"Given the damage it produces on those rules which allow the life in community, ensure the dignity of the person and equality between sexes, this practice, even if it is voluntary, cannot be tolerated in any public place," the French government said when it sent the measure to parliament in May. Some 82 percent of people polled approved of a ban, while 17 percent disapproved. Clear majorities also backed burqa bans in Germany, Britain and Spain, while two out of three Americans opposed it, the survey found. The ban pertains to the burqa, a full-body covering that includes a mesh over the face, and the niqab, a full-face veil that leaves an opening only for the eyes.
This brings me to the broader question of multiculturalism in the Western World (North America, Europe and Australia). There's a wave of, as it were, anti-multiculturalistic sentiment that's sweeping across Europe. The British PM has gone on record to say that multiculturalism is a failed experiment, and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel echoes his thoughts. France has banned the burqa, but I don't think a France-like ban can ever be imposed in America or Britain. Not many non-French Europeans are necessarily against it, even if they feel a ban is perhaps a little much. Nonetheless, they admit that seeing a woman in a burqa or even a niqab is deeply disconcerting. If one visits British or French message boards (even liberal, lefty ones like The Guardian), there's a definite skein on Islamophobia and anti-multiculturalism that runs through the comments.
One of the main reasons cited by the detractors of multiculturalism is the fact that ethnic minorities, Muslims especially, don't make any perceivable effort to integrate. The argument posited contends that the onus to try to integrate with the indigenous culture lies with the immigrants. I can't speak about Europe, as I don't live there, but from what I've read and heard, Europe is far less religious than America. Islam is a religious identity, and it isn't acceptable for a Muslim European to consider himself Muslim and only then European. In other words, if you're a Muslim from Gujarat or Bangladesh and are relocating to the UK permanently, then it's incumbent upon you to adopt the British culture, rather than cling to your native culture, or rather, the parts of your native culture which is clearly at odds with the secular and liberal Western values (like for instance Islam's stance on homosexuality, misogyny, oppression of women, adultery, equality et cetera). If you're a Bangladeshi native moving to the UK, then you have to be proficient in English, mingle with the British people, preferably intermarry, not consider religion to be a particularly important part of your life and feel a strong sense of Britishness. Oh, and also support England when Bangladesh play England at Lords'. Now Bangladesh can be substituted for India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka/ Turkey etc, and well, you get the picture. The refrain is that one cannot call oneself British unless you're well and truly British and feel British at heart. It's when loyalties are split, or worse, partisan that the conundrum arises.
Now initially when I read these comments, they were a bit shocking to say the least. Needless to say, I'd judged the commenters as a bunch of ignorant and paranoid Islamohpobes (comments such as "they'll try to supplant their culture with ours" induced me to come to the conclusion). But the more I read, a semblance of sense began to emerge. What seemed egregious to me when mulled over from my perspective seemed reasonable to me when I put myself in their shoes. The thing is, being raised in India (and there's no place on earth more multi-cultural than India, where there are a plethora of languages and at least four prominent religions and not to mention the mind-boggling regional and communal diversity) has taught me to take multiculturalism for granted. No, I don't feel uncomfortable at all seeing a woman clad in burqa in Bangalore, no more than I feel uncomfortable seeing a woman walk about in a outrageously short skirt. Then again, this is secular India I'm talking about. Yes, the extreme right wing religions fringe does exist, and inasmuch as it doesn't really affect my day-to-day life, I don't give much heed to it. But the same may not apply to France. What with the French population being meagre in contrast to India's population, perhaps burqa clad women stick out like a sore thumb in France. Furthermore, Indian Muslims and Sikhs and Christians are better-integrated with the Hindu majority. Even if your name is Rose and you live in Kerala, you're likely to speak Malayalam than a European language and eat rice than fish and chips, and if you're name is Amir and live in Bombay, you're more likely to speak Hindi than Arabic. Whereas the same doesn't quite apply to South Asians living in the UK or elsewhere in Europe. A Patel in London is less likely to cook Yorkshire pudding than dal and roti. This seems especially true viz South Asian Brits and Turks in Germany. Surveys state that more than 50% of British Pakistanis hunt for brides in their native Pakistan, and Turks remain isolated from mainstream German culture, evincing a thinly veiled disdain for Western culture and clinging on to their own culture's superiority. Immigrant's contribution to the society is paltry and seclusion of a sizable minority isn't something which is considered conducive.
This is true enough. I've heard my own family pontificate about the "evils" of Western culture. Kids being sexually active in their adolescence in particular is completely unacceptable, and a host of other reasons are also cited, sexual openness being the foremost. I suppose the sentiment might be the same with South Asians living overseas as well. Taking pride in one's native culture or ethnic origin is all very well, but taking pride in your adopted country is important as well, is it not? It does seem fair enough, then, for a Westerner to feel "well, if you don't like it here, you're free to f**k off to whichever hellhole you crawled out from", doesn't it?
Thoughts? If France right in banning the burqa, to induce people to try and integrate more and adopt French values over Islamic ones? Is multiculturalism feasible anymore, especially in an increasingly xenophobic and economically fragile Europe? Is integration absolutely necessary, or it is fine and dandy to live as we've lived all our lives as long as we don't bother others? Can native and foreign culture ever be amalgamated, or are they two mutually exclusive entities, leaving us with an either-or choice between the two? And were you to make such a choice, what would you choose? 😊
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