might do the same for you if you take the time to really understand what it
says,” Williams wrote.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/03/jennifer-williams-isis-twitter_n_5930122.html
-------------
Young Muslim
Women Turn To YouTube to Showcase Islam Their Way
Oct 5, 2014
The Hijab
is often portrayed as a symbol of oppression. But for some Muslim women, the
traditional headscarf is an opportunity to make a modern fashion statement.
Take
Yasemin Kanar.
The
25-year-old Floridian is part of a group of cosmopolitan young women taking to
YouTube and Instagram to showcase what it means to be a modern,
fashion-conscious Muslim woman and to combat the stereotype that Islam and
fashion don’t go hand-in-hand.
Kanar’s
YouTube videos have racked up more than a million hits. But they don’t feature
cats or exercise moves. Instead, they show different ways to wear Hijabs, the
headscarves Muslim women begin to wear when they reach puberty.
The
videos, photos and tweets are clearly filling a void. Kanar has a flourishing
YouTube presence and an Instagram page with more than 70,000 followers. Ascia
Farraj, another young Muslim woman, has nearly a million Instagram followers
who track her fashion choices – from wedge sneakers to oversized sunnies and,
of course, expertly fashioned headscarves.
“When I
first started, there weren’t really any girls doing tutorials on how to cover
and how to style your scarf in different ways,” Kanar, who calls herself Yaz
the Spaz, told Fusion. “I think it just went viral because of that reason.”
Born to
a Turkish father and a Cuban mother, and raised in a conservative Muslim
household in Miami, Kanar initially looked to her mother for guidance on how to
wear her Hijab. But she found the traditional Turkish style, pinned tightly
under the chin, uncomfortable.
So she
started to experiment with different styles. After a few requests from friends,
she began posting video tutorials on YouTube about five years ago. She quickly gained big following — more than
50,000 YouTube subscribers and nearly 600,000 Facebook followers.
“Girls
who start to wear Hijab now have more options to choose from,” she said.
While
the response to the tutorials has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly
from young women, Kanar has received some criticism for “exposing herself
online.”
“There’s
always going to be somebody from a different country where women are not
allowed to do the same things women are allowed to do in America,” she said.
But
Kanar isn’t fazed by any backlash. She and other young Muslim women are seizing
the chance to show that fashion and modesty can coexist – and that means using
tools like YouTube and Instagram to encourage girls to be proud of being Muslim
while still being fashionable.
“In this
generation,” she said, “we’re all becoming more fashionable while still keeping
the modesty.”
Although
she’s covered, Kanar’s videos and photos showcase her penchant for fuschia
lipstick and geometric patterns. If some older generations don’t like it, so be
it. She’s too busy finding new ways to wear her Hijab to be bothered.
http://fusion.net/video/19190/the-Hijab-gets-a-makeover-young-women-turn-to-youtube-to-showcase-islam-their-way/
------------
Team
Australia should encourage young Muslims, not ban niqabs
Oct 5, 2014
The
decision to ban Muslim women who dress in the niqab from sitting in Parliament
House's regular galleries represents an own goal for Team Australia. It gives
credence to propagandists who claim the
West is waging a war on Islam and those who suggest Muslims and non-Muslims are
fundamentally different. If a woman wearing the niqab clears all other security
measures being introduced at Parliament House there is no reason to put her in
a glass box.
With its
captain now calling for this decision to be reviewed, Team Australia may have
realised its blunder. The issue has exposed divisions within government ranks
while deepening fissures within broader society. It has also largely been
debated in ignorance of the fact that women, and mothers in particular, play an
important role in assisting young people to avoid violent paths. Team Australia
needs to get past its misgivings about niqabs and burqas and realise that some
of its most influential players and potential recruits are wearing them.
If Team
Australia wants to challenge violent extremism, it has to be inclusive. Police
and intelligence agencies regularly work with community groups labelled
"extremist" or "radical". These agencies know that
developing productive relationships with a broad range of community groups is
an essential pillar of counter-terrorism work. Questions and statements about
the need for shared values have little or no relevance in this strategy.
My
research team and I talked with a variety of so-called hardliners for our
project, which examined young people's responses to anti-violence campaigns.
The findings were released in June by the NSW Police Force and the Australian
Strategic Policy Institute.
Our
project had explicit counter-terrorism objectives, and many who worked with us
supported our goals. Like our
interviewees, we wanted to understand the impact of anti-violence campaigns,
the internet's role in radicalisation and how we can improve relations between
Muslim communities and police. The
project embodied what peacemakers throughout history have long known. Human
beings don't need the same values to support common ideals, to deplore violence
and treat one another with dignity.
