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[Big_Bird]

'I can't believe he should say this'

What lies behind Jack Straw's remarks?

Tania Branigan
Saturday October 7, 2006
The Guardian


With 27 years in parliament and three cabinet jobs under his belt, Jack Straw is one of Labour's most experienced political operators. The question in colleagues' minds yesterday was not whether he intended to hit the headlines, but why he wanted to do it now. "Nothing is an accident where Jack Straw is concerned," one party insider said yesterday.
"Sometimes people say things and don't quite realise the impact it will have, but my reading is that he thought very carefully on this," says another source who has worked with him closely.

No one disputes that his remarks reflect his genuine beliefs. But few in Westminster believe they were intended purely for the readers of the Lancashire Telegraph. Nor do colleagues think he was encouraged to raise the issue by Downing Street, despite ministers' recent criticisms of multiculturalism and separate communities - although he may have felt the subject was topical. That means many have assumed the article, and his subsequent comments, were linked to his hopes to become Labour's next deputy leader.

A senior backbencher pointed out that appealing to Middle England could indirectly boost his chances in the race: "If people can establish themselves an opinion poll lead, the party members worried about the next election [may] go by who looks like a vote winner ... It looks like headline-grabbing and giving himself a profile for personal reasons."

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[Big_Bird]

Dangerous attack or fair point? Straw veil row deepens

Minister's remarks fuel claims of Islamophobia crisis

Martin Wainwright, Tania Branigan, Jeevan Vasagar, Matthew Taylor and Vikram Dodd
Saturday October 7, 2006


A Muslim woman wearing a Niqab walks in Blackburn, the constituency of MP Jack Straw. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty images

The issue had been troubling Jack Straw, and though he must have known that it might cause offence, he decided to raise it regardless.
One of Labour's most experienced politicians, Mr Straw addressed a gathering of Muslim leaders, sharing his disquiet over women who veiled their faces, and recalling a meeting he had had at a constituency surgery in Blackburn with a woman wearing a niqab.

It was a strange matter to raise at talks which had been dominated by a debate over Iraq's role in swelling British extremism, and his intervention stuck in the minds of those who were there. "He said, some of my constituents who have been accepting of the hijab are greatly concerned about the niqab," said one who was there. That discussion was almost 12 months ago. Mr Straw was warned at the time that any attempt to publicise his concerns would provoke anger. But a year later, and apparently unprompted by Downing Street, he chose to do so again, this time to the media

If Mr Straw had any doubt over the news value of his views, editors at his local paper did not share them.
When the Lancashire Telegraph received his column on Wednesday morning, they knew straight away it was in a different league from his standard offerings. The front page for the next day was cleared and staff began approaching local community leaders to get their response.

Taking over the news

By yesterday morning, there was a gathering sense of crisis at Westminster and beyond over the government's attitude to multiculturalism, coming at the end of a week in which problems seemed to coalesce.

Anger over a Muslim police officer who asked to be excused guard duties at the Israeli embassy combined with tensions in Windsor, where plans to build a mosque sparked three nights of violent clashes, giving British Muslims a frustrating sense of once again being the whipping boy.

"This Muslim police officer taken off-duty was a routine thing, but it was blown totally out of proportion," said Dr Reefat Drabu of the Muslim Council of Britain. "The same with the niqab. It is a matter of choice but it seems to have taken over the news. We seem to be all the time defending ourselves and we haven't got the opportunity to evolve within the culture we're in."

It was the timing of the remarks, as much as the content, that was baffling Muslim leaders yesterday. Quietly, and unnoticed, the issue of the niqab has been raised on university campuses and in schools over the last few years, without causing ripples.

In the wake of 7/7, a dress code drawn up by Imperial College outlawed the niqab in the interests of security, saying staff had to be able to check students' faces against the picture on their ID.

The ban was resisted by the Imperial's Islamic Society, but has already been supported by at least one minister.

In a speech made at South Bank University in May, the higher education minister Bill Rammell said: "Many teachers would feel very uncomfortable about their ability to teach students who were covering their faces. And I doubt many students would feel it was acceptable to be taught by someone who had chosen to veil their face."

.....


The niqab is a Gulf Arab tradition which has been adopted by young British Muslim women even when their traditional cultures do not prescribe it.

