[Marxism] Islamist?s Campaign for Veiling and ?freedom,?

[<mekchi@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Islamist?s Campaign for Veiling and ?Freedom,?
the Ultimate Hypocrisy

By Mahmood Ketabchi
mekchi@xxxxxxx
January 14, 2004


        The French government?s decision to ban religious insignia from the 
public schools has the Islamists scurrying to mount an international campaign 
to oppose secular and progressive rules.  The Islamists are running this 
campaign under the rubric of ?personal freedom, secularism, and protection of 
people?s privacy.?  But, they are lying for they never stood for these 
principles when Islamic atrocities occur on a daily basis in Islamic stricken 
countries both where the Islamists are in power or in opposition. This campaign 
is founded on sheer lies and demagogy. 

        When was the last time that these hypocrites supported even the basic 
and rudimentary rights of women and children in Islamic imposed countries? When 
did they ever condemn misogyny, woman hating, and gender apartheid which their 
co-religious brothers in ?Islamic countries? imposed on the society with guns, 
knives, machetes, whips, imprisonment, and stoning? Can they tell us when did 
they come to the street to oppose their beloved Talibanite brothers when they 
turned Afghanistan into a mediaeval, inhumane, and barbarian society?   Where 
did they demonstrate when thousands of women in Iran under Islamic rules 
perished under the barbaric punishment of stoning just because they had an 
extramarital affair? 

        If dressing is a private and personal matter as the Islamists assert, 
why is it that it only applies to ?Moslem women? who want to wear hejab? What 
about women who do not want to?  Can they wear what they like?  If yes, why 
didn?t they ever raise their voice against forced veiling in Islamic stricken 
countries, such as, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait?.?  Can they prove 
to us that they have exposed and protested against Islamic gangs who beat women 
or pour acid in their face just because they do not observe ?proper? Islamic 
dressing codes, just because they put on a lot of make up, speak loudly, laugh 
and smile in public or even shake hands with men? 

        Let them show to the world when and where they opposed child raping and 
molestation.  Where is their outrage about Islamic marriage laws in countries 
such as Iran which sanctions the marriage and the rape of children and young 
girls?   Let them give us proof that they oppose the beating, harassing, and 
murdering of gay men, lesbians and transgendered people and that they are 
willing to protect their personal right to privacy. These are just a few 
questions out of hundreds that I have for the Islamists. 

        The organizers of the campaign against the banning of hejab in public 
schools in France are the same people who have erected the machinery of gender 
apartheid, barbarism, and savagery in Islamic imposed societies.  Every 
conscientious person, freedom-loving individual, and progressive organization, 
who hears the Islamists talk about ?secularism, freedom, and the right to 
privacy, should confront them with the above questions.  We must demand an 
answer.   Let them show us where they truly stand.     
        
        The kinds of lies they are telling us are familiar ones.  We should not 
forget the religious Right and the Operation Rescue gangs who attacked and 
bombed abortion clinics and assassinated physicians who performed abortions 
under the guise of protecting the life of the child.   Don?t anti abortionists 
claim they are staunchly pro-life?  Don?t we know how Christian religious gangs 
want to push prayers into the public school by claiming that they want to 
practice their religious rights?  Don?t we know how Jerry Farwell, Pat 
Robertson and other religious goons around Bush incessantly push religion into 
our lives under the rubric of religious freedom and personal rights?   We 
cannot stand by and let Islamic demagogues expand Islamic barbarism to our 
lives here or anywhere in the world.   

        Banning hejab and other religious insignia in public schools has 
nothing to do with banning hejab in the society or limiting freedom of 
religion.   Religious manifestations in schools, whether imposed by the 
government or religious industry, must be prohibited in order to create a free, 
creative, healthy, and lively learning environment.   Moreover, it is an 
important step toward protecting children from religious proselytizing and 
coercion, ideological conditioning and manipulation by religious industries and 
institutions.   

        Religious clothing for children is a clear violation of their rights.  
Religious recruitment, teaching, and clothing for children must be banned 
altogether, not only in public, but also in private school and the society as a 
whole.  Children are not the property of their parents. They are human beings 
who have certain rights that must not be violated, including the right to live 
free of religious manipulation imposed on them by the parents and the religious 
sect their parents are associated with.  A humane and progressive society must 
provide children under legal age with such protection against religious and 
ideological indoctrination.

        Religion and god must be separated from the state completely and 
unequivocally, and public officials should be prohibited from symbolizing any 
religion at work and in government buildings and offices.  Freedom of clothing 
for private adult individuals must be protected as long as it does not hamper 
or impede their mobility and safety as well as the well-being of others in 
workplace and other public spaces.  Religion must become strictly and totally a 
private affair of the individual.   

        The Islamist campaign against the French Government?s decision to ban 
veiling and other religious insignia from public schools is an open and 
flagrant attack on freedom, women?s rights, children?s well-being, and 
secularism.  It has nothing to do with defending freedom. The Islamists, with 
the help of the Islamic and reactionary governments in the Middle East are 
seeking to expand and spread their inhumane influence and medieval political 
power in the west.  They want a share of political power in Europe.  The 
Islamists? audacity to mount an offensive campaign has only become possible 
because of western bourgeoisie governments? policy of appeasement, reactionary 
theories of cultural relativism and post-modernism that justifies Islamic 
brutalities and atrocities under the guise of respecting ?diversity? and the 
?cultural heritage? of ?Third World? people including ?Islamic Nations.? 

            The Islamists are mounting an attack against civilized humanity.  
Today, they want hejab in schools; tomorrow they will demand Islamic courts as 
they are already campaigning for in Canada.   Later, they will insist on 
marrying four wives, turn women into subhuman beings barred from certain jobs, 
entitled to half of the inheritance their brothers receive, and considered 
unfit to testify in the court.  Maybe in the distant future they will want us 
to give them the right to stone their wives and daughters.  All these under the 
guise of the right to ?religious freedom.?    

        Progressive humanity must stand up to Islamists who epitomize 
barbarism, misogynism, gender apartheid, the raping and molesting of children, 
and the complete rightlessness of people.  These reactionary dangerous gangs 
must be stopped now.  Tomorrow or the day after might be too late.  We should 
not allow them to manipulate and falsify the ideas of freedom, personal 
privacy, and human rights.  Such a travesty must never occur.



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