Interesting what happened when an Ozzy MP wanted to discuss banning the burka

[happydappy2]

https://x.com/PaulineHansonOz/status/1992886488300966251?s=20

She has a point-can women wearing a burka be employed or will they be reliant on the state? (or someone else.) How does a full face covering work with facial recognition cameras? Can a woman in a burka enter a bank, when everyone else has to remove face coverings?

I imagine this is a question the UK needs to address pretty soon as well.

I think you will be accused of racism for even entertaining those questions to avoid any debate.

If there is one thing we need in the law it's consistency. If I was a teenage hoodie with a face covering and an attitude it would drive me UTTERLY INSANE to be stopped from entering my local shopping centre because of my covered face whilst muslim women walk straight in.

Burqa and niqab have no place in modern democracies. If you want to wear them there are about 50 countries you can choose from

Surely, it's not just the burka that needs to be discussed and subsequently written into law.
To me it's all face coverings or nothing in public spaces.

The lady who got shouted at in parliament? There attitude towards her was insane

It is all or nothing... or it's all or nothing or medically compliant face masks only... or it's all or nothing or medically compliant face masks only, which must only be worn by people whose doctor's have confirmed they need to.

Then you have the second issue. I will likely wear a scarf around my face as I walk alone through the countryside on my Boxing day walk... is that OK? What if I see someone, do I have to remove it? Or do I only have to remove it when I come back into town?

Around or over?

@JamieCannister " I will likely wear a scarf around my face as I walk alone through the countryside on my Boxing day walk... is that OK? What if I see someone, do I have to remove it? Or do I only have to remove it when I come back into town?"

Wearing a scarf around your face on a solitary Boxing Day walk is very different to wearing one in a bank or as a school teacher or medical professional.

I think religious clothing of any kind should be treated like any other clothing.

Is it fine for me to wear a hat pulled down and a scarf over my face while walking down the street? Yes. So a burka is fine.
Would it be fine for me to try and buy age restricted things (for example) or do anything that required my face to be shown while wearing that? No. So it’s not fine for a burka.

I’d take the religious element out of it completely and just say “can we cover our faces in X situation” and apply that to everyone.

This is the way.

And partly because where we have rules like this, it's because there is a good reason. It's not just about banning some religious symbol or expression we disagree with.

There are a lot of country's where women are forced to wear them, and the hijab, there also seems to be a lot of push back from women in these country's where they're forced to wear them. So I'll take my cue from these women and say we should ban the them both.

Pauline Hanson is a dog whistling racist who pulled this stunt maybe 15 years ago. Yawn.

I disagree it's racist to highlight womens oppression, bravo to her for standing up for women

😂 She’s not standing up for women.

Pauline Hanson is a hateful figure who uses this issues to justify her prejudices against anyone who is not white. She is not someone whose arguments against religious head coverings should be given any merit.
There are other ways to approach this issue than highlighting her batshit-crazy rhetoric.

This will be vilified until someone says Denmark have banned it and then it’s ok.

How can you justify women having to wear a burka when males of the same religion don't?

Are you able to specify anything she’s said that is actually racist?

Bringing up this issue is not racist.

I think people need to read her maiden speech - she had quite a lot to say about Aboriginals and Asians... it isn't pretty and she hasn't changed her mind in the intervening years: https://kooriweb.org/foley/resources/pdfs/139.pdf

Generally speaking, or just right now?

She’s called for a total ban on any Muslims immigrating to Australia. She questioned why “black South Africans with aids” were allowed to come. Talking about “Africans” more broadly she said they all “have diseases. They have aids”. And she said Islam was a disease to be vaccinated against.

Adults can agree with a person on one thing and disagree on another. You can dislike or actively oppose Pauline Hanson's racist views while supporting opposition to face covering. It's childish to act as if a political viewpoint is tainted because you don't like some of the people who support it, when the far greater support comes from women defending their human rights.

I don't support banning the burqa or niqabs. I don't particularly like them, but I don't see there's any evidence of massive risk to the rest of us coming from their existence.

I don't want to live in a country where you have to wear a burqa. I don't want to live in one where they are banned either. The state should stay out of people's religious beliefs and their clothing choices in my view.

She’s Australia’s version of Nigel Farage, except perhaps more extreme. In Australia, it is rare to find that anyone supports Pauline Hanson/her party outside of people of a certain age range (>65). Her party only has two seats in the Senate, including hers, and is increasingly following a Trump/Farage policy blueprint. She doesn’t care fundamentally for the rights of women but is simply blowing another racist dog whistle here - something she does frequently enough to keep her fan base interested.

I’m pleased to say that so far in life I’ve never felt the need to agree with Pauline Hanson about anything.

Aside from the fact this woman seems pretty awful. I do think there needs to be a burka ban, it’s not just a piece of clothing is it really. I think we need to be more robust about how we see womens rights in the UK. Before the FGM ban people were genuinely arguing that because it was a cultural habit that it would be racist to try to ban it.

The Burka is the erasure of women in public life, it prevents them from fully engaging. There is no reason for it other than to satisfy male control over women. I’ve heard the argument that it protects women from the male gaze etc and is a feminist act which is bullshit, the religious reason for wearing it is modesty, it’s as simple as that. I’ve hardened up on this, I was very much of the opinion that the state shouldn’t be able to dictate what women wear before but I’ve changed my mind.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8GCAlJ5Jk44&pp=ygUZQnVya2EgYmFuIGJhdHRsZSBvZiBpZGVhcw%3D%3D

Worth a watch.

She isn't standing up for women. She is an awful racist, I wouldn't want to be standing on the same side as her at all.