Borrowed this from Ali Eteraz's blog.
http://eteraz.wordpress.com/2007/08/31/short-film-about-hijab-in-europe/#comment-98666
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10 comments:
"If we allowed everyone to wear their religious symbols to school, what would happen?"
You'd probably have a pretty diverse school.
hahaha...yup! a huge diverse...
anyways...whats the big deal?! its just a piece of cloth over the head...not much difference to the cloth audrey hepburn put on her head..fashion statement?
I think the girl should stand up for what she believes in and not be manipulated...maybe if she were a bit stern about it..the lady would have no choice...
how about the girl in class (the first girl she sees) who put on a piece of cloth over her head...no difference isnt it?
sigh...
At what point does diversity become divisiveness? I find that religion is all about divisiveness... us versus them. This is certainly true of the intrusive Christianity constantly pushed in the US schools.
I am one of those that thinks that school uniforms are a good thing... no additions or deletions. No head coverings of any kind including those gawdawful baseball hats. :-)
She would be able to wear her hijab in an American school, but what bothers me about it is that it is really a fashion not mentioned anywhere in the Quran... and it is an 'us versus them' style of divisiveness that bothers me on a certain level - the same as the street gang uniforms.
VS
There's a difference though in European rules (the new ones) and clothing rules in the USA. You can wear a cross or yamulke or hijab in a US school. No one cares. You are free to express yourself and we believe in freedom of religion. We try to balance the two freedoms out with a separation of church and state. You can also send your child to another school here, petition the district, etc if you have problems.
No such luck in most of Europe these days. In France, you can't wear any symbols of religion, at all, including overlarge crosses worn by most people I know as "jewelry" as opposed to a sign of religion. They have an extreme view of secularism, which in itself is very divisive and of course, is aimed at those who do believe is expressing their religious views through dress. And, I don't think they have the choices we do in the States.
I think we have a much fairer system. I like diversity, but I don't believe the ten commandments should be displayed in or on government property (including schools). I don't care for people who advertise their religion either, but I do believe in tolerance. It's a fine balance.
When I saw her take off her scarf, I cried. It's just so sad.
bummer...
if she had had more support from her parents it would have been much easier to stand up to the teacher. that's a reminder that hijab is not one person's responsibility - brothers and sisters have to support each other.
everything the teacher said contradicted itself. she says something like "you don't want to be a weirdo" and taa daa... all the kids look as weird as each other.
and something else like "what happens if everyone dresses the way they have to, according to religion? freedom of though and religion goes right out of the window." what's that about?
it's a pity she took it off. her classmates stared at her as if she had two heads anyway, she might as well have kept her scarf on.
WHat's interesting about this film is that I've seen it play out in reverse in Egypt for adults in the workplace (a good friend of mine was told by her employer that if she chose to unveil she should look for work elsewhere) but also for kids. With the kids, though, the pressure often came from peers-veiling to fit it.
I agree with Vagabondblogger, well maybe because I live now in the States. I felt like Safiya. I was disturbed at the moments she took it off. I hate ot break somebody's will. You know what i liked most? The professional performance of the little girl. She is really natural and expressive. She made me lose the sense that I am just watching a video
I wanted to comment earlier but didn't do it because my response was kind of an aside from the chain of comments here.
I don't have a developed opinion on the hijab in general, but I've taught in Bosnia (some women wear it, definitely more than before the war my students said) and have recently spent time in Kosovo (in Prishtina at least it seems less common than Sarajevo but that's based on a very limited experience).
Then I found this: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070921/ap_on_re_eu/kosovo_headscarf_ban
It just drives me crazy to see the level of prejudice that exists...and that is apparent in this article on so many levels. As I said, I don't have strong opinions on the hijab in particular but Europe needs to get its act together. I'm from the US and certainly the US also has a long way to go as well, but Europe's "fear" of Muslims has also had sever consequences in this region and it is very troubling to see.
Thanks for comments, Katie. There's nothing harsh about that
;-) you're right about Europe fearing Muslims. I think they also fear fractioning of the society. When I lived in Spain, a country with communities that know all too well what it's like to be told "dress this way, speaking this language, don't sing that song" under the Franco regime. Here's why the hejab is, in my opinion, such a big deal in Spain. Unlike the US who carefully monitors who gets into the country (ok-we'll save mexican immigrants for another discussion), Spain has seen an influx of N. africans over the last 20 years. As with any group of illegal immigrants, crimes comes, too. This certainly adds to the negative perception of N. Africans (who then get lumped into the groups of "arabs" and "muslims"). It's not the crime, though, Spain is not accustomed, much like other parts of W. Europe, to diversity. These last 15 years or so are the really the first significant wave of immigrants. Under Franco, they wouldn't have survived. While Spain is 'afraid' of the new changes that come w/ the immigrants, they're really not so different from any other country who has these same growing pains. I do think that this is a crucial time for making it work. I think this is tricky, too. Why have immigrants in america survived? Historically, I would say assimilation played a huge part in it. Why do Muslim immigrants to the US today seem to be better adjusted than any other muslim immigrants around the world? Part of me thinks that the socioeconomic class of the group in question plays a huge role regardless of where they are.
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