The
project also revealed that Australians don't need to wear the same clothing in
order to want the same things. Some of
our interviewees, and those who helped to develop the study, wore full-face
coverings when in public. Some wanted better links with police, while others
talked of a YouTube campaign they launched to encourage mothers to stop their
sons from joining violent protests.
It is
also important for Team Australia to recognise the work that many young Muslims
are doing in promoting their own anti-violence initiatives. Our study's key
finding was that messages from young Muslims are more effective than the
anti-violence campaigns of Government agencies. This isn't a surprise. There is
a near consensus among those who study counter-terrorism communications that
governments are not the best messengers for such communication strategies.
The most
popular anti-violence YouTube video our team examined was produced by a group
of young Muslims who have adopted Martin Luther King's slogan "silence is
betrayal". This entirely community-generated campaign has almost 200,000
views. The video documents the group's silent flashmob protest in Darling
Habour, which aimed to raise broad community awareness of the atrocities in
Syria.
Despite
deep divisions among the groups we interviewed, the flashmob was widely praised
for providing young people with a creative and peaceful means to express their
frustrations over the sluggish pace of global action on Syria. In contrast,
many of our young interviewees shied away from government counter-terrorism
websites, suggesting they fuel Islamophobia.
We also
found that young Muslim Sydneysiders are heavily involved in volunteer work
with troubled youth from a range of backgrounds. We met many who mentor young
people identified by their schools and the justice system as at risk of falling
into a life of crime. This work, which keeps disenfranchised youth connected
with their communities, is invaluable.
One of
the most important things that the government can do is to support these young
Muslim groups' anti-violence efforts rather than supplant them. Our core
recommendation was that the government should not reinvent the wheel by
creating a plethora of new anti-violence websites but explore ways to support
groups that had a history of producing popular campaigns.
In the
immediate term, the government needs to throw its full energy behind stopping
the discriminatory verbal and physical attacks on Muslim communities. One of
the most significant barriers undermining the government's attempts to
communicate with young Muslims is prejudice. These young audiences often reject
Australia's counter-terrorism agenda because they believe it entrenches the idea
that their communities are a threat.
Ultimately,
Team Australia needs to recognise that its enemy is violence and hatred, not
women in burqas. Team Australia should also realise that Muslim groups, with a
wide range of values, are at the forefront of Australia's anti-violence
efforts. If the team wants to win against violent extremists, then it needs to
stop targeting and tackling those who are arguably its most valuable players.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/team-australia-should-encourage-young-muslims-not-ban-niqabs-20141003-10prej.html#ixzz3FGvu0Y3u
--------------
Isil
atrocities on women exposed on 'shocking scale'
Oct 5, 2014
Jihadi
groups in Iraq have committed human rights atrocities on a
"staggering" scale, a United Nations report has found.
Isil and
its allies have killed in a manner that appears both wild and yet systematic,
massacring Iraqi government soldiers by the hundreds and, in some places,
attempting to cleanse religious minorities.
"The
array of violations and abuses perpetrated by Isil and associated armed groups
is staggering, and many of their acts may amount to war crimes or crimes
against humanity," said Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights.
Acts of
violence committed by the jihadis, as they have swept across northern Iraq from
neighbouring Syria have been individually documented in news reports, on social
media, and by Isil's own propaganda wing in recent months.
Brutality
However,
the UN report, published last night is based on interviews with more than 500
witnesses and exposes the scale and careless brutality of the jihadi group. Its
29 pages are littered with evidence of massacres, rapes and kidnappings.
On June
12, the report said, Iraqi soldiers and security officers from the former US
Camp Speicher military base in Salahuddin province were captured and marched by
Isil fighters to spots on a roadside and in the desert where they were machine
gunned at close range.
The
bodies have not been exhumed and the precise toll is not known, but
eyewitnesses confirmed it ran into the hundreds.
Women
have been treated particularly harshly. The report said: "Isil (has)
attacked and killed female doctors, lawyers, among other professionals."
In
August, it said, Isil took 450-500 women and girls to the Tal Afar citadel in
Iraq's Nineveh region where "150 unmarried girls and women, predominantly
from the Yazidi and Christian communities, were reportedly transported to
Syria, either to be given to Isil fighters as a reward or to be sold as sex
slaves".
Other
crimes include "directly targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure,
abductions, rape and other forms of sexual and physical violence perpetrated
against women and children, forced recruitment of children, destruction or
desecration of places of religious or cultural significance, wanton destruction
and looting of property, and denial of fundamental freedoms".
