“The battle-cry of women’s liberation was hijacked this month by Muslim fundamentalists to disguise an agenda that denies choice to women. A conference on the hijab, held at City Hall in London on 12 July and hosted by London’s mayor, Ken Livingstone, took place under the title: ‘A woman’s right to choose’.”
Peter Tatchell in the New Statesman, 19 July 2004
Sukaina Jaffer defends the hijab.
The pro-hijab conference held Monday, July 12, at the Greater London Authority, announced an international hijab solidarity day and an action plan to defend the right of Muslim women to take on the headscarf.
Titled the Assembly for the Protection of Hijab, the conference declared September 4, 2004, an International Hijab Solidarity Day because Muslim students across Europe will be back to school by then.
Participants also pledged to rally behind young Muslim girls, who are discriminated against in their western society because of their hijab.
The conference further unveiled a plan of action to build on the recommendations of the one-day conference, calling for educating people on the importance of hijab to Muslim women through seminars and media.
Ken Livingstone yesterday hosted the first conference of a campaign to safeguard the right of Muslim women to wear the hijab or headscarf, and declared the ban in French schools the most reactionary proposal since the second world war.
London’s mayor also railed against the “demonisation” of Islam in some British newspapers – and warned that in his second term he would examine whether media organisations’ recruitment policies reflected the diversity of the community.
He was addressing the Assembly for the Protection of Hijab (known as Pro-Hijab), which holds that the right to wear the headscarf is a fundamental aspect of religious freedom.
“Assembly for the Protection of Hijab ‘Pro-Hijab’ and all those associated therewith would like to note their sincere thanks and profound appreciation to all our speakers, guests, delegates and the Greater London Authority staff for the remarkable efforts that went in to making this landmark conference a reality.”
Assembly for the Protection of Hijab (Pro-Hijab) statement, 12 July 2004
“Before the war on Iraq, the Middle East Centre for Women’s Rights warned that ‘this war will promote political Islam and will strengthen the Islamic terrorism’. They will find a fertile ground to grow, to spread their misogynist polices under the name of ‘protecting Islam’. All this, thanks to left British parties which gave them the microphone and the stage to scream ‘Allah o Akbar’ in Hyde Park. Thanks to Ken Livingstone who rewarded their voices in the mayoral elections by hosting their conferences on ‘defending the Hijab’ and promoting ‘Islamic Family Law’ in the ‘Muslim Community’.”
Another Islamophobic rant from the Worker Communist Party of Iraq.
“Well it seems that the ‘fundamentalist threat’ to British state education has been averted yet again. Last week’s ruling against Shabina Begum’s fight to wear the jilbab to school has brought shrieks of joy from all the usual suspects – liberal pundits and right-wing columnists alike …”
Fareena Alam in the Times Educational Supplement, 25 June 2004.
Reproduced in Q News.
A 15-year-old Muslim girl yesterday lost her high court battle for the right to wear strict Islamic dress to school.
Shabina Begum has not attended Denbigh high school in Luton since September 2002 when she was sent home for turning up in a jilbab – the full-length gown worn by many Muslim women that covers all of the body except the face and hands.
Shabina’s claim that she had been “constructively excluded” from her school was dismissed by Mr Justice Bennett. He said the school’s refusal to let her wear the jilbab did not breach her right to education and freedom of religion as laid down in the European convention on human rights.
Muslim women have launched a Europe-wide campaign to protect their right to wear the hijab headscarf.
The international network Assembly for the Protection of Hijab, or Pro-Hijab, was formed in response to headscarf bans in France and parts of Germany. Pro-Hijab aims to reverse bans already brought in and prevent more “abuses of democracy” being imposed.
“As Muslims we are proud of the hijab, we are not oppressed,” said co-ordinator Abeer Pharaon.
The group, launched in London on Monday, wants to banish the “negative sterotypical image of the hijab which lies at the root of this discrimination” and to offer Muslim women a platform from which they can speak out.
The group has the support of a number of prominent groups such as the Muslim Association of Britain, National Assembly Against Racism, the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe and human rights group Liberty.
MEP Caroline Lucas, Fiona McTaggart MP, and George Galloway MP and London Mayor Ken Livingstone have also supported the founding of the campaign.
“‘A Woman’s Right To Choose.’ This slogan, made famous by pro-abortion activists in the United States, now has a new meaning, as in ‘Hijab: A Woman’s Right To Choose’.
“That is the slogan for a conference coming up on July 12 in London, hosted by none other than the extreme left-wing mayor of that city, Ken Livingstone. The gradual takeover of the left by Islamists is something truly amazing to behold.”