#WhiteSupramecy is Banning Muslim Face Coverings around the Globe
Watch the October 30th broadcast of Prime News
The province of Quebec, Canada has passed a law banning face coverings for anyone giving or receiving public services. Despite lawmakers’ ongoing narrative that the law is not to target any specific group, it is overwhelmingly obvious that one group is disproportionately attacked by this law: Muslim women who choose to wear the niqab or burqa.
This new law mandates Muslim women uncover their faces anytime they need to show proof of identification. In Quebec, this would mean that in order to ask a question of library staff, register at a medical clinic or hospital, use a bus pass to travel by mass transit, attend university classes, seek court documents from a clerk, or pick up children from a public daycare, one’s face covering must be removed. It would also mean that Muslim women would be excluded from holding certain jobs as well, such as being a bus driver, a librarian, a hospital worker, or even a school teacher, should they choose not to remove their niqab or burqa.
67% of Quebec residents are in favor of this law, which is indicative of audacity of white supremacy and the ignorance (more likely, indifference) to the customs of Islam and the significance of the face covering. However, Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said that his government was looking into the legislation, saying that he does not “think it’s the government’s business to tell a woman what she should or should not be wearing. As a federal government, we are going to take our responsibility seriously and look carefully at what the implications are.”
Now while Quebec’s law does not stipulate fines or sanctions for Muslim women who fail to comply, that has not stopped other nations from implementing them in their legal code.
Germany currently bans women from driving if they do not remove their burqa or niqab or face a fine of €60 EUR ($70 USD). According to lawmakers, the law exists to ensure a driver’s identity can be determined if they are caught speeding, which is nonsensical, as a brief reveal to a female officer upon being pulled over for an actual case of speeding would be more narrowly tailored and more appropriate for the situation.
Germany’s female leader, Chancellor Angela Merkel, has announced her support for the move, saying full-face veils were “not acceptable” in the county and calling for them to be banned wherever it is legally possible.”
In Austria, its government has boldly told Muslim women to “show your faces or be fined”. Both niqabs and burqas are banned and should a woman be caught on the street wearing one, she will be fined €150 EUR ($175 USD) and ordered by police to remove the garment on the spot. Any Muslim woman who refuses will be arrested immediately and taken into police custody.
As members of the global majority, it is important that we connect the dots on how white supremacy affects us simultaneously and the manner in which it attacks us. As black lives are being marginalized, brown lives are too. As brown lives are being marginalized, yellow lives are too. We must stand together for each other to defeat the prevailing oppression that whiteness continues to put upon us in its quest for superiority.
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