The Congress of Representatives has now reaffirmed a bill that seeks to ban the use of the burqa and niqab in Spain’s public spaces.
The initiative promoted by Vox and supported by the PP failed in the first vote, in the second deliberation, voting against the PSOE, Sumar and the rest of the parliamentary debate, supported by the nationalist parties and countless shortcuts that turned the debate into a ritual of clinging to the identifying dogmas of the new progressive orthodoxy.
The chamber missed the opportunity to be in Spain among other European democracies that understood that the full veil is not a simple religious accessory, as a tangible symbol of female subordination, a safety problem and an obstacle to coexistence.
This newspaper claims that the burqa, niqab and other things that hide the face represent a frontal aggression against the dignity and autonomy of women.
It is unacceptable and inappropriate for the democratic society of the 21st century, which, in the name of a poorly understood concept of tolerance, gives the charter of nature in public space to a symbol that sanctifies female invisibility.
Religious freedom cannot be forced to tolerate practices that go against the hard core of constitutional values: equality, individual liberty, and the full citizenship of women.
A woman’s dignity and equality are not optional or “rejected”; They are not à la carte menus that can be negotiated according to tradition, community customs or family pressure.
The Spanish izquierda, which in other countries claims to be the champion of the most militant feminism, here takes refuge in a cultural relativism that protect Muslim women, reinforce their vulnerability.
Learn that “some people choose freely” ignores the weight of power structures in certain communities and recognizes that people have no real ability to choose no.
To convert the defense of equality into a selective gesture (very hard on the supposed native “patriarch”, extremely understanding with the ajeno) is not progressive coherence.
It’s pure political cynicism.
Burka plantea, además, serious problems of public order. Democratic public space is limited to a minimum of mutual visibility: to be seen, to be recognized as equal, to share the basic rules of identification.
Completely hiding the beak breaks this elemental compact. Affect safety in traffic, in official buildings, on the street; difficult to identify, creates opaque areas where transparency and public trust should come first.
The defender of a blanket ban on the full veil is not Islamophobic until the basic rule is extended to citizenship: in public life we are all identifiable and we all play the same cards.
Finally, there is the coexistence and integration argument that the izquierda prefers to avoid. The burqa and niqab not only separate women from the gaze of men, but rather encapsulate them outside the normal circle of social interaction.
An open society requires speech, gestures, visual contact; requires minimal reciprocity which allows you to build trust between strangers.
One thing is that literally the middle of the population of the public population is difficult and this coexistence and logical rejection of community segregation. It is no accident that in many European neighborhoods the full veil has been transformed into a pioneer of community projects that bring integration and strengthen permanent exceptions to common norms.
The experience of the European Union shows that it is not an exotic debate, nor a monopoly of the extreme right, as caricatured by the Spanish izquierda.
France, Belgium, Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark or Switzerland have passed laws banning the use of the full veil in public spaces, in all cases with the combined arguments of safety, women’s dignity and social cohesion.
Other countries, such as the Low Countries or Germany, have opted for partial restrictions on transport, schools or official buildings, recognizing that there are situations where the complete concealment of the body It is incompatible with the normal operation of public services.
Against this trend, Spain risks being trapped in a naïve multiculturalism in which any criticism of regressive practices is branded as racism and the defense of common standards is confused with intolerance.
It is clear that those who vehemently defend the laicide of the state against Catholic symbols do not keep guards in armor in the name of religion, a symbol that sanctifies gendered desirability. You do not have the intellectual coherence to promote micro-machismo in publicity and at the same time accept that a woman completely disappears under the canvas in public space.
This magazine believes that Spain must move forward to have a clear legal framework that prohibits the use of the burqa, niqab and anything that completely conceals the body in public spaces and in certain private areas for public use.
This rule must be neutral in its editorial but firm in its purpose: to protect the dignity and safety of everyone, and especially for women some dress codes that relegate them to invisibility.
Respecting religious freedom does not mean giving up the principles that underpin our democracy.
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