[lit-ideas] Re: European civil war
- From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 23:43:59 -0800 (PST)
--- Judith Evans <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> French and British policy have always been very
> different, France has tended
> more towards assimilationism (NB I'm not suggesting
> one is better than the
> other). But also the school policy is a general
> secular policy that, for
> historical reasons, bars any form of religious
> dress. The UK (e.g.) lacks
> such a policy.
*Yes, but there was a case of a teacher sued because
she told a Muslim student to take off the headscarf on
the grounds that it was not part of the school
uniform. There were other allegations made against the
teacher, such as that she scratched the student's
neck, of which she was later cleared:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/story.jsp?story=485129
But it does seem that at least some schools have a
policy of banning headscarves. (Could the headscarf
with the school uniform not be tolerated ?)
> I don't know what happens in French hospitals; in
> ours, young women doctors
> who are Muslim wear black headscarves tied back and
> -- in the summer heat --
> open-toed clogs which they kick off to show (*gasp*)
> bare feet.
*I don't know about this being a specifically Muslim
custom. I have never seen it among the Muslims in
Bosnia. On the other hand, in some parts of China it
seems to be quite common to take the shoes and other
footwear off during the summer heat.
> Otoh this country bans female genital mutilation and
> is looking for ways to
> enforce that ban more strongly, and if people who
> believe in FGM don't like
> that, *tough*.
*FGM is emphatically NOT an Islamic practice - it is
not ordained in the Kuran, or in the Sunnah of the
Prophet, or in any Islamic texts that I am aware of.
It is a practice of tribal patriarchal societies,
today found mostly in Africa, and among Christians,
Animists and Jews there as well as Muslims. It is
tough that, for example, the Moller Okin essay on
multiculturalism does not make this clear.
Also a Muslim priest is in gaol here
> for race hate speech
> against Jews.
*I am not familiar with the specifics of this case,
but in general I do not think that hate speech should
be held a punishable offence, among other reasons
because the concept is extremely open to different
interpretations. (It is different with incitement to
violence, which lends itself to more precise
definitions.)
O.K.
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time.
http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
