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Women In Black
The burqa debate continues. As the Economist noted this weekend, you are what you wear. Some younger members of western society prefer frayed baggy jeans, a t-shirt with a slogan and a New York-style baseball cap turned in the wrong direction. Their grandfathers, depending on their milieu, go for corduroy trousers, a worse-for-wear cardigan and a tweed cap.
The corollary of people expressing themselves either consciously or otherwise through their clothing is that you can often tell how diverse and tolerant a society is by the variety of different costumes on the streets. This goes, even if what some people wear seems deliberately styled to provoke a reaction in others.
But times are changing. People are now being told what they can or cannot wear. For example, in British Columbia, Canada, the provincial legislature is considering banning leather jackets with 'Hell's Angels' insignia (apparently these garments upset the local populace.)
Something or nothing that you do or don't wear should not be of particular interest, except when it comes to the ban of the burqa, the face-covering fashion item favoured by some Muslim women in Europe.
This is now a major political issue, which goes beyond a tendency to wear Nike sports shoes.
The Christian Democrat government of Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende is looking into plans to outlaw the burqa. This proposed move - in a society renowned for its tolerance, seems like the wrong step forward.
The Dutch dilemma is, in a wider sense, a reflection on how Europe will integrate the women folk who opt for the 'burqa'.
This is an issue which reaches across borders . In 2004 France passed a law to stop wearing the Muslim 'hijab' (headscarf) by girls in state schools. Despite protests from Muslim groups and the declaration of a fatwa by an Iranian cleric, the ban passed without much fuss.
The controversy over 'taking the veil' becomes even more complicated. Turkey, a nominally secular, but mostly Muslim country, has banned wearing the veil in public buildings.
In Britain, the picture is complex. MP Jack Straw was praised and criticised in equal measure when he wrote that he asked veiled women in his constituency office to remove their covering so he could speak face-to-face with them. At around the same time, a teacher took her school authorities to court when she was ordered to take off her veil when taking classes. She lost her case, and later her job. However, opinion in Britain is mixed on the suitability of Islamic face coverings.
A poll released today shows that around a third of people favour a ban on full-face coverings in public places - but a majority opposes such a ban.
Support for a ban rises according to circumstances. A majority would support the ban at airports, courtrooms and schools, while there is less support for a ban on wearing the veil on public transport and in offices.
The irony is that forbidding the 'burqa' will augment its presence on the streets of Amsterdam and elsewhere, as a sort of defiance, and increase - let us not hope - further disharmony between Christians and Muslims.
Maybe a New York baseball cap and baggy jeans might not be so bad after all.
