"Critics claim that hijabs, burkas, and other similar face or head coverings are repressive of women and are not fitting with the culture of openness in Western Europe. "
There is also this: Other critics claim that interfering with what people wear are not fitting with the culture of openness in Western Europe...
I personally find all kinds of bans that is related with the personal preference of people are beyond the reach of any government under normal conditions (when not in a state of emergency or martial law).
I also find it against their basic human rights. (I am not refering to the ECHR but something beyond it, perhaps you may consider it as the Grundnorms or the spirit of freedom and liberty.)
First of all, you may not like that people cover their head or face. But this is your personal problem. Everyone has the right to be anonymous and no body can interfere with what others wear, say it is burkini or bikini... So if you want to ban such clothes on the basis of hiding people's identity, then you have to ban everything that covers your face, including any kind of normal scarf used to cover your face in cold weather, any kind of balaclavas, full face sking clothes and motorcycle helmets, etc. If you dont do that, then I am sorry but you are making a decision that discriminates muslim people.
Personally I think the latest incidents in France, where the police forcing people to remove their clothes, are merely the proof that France, along with the Europe, are moving from their culture of openness and becoming a closed, single-minded conservative culture. In my eyes, bans on not wearing headscarves are equally as low as bans on wearing burkinis or even hijabs. It is a shame to see that most French authorities cannot see that. However, it is not something new that the Europe is adopting the set of rules seen in oppressive third world countries.
We need to be careful here. If you make a legislation that oppresses and shames people for wearing their cultural clothes -on the basis of dealing with oppression of women- you are just directing the oppression from one group of people to another group of people.
French authorities need to learn that not all muslim women wear such burkinis by force. If that were the case then those women would not resist removing their burkinis, they would be relieved! On the otherhand there is a group of VULNERABLE muslim women who are being oppressed to wear such clothes. You cannot save these people by issuing a blanket ban. They would just get locked inside their homes and cannot leave anymore because your oppresive moves make their husbands even more oppressive. The methods of dealing with such oppressions are already well-known as they are no different than methods for preventing domestic abuse, as it is also a part of domestic abuse.
IMO, If French authorities were honest about their intentions, they would seriously focus on domestic abuses rather than issuing an anti-muslim blanket ban. I just hope that the West Europe will come back to its common-sense and old values soon but it does not seem likely seeing all the increasing cultural conservatisim and nationalism in Europe...
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