Comments expresses the opinions of the writer.
After my chronicle in After poston the difference between a hijab and a veil, I was invited to tonight’s Debate show.
Today, however, I received this text message from the NRK editors:
“Hi. We have received so many comments that it is not relevant or positive to discuss the hijab in light of the Iran demo, that we will not go ahead with the planning until tonight’s Debate.
Read also: Do we have a culture of cancellation? Yup! Do we have touch anxiety? Yup!
I am very frustrated that the state channel is giving in to pressure from Islamists and hijabists. This means that freedom of expression is under pressure.
NRK, which is the largest and most tax-funded, overturns democracy and freedom of expression. NRK is letting Iranian women down.
Previously, they tiptoed each other in front of mosques and hijab-wearing women. Today it has become the case that this group can decide which debate should be broadcast, who should sit on the panel or what should not be discussed.
We are in Norway, in 2022.
This is unworthy.
It trivializes the mandate of the hijab
More than a month has passed since Mahsa Amini’s death and Iranian women are protesting by taking off their hijab in school and on the street. They are arrested, shot, hit by cars, and acid thrown in their faces, but they continue the fight.
The first request is to remove the hijab order.
This is a revolution led by women and the symbol is the hijab.
In Norway, however, we love the hijab. Instead of supporting Iranian women, we stifle the debate on the hijab.
Hijabists and “hijab lovers” in Norway claim that the revolution is not for the hijab, but because of democracy. They want to minimize the mandate of the hijab.
Lily Bandehy
Lily Bandehy came to Norway from Iran in 1988 as a political refugee. Bandehy is an author and speaker, and is particularly interested in topics such as freedom of expression and religion. Bandehy previously wrote for both VG and Aftenposten and helped found LIM (Equality, Integration and Diversity) and Ex-Muslims of Norway. In 2019 she was awarded the Born Free award.
For 43 years, Iranian women have fought against this order. They know that if they are to achieve equality, the injunction must end. They know this, because the hijab is an ideological symbol that marks the submission and acceptance of a patriotic regime. Hijab and democracy don’t go together.
Read more from the Norwegian debate
In Norway they speak well of democracy, but they do not support the Iranian women’s revolution. On the contrary, they have put a stop to the debate. Hijab wearers stab Iranian women in the back.
If Iranian women win the revolution, their intentions will be revealed. That the garment has nothing to do with religion, but rather is the symbol of a brutal political ideology.
You can’t wear hijab and talk about equality at the same time.
Take off your hijab and support Iranian women!