Efforts
to destroy Isil have brought further violence against civilians, the report
found, warning that after Iraqi government air strikes the jihadis had caused
"significant civilian deaths" by hitting villages, a school and
hospitals in violation of international law.
At least
9,347 civilians have reportedly been killed and 17,386 wounded so far this
year, well over half of them since the Islamist insurgents began seizing large
parts of northern Iraq in early June.
Meanwhile,
Turkey yesterday sent busloads of troops to its border with Syria and
considered military options as an Isil onslaught against Syrian Kurds drew
Turkey deeper into its neighbour's fighting.
And also
last night Turkey's parliament approved a motion that gives the government new
powers to launch military incursions into Syria and Iraq and to allow foreign
forces to use its territory for possible operations against Isil.
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/middle-east/isil-atrocities-on-women-exposed-on-shocking-scale-30634303.html#sthash.wPrtTmBp.dpuf
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Europe
grapples with whether to ban Muslim burqas and niqabs
Oct 5, 2014
After
France banned veils in 2011, a French woman in her early 20s decided to fight
for her niqab.
Backed
by a group of Birmingham lawyers, the Pakistan-born university graduate and
devout Sunni took her case to the European court of human rights, asking them
to support her faith, culture and personal convictions.
But her
suit was rejected in a decision handed down three months ago. And the decision
has given new fuel to an already growing push across Europe to remove Muslim
veils from society.
The
woman, known to the court as "SAS", said neither her husband nor any
member of her family pressured her to dress in the burqa and niqab – her aim
was "to feel at inner peace with herself". She was happy to take it
off for security checks at banks or airports, or other necessary identity
checks, but wanted the right to wear it around town.
"Her
faith is an essential element of her existence, she is a devout believer and
the wearing of the veil is fundamental for her," SAS's lawyers argued.
"The wearing of the veil often denoted women's emancipation,
self-assertion and participation in society, and that, as far as [SAS] was
concerned, it was not a question of pleasing men but of satisfying herself and
her conscience."
SAS was
backed by Amnesty International – who warned that restricting a right to wear
religious clothing could impair women's right to work and education, and might
"contribute to acts of harassment and violence".
And the
Human Rights Centre of Ghent University warned that "in the light of the
rise in Islamophobia in various European countries … a blanket ban on face
covering in public [was] all the more harmful".
However
the French government argued the aim of the ban was "public safety".
An open and democratic society required a visible face – "the face plays a
significant role in human interaction … the effect of concealing one's face in
public places is to break the social tie and to manifest a refusal of the
principle of 'living together' (le vivre ensemble')," Paris lawyers said.
In the
end, the court upheld the ban. It did not see any "general threat to
public safety" but agreed that public order was a legitimate aim of the
law - saying a veil made it harder for a diverse society to live together.
The
decision has brought burqa bans back onto the table in countries across the
European Union, such as Austria, Norway and Denmark.
Martin
Henriksen, from Denmark's anti-immigration People's Party, said: "[A ban]
would send the signal that we do not accept parallel societies and isolation.
We see [the burqa] as a rejection of Danish society."
Norway's
Labour and Progress parties have also pushed to reopen the debate, after it was
voted down by the governing coalition and the opposition in 2010.
In
Switzerland, former journalist Giorgio Ghiringhelli has renewed his call for
the country's Grand Council to ban veils. Last year he led a campaign that
ended with the Swiss canton of Ticino voting to ban face-covering headgear in
public places – despite the fact that only about 100 women in the entire
country wore burqas.
Ghiringhelli
told swissinfo.ch that it was important to send a clear signal that the people
were against "militant Islamism".
Belgium
enacted a similar law at the same time as France (some Belgian districts had
already imposed local bans using old laws aimed at carnival disguises).
And some
Italian towns and Spanish towns have enforced local burqa bans.
However
the trend has not all been one-way. In 2010 Spain's Lerida municipality banned
full-face veils but in 2013 the country's Supreme Court annulled the laws,
finding they had no "legitimate aims", would isolate the women
concerned and give rise to discrimination against them.
And in
2011 the Netherlands government's highest advisory body – the Council of State
– rejected a proposed veil-banning law, saying the government had not
demonstrated a "pressing social need". The ban plan was dropped in
2012 after the collapse of the Dutch centre-right government.
There
are even fears that burqa bans in Europe could indirectly lead to an increase
in terrorism.
Dr Irene
Zempi, a researcher into Islamophobia at the University of Leicester, sees
increasing support for burqa bans in Europe – and it worries her.
