A debate that has been flaring in the UK for the last year has come to a head today. Aishah Azmi, 23, received compensation but did not succeed in her discrimination claim. Ms Azmi argued that the school board that dismissed her because she refused to remove her head veil was unjust and discriminatory.
To read the entire article, click here.
This is certainly a touchy issue and as much as we all want to ignore the issue, I think your only going to see more and more of these types of discussions until it is addressed and confronted.
Immigrants, who travel to the UK or Canada in search of a better life still want to hold on to their cultural ties. Understandable so. But where is this line between cultural inheritance and cultural dog leech?
Example: Until a couple of years ago, I was an immigrant to Canada with my roots directly in England. Soccer (football) is widely celebrated and watched in the U.K but not so much in Canada. If I went to a bar and every TV was tuned to the hockey game and I demanded the management had equal sports coverage to allow for my soccer, would I be out of line would I be in my rights to say so? How would you govern, enforce, refuse or allow that?
If a woman demands she has her face covered because her old culture you are to cover your face to males because of religious ties; does she have the right to do so? In her culture her religious ties and actions represent that she is lesser to males. In Canada and more developed cultures we are taught that we are all equal.
So what do you do? Do we act like those we appose and say “You are in our world now, you can’t watch that here” or “in our world we don’t wear those, take it off!” Do we oppress those in an act to liberate them because we think it just? Isn’t that what they just departed from?
#1 by aaron on October 20th, 2006
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i’m not sure that in comparing soccer and Islamic dress that you’re really comparing apples with apples… yes, soccer is an important part of the life of the British, but the thing that we need to remember when dealing with immigrants who want to keep their dress the same is that it’s much more than “cultural preference”. it is part of their governing religious and moral law. we have a hard time grasping this in the Western world, because we have no such thing… culture and religion are really two separate entities. there really isn’t too much to compare with this in our Christian faith, unless you want to go to the Old Testament and look at the Law. Many people have problems with this type of thing beacuse: 1) they think they have greater claim to this country because their ancestors immigrated decades ago, (i.e. “when you’re in my country, you should dress like me); and 2) this issue is more noticeable than other cultural differences (i.e. would you ever get in the face of a Jew who immigrated to Canada and tell them that they have to eat pork because they’re in “your” country now?)
i’ve always rode the fence on this one, but as i’ve been thinking about it a litte bit lately, i think it’s probably time that we need to get over ourselves and realize that we are just one voice of many colours, traditions, and cultures, in this country. (no, i’m not speaking about religious freedom or pluralism, or whether prayer should be in the schools or not, so don’t ride me on that… i’m just specifically speaking to the issue brought up)
#2 by Johanna on October 20th, 2006
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Yay, I finally found your website!
I agree with the comment above, you cannot use a soccer anology to discuss the debate of the hijab. In my mind, it is against human rights to deny someone the freedom of religion. Mind you, I am taking this from the hoopla which occurred in France a few years back, not the British case mentioned here. Nonetheless, for a country supposedly as progressive in terms of human rights and intellectual thought on cultural, political and economic rights, I’m disappointed.
By the way, I added you as a link to my blog.
Hey, k-os is coming to TO at the end of October. Maybe you should take a trip to the city.
Johanna
#3 by PitchTV on March 11th, 2011
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Yas, I finally found your website! I think it’s probably time that we need to get over ourselves and realize that we are just one voice of many colours, traditions, and cultures, in this country. Thanks!