Talk in Blackburn

Ghulan Choudhari of Radio Ramadan Blackburn said that only a small minority of women in Blackburn wore the full veil, but numbers were growing. He said: "It's partly down to the increased interest in our religion, especially among young people. But I can see Jack's point about the veil making some people uneasy. To be honest, I get uneasy talking to people who are wearing sunglasses. I don't like not being able to see their eyes."



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[Big_Bird]

The view from Blackburn

Asma Mirza, 29, housewife

"I certainly don't agree with Jack Straw because my religion demands that I wear this I have taken the full veil for 16 years now and I am much more comfortable wearing it. It is a matter of modesty as well as religion. I hope that it will not put other people off. Once they talk to me and get to know me, I think that problem disappears."

Masood Rahi, owner of telecom shop

"I think Jack Straw is probably right, especially in these days when security matters so much. It's all very well for someone to have your photograph and a form with your details on. But what use is that if they can't glance at your face to check? People should be ready to discuss it and to read what he actually said, rather than the headlines which give a rather different impression."

Jahangir Hussain, 16, student

"I disagree with Straw. It's these women's religion. They should all be wearing the veil according to the proper teaching. Yes, maybe it puts some people off but look at nuns or people from other faiths which get people to do things with their clothes ... Nobody goes around telling them what they can and can't wear, they just get used to it."

Young woman in full veil. No name given

"OK, it's religion first but modesty comes into it a lot for me. I started using the full veil eight months ago and it's done so much for my self-respect. It's comfortable, I feel protected and I happily eat out at McDonald's in it. I've devised this special way of getting the food up behind the material."

Daniel Coine, 16, student

"I'd go further than Jack Straw and say they should all take off their veils. You need to see people face to face. It's weird not knowing who it is you're passing in the street, specially late at night when someone might jump you."

Rachael Ashhead, 20, business student at Manchester Metropolitan University

"It's their choice to wear the veil and they've an absolute right ... I've no problem with it all when I meet one - there are loads of them at uni. A more important issue is the way these things are discussed in the news, how they get simplified and people set against each other."

[Big_Bird]

Veiled issue

Leader
Saturday October 7, 2006
The Guardian

....

Mr Straw made it clear that in raising the issue he was not questioning the right of women to wear the niqab if they chose. He accepted that wearers may have made a choice of their own (although social pressures may also be immense). But he pointed out that the use of the full veil has consequences, both for the wearer and for how the wearer is seen. It puts a literal barrier between citizens, an obstacle to interaction rather than a bridge between people and in that it adds to social divides that already exist. Mr Straw's remarks certainly echo an unease that is shared by many voters, an unease that among some people must have its roots in prejudice. But he was not voicing prejudice and his reasoned comments attempted to lessen separation and alienation, not spread it.

The niqab may bring benefits but for a wearer there may be costs too in terms of contributing to and advancing in society. Mr Straw is no less on such a woman's side than those who defend her choice. Anger is inappropriate.

....

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[On the other hand]

Ddeubel wrote:

[Adventurer]

[ddeubel]

[thepeel]

[Big_Bird]

[Adventurer]

[Big_Bird]

Cabinet colleagues turn on Straw over Islamic veil row

Muslim women take to the streets to protest against minister's stance

Gaby Hinsliff, political editor
Sunday October 8, 2006
The Observer


Ruth Kelly yesterday defended the wearing of the veil as a 'personal choice' by Muslims that must be respected. She made her comments as the Cabinet began distancing itself from Jack Straw's disclosure that he asked women attending his constituency surgery to uncover their faces.
Kelly, the Women's Minister and Communities Secretary, also warned that more serious threats to female freedom must not be 'swept under the carpet', citing the refusal of some Muslim families to let their daughters go to university for fear of exposure to undesirable influences or the failure to confront domestic violence in the Muslim community.

Her repositioning of the debate followed three days of uproar over Straw's disclosure. Kelly told The Observer she changed her own views about traditional dress being repressive after speaking to high-profile Muslim women.

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[VanIslander]

(1) the veil is a symbol of difference

(2) tolerance doesn't mean acceptance or appreciation

hence

(3) Straw needs a lesson in tolerating differences.

[Big_Bird]

bump

[thepeel]

Yeah, I'm sure we have all changed our minds now.