"Muslims
see that they are targeted, their right and freedom to practise their religion
is taken away," she said. "They feel further and further isolated from
the wider community and I think this is very dangerous. The more separated they
become, it plays into the hands of terrorist groups… like ISIS who say 'come to
us, we will support you, we will give you your identity, here you will find a
sense of belonging'."
Dr Zempi
agreed that veils should occasionally be lifted. "When there is a need for
veiled women to identify themselves to an official person, this should take
place. But banning the veil would be a violation of human rights and also an
example of gender oppression," she said.
"There
is this stereotype that Muslim women are forced to wear the veil by Muslim men
or by their communities," she said.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/europe-grapples-with-whether-to-ban-muslim-burqas-and-niqabs-20141004-10q8ho.html#ixzz3FGwTtJDe
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Swaziland
mulls monthly grant scheme for girls in AIDS fight
Oct 5, 2014
Swaziland
plans to introduce a monthly incentive scheme under which adolescent girls
would receive cash to keep them away from sugar daddies and prevent the spread
of HIV, according to The Times Sunday.National Emergency Response Council on
HIV and AIDS (NERCHA) director Khanya Mabuza said girls aged between 18 and 24
would be paid at least 200 Elangeni (about US$17.60) per month for the next
five years.
The
World Bank-funded pilot project is initially targeting 9,000 girls from four
constituencies.
The
girls would use the money to pay for their immediate needs such as toiletries
and other things they desire.
Mabuza
said his organisation came up with the initiative to protect adolescent girls
from promiscuous behaviour that would fuel the spread of HIV and AIDS.
http://en.starafrica.com/news/swaziland-mulls-monthly-grant-scheme-for-girls-in-aids-fight.html
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Bombay
High Court gives Maharashtra government ultimatum on women's safety
recommendations
Oct 5,
2014
The
Bombay High Court (HC) on Monday gave the state government its last chance to
take a call on the recommendations given by Dharmadhikari committee on women's
safety. The court was hearing a suo-moto public interest litigation based on a
news report carried highlighting the plight of a woman who was molested while
traveling on a local train from Vashi early in the morning. Her complaint was
not registered by the railway police.
A division
bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Girish Kulkarni refused to accept an affidavit
tendered by the principal secretary of the home department, who was present in
court. The bench said the government should first inform on whether the
recommendations were being accepted or not.
The
court said, "This committee was formed to give suggestions on women's
safety. You (state) have not taken any decision even after three
adjournments."
In
August, the HC had issued a show cause notice against the principal secretary asking
him why no action should be taken against him under the Contempt of Courts Act.
The notice was issued after the government failed, despite several extensions,
to inform the court of its final decision.
The
state was supposed to inform the court whether it will be accepting
recommendations given by the committee, headed by former HC judge C S
Dharmadhikari, by December 31, 2013. Since then, there have been several
adjournments in the hearing. Even on Monday, the government failed to do so.
Irked,
the judges gave the government a last chance, and kept the matter for hearing
in the end of October.
The
committee has submitted three interim reports suggesting amendments for three
sections under the Indian Penal Code. The committee had also suggested banning
obscene material easily available on social networking sites and mobile phones.
It recommended that political parties should not give election tickets to
candidates who have past records of crimes against women. It also suggested
that the government should reduce the age of juveniles from 18 to 15 years.
Those
who willingly don't take steps to prevent crimes against women either by
stopping it themselves or alerting the police should be considered for
prosecution, it recommended.
The
report also presses for a re-look at the Muslim Personal Law, which governs
marriages. The committee feels it is one of the main causes of the hardships
suffered by Muslim women.
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-bombay-high-court-gives-maharashtra-government-ultimatum-on-women-s-safety-recommendations-2023573
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Perth’s
Muslim Children Bearing Brunt of Public Backlash over IS
Oct 5, 2014
“I’M
just a simple kid. I’m not a terrorist”.
These
are the heartbreaking words of a 10-year-old Perth boy who has become an
unwitting victim of the terrorist activities of extremist group Islamic State.
Innocent
Muslim women and children are bearing the brunt of public outrage in schools
and supermarkets over horrifying beheadings carried out by IS terrorists.
This
week, The Sunday Times was invited inside the homes and lives of two Muslim
families.
There is
Aisha Novakovich, a 31-year-old law student and single mum of two boys,
10-year-old Jibreel and Zachariah, 6.
And
there’s Manju and Mir Hussain, hardworking parents to 14-year-old Ali and
12-year-old Reshma, who describe themselves as an “Australian Indian Muslim
family”.
