Straw causes furore with not-so-veiled comments to Muslims
-06/10/06
House of Commons
Straw causes furore with not-so-veiled comments to Muslims
-06/10/06
House of Commons leader Jack Straw has caused a furore ñ and deeply divided opinion ñ with his comments that Muslim women in the UK who wear full veils make ìbetter, positive relationsî between communities ìmore difficultî.
Mr Straw, the MP for Blackburn, a constituency with 30 per cent Muslim voters, told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph that concealing a face was ìa visible statement of separation and of differenceî.
He later clarified that he was calling for a voluntary abandonment of full coverings, not for compulsion. On BBC Radio 4ís Today programme this morning he said he had become ìincreasingly concernedî about the matter of communication.
Mr Straw acknowledged that it was only ìa tiny communityî who wore the veil, and that his remarks were carefully considered, after conversations with Muslims and others, not off-the-cuff.
He accepted that others would disagree with him, but said that ìwe ought to be able to have a reasoned conversation about this.î
The former Foreign Secretary, who has vehemently denied evidence that British foreign policy has played a role in radicalising Muslims, immediately gained support for his views from right-wing newspaper commentators, critics of ëmulticulturalismí and those worried about the increasing profile of religion in public life.
The Sun and The Daily Mail have backed Mr Straw, and the Daily Telegraph has provocatively contrasted his views with the ìsupineî behaviour of the police in the case of a Muslim officer allowed not to patrol the Israeli Embassy during the Lebanon conflict because he felt a sense of threat.
But the Muslim Committee for Public Affairs and the Islamic Human Rights Commission have responded by calling the Commons leader’s request ìselective discriminationî and itself a disastrous and inexcusable undermining of good relations.
There was also confusion and anger among many Muslims when bullish New Labour Home Secretary John Reid recently told Muslim parents to look out for signs of their children becoming extremists.
MPACís Halima Hussain asked on BBC Newsnight and News 24 yesterday: ìWho is Jack Straw to comment on so-called negative symbols within a religion that is not his own?î
An Anglican priest in the Blackburn area said that much more needed to be done to build up understanding between different religions and cultures, and that stereotypes still prevailed among the non-Muslim population.
Mr Straw has been defended for his right to comment by Labour MP for Dewsbury Shahid Malik, who called for a calm debate.
But Conservative policy chief Oliver Letwin said on BBC TVís Question Time programme that it was ìdangerousî to compromise peopleís freedom to dress as they wish, and Labour chairperson Hazel Blears said that it was important to talk to Muslim women.
Liberal Democrat constitutional affairs spokesperson Simon Hughes added: ìI don’t think it’s the job for somebody who represents the whole community to say to somebody who comes through the door, ëDo you mind if you dress differently in order to talk to me?íî
Callers to the midlands community station Radio Ramadan have been criticising the Commons leader by a ratio of 8:1, in a phone hosted by a popular woman broadcaster.
A Lancashire Council associate regretted the comments as “unfortunate”, “un-wise” and “ill-advised”.
Progressive Asian website Pickled Politics has not yet commented in detail, but a contributor acknowledged that Mr Straw was opening ìa can of wormsî.
In a confrontational environment, links are also being made with the prejudicial attitudes revealed in a series of attacks on a Muslim dairy near Windsor, culminating in a fire-bomb attack.
The dairy owner, Sadar Hussain, was recently reported in the press saying the area was in desperate need of a place for Muslim worship. Tabloids have stoked up fears of a mosque ìon the Queenís doorstepî at Windsor Castle.
Meanwhile, Mr Straw said he now asks women who have meetings with him to remove their veils so they can ìtruly talk ëface-to-faceí.î He added: ìMy concerns could be misplaced, but I think there is an issue here.î
The various forms of female covering in Muslim religious and cultural tradition are the subject of intense debate ñ with some women claiming them as a liberation from objectification, others as an act of male subjugation. Some wear coverings freely, others out of obligation.
Dr Daud Abdullah of the Muslim Council of Britain said that covering hair remained “obligatory” for Muslim women, who could nevertheless choose to remove part of their veil. He said scholars held different views. ìOurs is that if it is going to cause discomfort and that can be avoided then it can be done.î
Jack Straw was home secretary from 1997 to 2001 and foreign secretary until 2005, a period including the build-up to, and invasion of, Iraq. He was appointed Leader of the House of Commons in May 2006 with responsibility for Lords Reform and Party Funding.
The Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA) supports Mr Straw in this government role. He also chairs the Constitutional Affairs and the Legislative Programme Committees which have a central role in the development of policy.
