tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561923483541812971.post2638330557183105249..comments2023-07-07T04:21:56.577-07:00Comments on azizhp: hijab as political symbolAziz P.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11825546047253660903noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561923483541812971.post-26441902770535643842008-02-09T15:54:00.000-08:002008-02-09T15:54:00.000-08:00I think the political meaning of hijab was differe...I think the political meaning of hijab was different in Turkey than in France by the way.<br><br>In France they wanted to remove it because they wanted to promote the idea that French citizens lack distinctions, that everyone is <i>French.</i> It's interesting because they don't succeed in that sort of thing as well as the US does. <br><br>But the US had "melting pot" policies for the first couple of centuries that were similar - children were encouraged, in school, to assimilate culturally. It was an odd message, both that assimilation is a simple choice that anyone, even a child, can make, but also that not assimilating is shameful. <br><br>Both aspects of that policy were entirely conscious. <br><br>After WWII there as a generation that also grew up with policies that tried to encourage children to trust each other and be social - this was a response to a fear that WWII had traumatized families and their children. <br><br>Sometimes I think that the 60's were the result of a generation more cohesive to each other than to their families.<br><br>I don't know much about Turkey, but I think the hijab ban was meant as both as a symbol that the government supports a modernized attitude toward women, and to demoralize the Islamists, demonstrating their powerlessness.<br><br>It seems illiberal, but perhaps the forced break in Islamist power was necessary, otherwise there would have been no room at all for other ideas.<br><br>One can only look around at how Islamic clerics, how Sharia, lead to injustice everywhere that they gain power to see that there is utility in taking whatever steps are necessary to put some bulwark between Islam and political authority.Nightstudieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02200991662519166944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5561923483541812971.post-31481706849207963482008-02-09T15:34:00.000-08:002008-02-09T15:34:00.000-08:00I think that by the time you have a nominally Isla...I think that by the time you have a nominally Islamic party in power and the sky hasn't fallen, there's little problem with getting rid of the ban. <br><br>Having a moderate Islamic party in power is a strong bulwark against less moderate Islamist power - the danger, if it exists comes from within the party not from without.<br><br>The only problem left with the hijab is as a symbol of the oppression of women, that it becomes a slippery slope, where women <b>are forced</b> to wear it, and everyone knows that it is coercion that's symbolized, not freedom of expression. <br><br>When so many Muslim women are oppressed the world over, when so many are coerced, the hijab can't be a purely harmless symbol. It will always carry a double edge.Nightstudieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02200991662519166944noreply@blogger.com