In the
Novakovich household, it’s like any other dinner table in any other Perth home.
The
laughter is boisterous, the food plentiful and no topic is off limits.
The
dinner table rests under a canvas that declares: “Love is for the lucky and the
brave”. A photo of the late Princess Diana rests among the crockery in a
display cabinet, along with a cut-out newspaper article of US President Barack
Obama’s historic inauguration.
The
women gathered at the table, friends who catch-up regularly, many single mums
chat about politics and men, while the children play Connect Four and computer
games in the nearby lounge room.
Instead
of alcohol, there is juice and green tea.
And some
of the women, according to their own personal preference, wear Hijabs, a
religious veil that covers the head and chest. Each of these women follows
Islam, but their backgrounds are just as varied as their personalities. They
are all Australian first, but boast Indonesian, Iraqi, Malaysian and Chinese
heritage.
And each
recount stories where their religion has seen them suffer racist and bigoted
taunts.
Some
have been called “terrorists” in shopping centres, others told to “go back to
your own country” by strangers in the street.
Ms
Novakovich’s oldest son, Jibreel, was born in King Edward Memorial Hospital,
but that hasn’t stopped people from telling him he’s not a “real Australian”.
“Jibreel
came home and said that one of the students said to him that your religion is
full of terrorists and I’m a real Australian because I was born here and you’re
not a real Australian,” Ms Novakovich explains.
‘There
are a few racists out there’
Sadly,
such outbursts are not new to Ms Novakovich or her loved ones, which means she
has learnt to be “alert, not alarmed” during something as simple as a trip to
the supermarket.
“Whilst
I’m aware that there are a few racists out there, I also believe that they’re
very loud, but they’re fewer in number than the mainstream of people who can
make a distinction between what those ISIS people are doing as opposed to what
people within the Muslim community are doing,” she said.
“Objectively
speaking, murdering innocents, beheading civilians, journalists, a humanitarian
aid worker, where does this come from in Islam? Nowhere.
“To me,
that has got very, very little to do with Islam. And unfortunately that is
creating more backlash for Muslim communities everywhere and it’s providing
further justification for foreign powers to intervene yet again in the affairs
of the Middle East.
“What I
find quite distressing is how the media tends to portray these issues.
Especially with the 15 men who were detained and investigated, they’re always
cutting to a Muslim woman, she might be wearing a pretty floral Hijab, she’s
walking down the street – but that has nothing to do with the raids that have
just been conducted.
“What it
does do is put us in the frontline – we become the visible targets of counter
terrorism. So when we’re walking down the street and a lot of these are people
in their cars, yelling at you. They just see you wearing a Hijab and that’s
enough to set them off.
“To me,
(Islamic State) are a bunch of thugs and criminals and I would never pledge my
allegiance to that kind of group. They’re following a religion but it’s not the
same religion that I’m following. We are not worshipping the same deity; we are
not reading the same book.”
Islam,
Ms Novakovich explains, promotes peace.
“I think
a lot of Christians would be surprised to know that we believe in Jesus Christ,
we believe in his miraculous birth, we have a whole chapter dedicated to his
mother, and how she was considered to be one of the most honourable women of
all time,” she said.
And
while her religion, including wearing the Hijab and praying five times a day,
is very important to Ms Novakovich, she says it doesn’t define her.
“I would
love people just to see me as who I am,” she said.
“I’d
love for more people to get to know a Muslim person in their life and see them
as a friend, rather than as a threat. For me, the solution is friendship,
genuine friendship. Non-Muslims and Muslims getting to know each other – and
it’s from both sides.”
Contrary
to ill-founded stereotypes that Muslim women are oppressed, Ms Novakovich said
she’s found the opposite. She made the personal decision to wear the Hijab at
the age of 12, away from any male influence given her father died when she was
just four.
“Muslim
women, to me, are some of the most intelligent, most empowered, most sassy, most
beautiful women that I know,” she said.
“They
are an inspiration to me. I’m very inspired by women and the many hats or Hijabs
they have to wear. ”
Freedom,
despite what people believe
Likewise
in the Hussain household – there is no shortage of food on the dinner table and
the conversation quickly turns to the children’s days and the family’s plans
for the weekend.
Reshma’s
room is adorned with One Direction posters and Ali is like any other
14-year-old, a keen fan of YouTube and Minecraft.
Full
report at:
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/perths-muslim-children-bearing-brunt-of-public-backlash-over-extremist-group-islamic-state/story-e6frg12c-1227079969085?nk=f5d8c4d5821aa42cc9c7b4d49745d2fa
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