You don’t have to travel to Afghanistan to encounter women covered from head to toe. You don’t have to walk around Kabul or Kandahar to witness the repression suffered by women. You don’t have to fly to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya or Sudan to be outraged by the suffering of female human beings forced to cover their faces and bodies. You just have to go to London, the capital of the United Kingdom, to see the repression of women. city of rebellion, counterculture, activism and the suffragettes (“Actions, not words”), to come face to face with the fanatical intransigence of fundamentalism.
It is outrageous that one of the cradle cities of Western civilization is colonized by savagery. But the influential financial capital is not willing to anger Saudi Arabia, the leading economic power in the Middle East. That is why it looks the other way. It is about not letting its coffers suffer and Harrods continue to sell Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Chanel. The Islamic law that imposes the niqab (black tunic that only leaves the eyes and hands exposed) is not as fierce as it is painted. Worse would be to endure the burka, the grid that separates the world.
Damn business. Damn oil. Damn sectarianism. Poor weaker sex (such as it is) among macho men who are dressed up for tea at five and the Premier League.
Meanwhile, the United Nations, the European Union, NGOs, opinion makers… are doing their part for show. It is time to rebuke the Afghan authorities after the recent edict that tightens the oppression against them: forbidding their voices to be heard outside the private sphere, meeting the gaze of men who are not family members or leaving the house without a male companion. Who wouldn’t cry out loud? Bah! Vain indignation. Nothing changes. The International Criminal Court still does not consider the crime against humanity. apartheid gender.
In line with what is happening on many campuses around the world, the University of London is no stranger to demonstrations condemning the war in Gaza. Similarly, support for Ukraine is also evident in a demonstration near Birkbeck College. Indignation, democracy, clamour, rebellion… Healthy social upheavals that guarantee free will, the right to dissent. And what about the intolerance that runs rampant in Hyde Park, Picadilly Circus, Notting Hill or the Natural History Museum? Does it need an apology? Sad Big Ben. Where is the feminism?
There is no legislation on the wearing of the Islamic veil in the United Kingdom (nor in the belligerent Spain of Unidas Podemos). And it does not seem that it will be implemented despite the vociferousness of high-profile figures. The former prime minister Boris Johnson She once called those who wear this infamous garment “mailboxes” and “bank robbers”. And no, the victims do not deserve to be scorned. However, their guardians and the British Parliament, which supports the grieving dress code, do.
For the moment, the Court of Justice of the European Union has banned the use of the sexist headscarf (burka, niqab, hijab, chador, shayla, al-almira and khimar) by public administration staff. The law, which does not affect the post-Brexit UK, advocates neutral work environments: any form of proselytism and the use of conspicuous signs that could reveal ideological or religious convictions are banned. The ruling argues that the measure is not discriminatory because it is applied in a general and undifferentiated manner. It is a step forward, even if pusillanimity persists outside the walls. France, for its part, in keeping with the motto of the Republic (“Liberty, equality, fraternity”) is not deterred: it prohibits the concealment of the face in schools and public spaces.
Pain, shadow, certainty. The dignity of women in the face of submission is above any human consideration. And divine.
Maria Luisa Hodgson
