J'Accuse: France Bans The Niqāb

"The worst are full of passionate intensity" - W.B. Yeats

France has banned the niqāb and burqa, the garments worn by Muslim women that cover their faces. A few reasons are being bandied about and one (surprise!) has to do with security. No one knows exactly what's underneath - could be a Frank Zappa or something even worse. Another insists the law protects women from being forced to wear the niqāb against their will. Both reasons are ludicrous. The law subjugates women because it takes away their right to choose for themselves. I don't deny there are women who are forced to wear it, but that shouldn't justify the state prohibiting others a right to freely choose.


The French ban is a feeble attempt by Nicolas Sarkozy's anemic government to win support from the wacko fringe on the right. They and their supporters have succeeded in denying a woman the freedom to choose. The issue is pretty simple - if a woman wants to wear it, she should be allowed in a free society to do so. As a man, I'm pro-choice, not "pro-abortion" or "pro-niqāb", as some fools would have it. Anything less is misogyny. Below is an interesting discussion between Mona Eltahawy - whom I greatly respect, but believe is wrong on this issue - and Heba Ahmed:

Tahrir & Tiananmen: Karma Trolls

"The Egyptian people demand that President Mubarak step down"

Since protests overtook Egypt much speculation has focused on whether Tahrir Square of 2011 will end up resembling Tiananmen Square of 1989. At first it seemed unlikely that a western ally would mow down its own people with a military bought and paid for by the U.S. But after Mubarak's "sadistic speech" last night, suddenly the grisly prospect doesn't seem so impossible.


Trolls appear to have sabotaged the karma wheel and now signs with Chinese have begun springing up in the Egyptian demonstrations. What's going on? Are they hoping to address the world's new superpower? Spread revolt to China? Probably not. As it turns out, it's more likely an ironic riff on the English equivalent of, "it's all Greek to me." In other words, Mubarak is such a clueless old sod the protesters' demands may as well be in Chinese.