Straw causes furore with not-so-veiled comments to Muslims
-06/10/06
House of Commons leader Jack Straw has caused a furore ñ and deeply divided opinion ñ with his comments that Muslim women in the UK who wear full veils make ìbetter, positive relationsî between communities ìmore difficultî.
Mr Straw, the MP for Blackburn, a constituency with 30 per cent Muslim voters, told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph that concealing a face was ìa visible statement of separation and of differenceî.
He later clarified that he was calling for a voluntary abandonment of full coverings, not for compulsion. On BBC Radio 4ís Today programme this morning he said he had become ìincreasingly concernedî about the matter of communication.
Mr Straw acknowledged that it was only ìa tiny communityî who wore the veil, and that his remarks were carefully considered, after conversations with Muslims and others, not off-the-cuff.
He accepted that others would disagree with him, but said that ìwe ought to be able to have a reasoned conversation about this.î
The former Foreign Secretary, who has vehemently denied evidence that British foreign policy has played a role in radicalising Muslims, immediately gained support for his views from right-wing newspaper commentators, critics of ëmulticulturalismí and those worried about the increasing profile of religion in public life.
The Sun and The Daily Mail have backed Mr Straw, and the Daily Telegraph has provocatively contrasted his views with the ìsupineî behaviour of the police in the case of a Muslim officer allowed not to patrol the Israeli Embassy during the Lebanon conflict because he felt a sense of threat.
But the Muslim Committee for Public Affairs and the Islamic Human Rights Commission have responded by calling the Commons leader’s request ìselective discriminationî and itself a disastrous and inexcusable undermining of good relations.
There was also confusion and anger among many Muslims when bullish New Labour Home Secretary John Reid recently told Muslim parents to look out for signs of their children becoming extremists.
MPACís Halima Hussain asked on BBC Newsnight and News 24 yesterday: ìWho is Jack Straw to comment on so-called negative symbols within a religion that is not his own?î
An Anglican priest in the Blackburn area said that much more needed to be done to build up understanding between different religions and cultures, and that stereotypes still prevailed among the non-Muslim population.
Mr Straw has been defended for his right to comment by Labour MP for Dewsbury Shahid Malik, who called for a calm debate.
But Conservative policy chief Oliver Letwin said on BBC TVís Question Time programme that it was ìdangerousî to compromise peopleís freedom to dress as they wish, and Labour chairperson Hazel Blears said that it was important to talk to Muslim women.
Liberal Democrat constitutional affairs spokesperson Simon Hughes added: ìI don’t think it’s the job for somebody who represents the whole community to say to somebody who comes through the door, ëDo you mind if you dress differently in order to talk to me?íî
Callers to the midlands community station Radio Ramadan have been criticising the Commons leader by a ratio of 8:1, in a phone hosted by a popular woman broadcaster.
A Lancashire Council associate regretted the comments as “unfortunate”, “un-wise” and “ill-advised”.
Progressive Asian website Pickled Politics has not yet commented in detail, but a contributor acknowledged that Mr Straw was opening ìa can of wormsî.
In a confrontational environment, links are also being made with the prejudicial attitudes revealed in a series of attacks on a Muslim dairy near Windsor, culminating in a fire-bomb attack.
The dairy owner, Sadar Hussain, was recently reported in the press saying the area was in desperate need of a place for Muslim worship. Tabloids have stoked up fears of a mosque ìon the Queenís doorstepî at Windsor Castle.
Meanwhile, Mr Straw said he now asks women who have meetings with him to remove their veils so they can ìtruly talk ëface-to-faceí.î He added: ìMy concerns could be misplaced, but I think there is an issue here.î
The various forms of female covering in Muslim religious and cultural tradition are the subject of intense debate ñ with some women claiming them as a liberation from objectification, others as an act of male subjugation. Some wear coverings freely, others out of obligation.
Dr Daud Abdullah of the Muslim Council of Britain said that covering hair remained “obligatory” for Muslim women, who could nevertheless choose to remove part of their veil. He said scholars held different views. ìOurs is that if it is going to cause discomfort and that can be avoided then it can be done.î
Jack Straw was home secretary from 1997 to 2001 and foreign secretary until 2005, a period including the build-up to, and invasion of, Iraq. He was appointed Leader of the House of Commons in May 2006 with responsibility for Lords Reform and Party Funding.
The Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA) supports Mr Straw in this government role. He also chairs the Constitutional Affairs and the Legislative Programme Committees which have a central role in the development of policy.