The Veil, Spying and the War on Terror

Over the last month a major debate has been sparked, due to Jack straws comments on the wearing of the veil by Muslim women. To make matters worse a report by the guardian suggests that special branch intends to ask university lectures and staff to ‘spy’ on Muslim and ‘Asian looking’ students.

To many, these issues may not be linked but to people from the Muslim community it is a continuation of the demonisation of Muslims and what many feel, that the last month has been open season on Muslims.

Jack straw has been an MP serving Blackburn for over twenty years. He suddenly decides to make comments regarding a few inches of cloth that covers the lower part of a women’s face. A minority of Muslim women wear the veil it is believed to be less than ten thousand out of the two million Muslims that live in this country. We have heard MP’s along with other prominent figures come out and say that it is a mark of separation, a hindrance to integration along with some people feeling scared and threatened.

The overwhelming support for Jack Straw’s comments shows the extent of Islamaphobia in this country. The media and the Government seem to have had an unholy alliance bringing the so called ‘War on Terror’ to our shores turning the spotlight on the Muslim communities. Since Jack Straws controversial comments we have seen an increase of Islamaphobic attacks on Muslims. In one incident a women had her veil ripped off her face whilst she waited at a bus stop in Liverpool and then racist abuse hurled at her. We have seen the Prime Minister Tony Blair break Ministerial code by commenting on an active case of the teaching assistant who was involved in an employment tribunal, as she had been suspended from her job for refusing to take her veil off in front of a male staff member. Phil Woolas’s comments “sack the veiled classroom assistant” does not really help an already disturbing situation. As this debate continues the Muslim community is feeling ever more isolated and victimized and this will lead to more Muslim Women wearing the veil out of defiance. Women don’t need middle aged white politicians telling them how to dress.

The reality of the situation is displayed by the report published by the ONS (Office for National Statistics) earlier this week. The report highlights the fact that Muslims have far higher rates of unemployment, overcrowded housing and other problems linked to deprivation than other religions.

Source: the independent

The government wants to tighten its grasp on British society moving into the bastion of free thinking and the mental environment. Asking Universities to spy on Muslim students is a move to crush any dissenting views against the government’s policies. Universities have traditionally been a place of critical thinking and diversity, where students from all parts of the world sit and discuss engaging in activism whether it is against climate change or fascism. But as I look around our University today the cracks are beginning to show. The homeland War on Terror seems to be succeeding, at least in Staffordshire University. Muslim students are viewed with suspicion; Student Union staff have even suggested interviewing members of the ISOC. There is a general lack of coalition between Muslim and non Muslim students on campus. There is not even a visible anti war movement on campus. In many other Universities the anti war movement has bought together peoples of all backgrounds to unite in the cause apposing the war, yet on our campuses we seem to be more interested in partying than caring about anything that effects the rest of the world, whether it be politics or climate change.

The question is not about Muslims integrating with British society, as continually the debate descends into far right language of ‘them’ and ‘us’. Muslims are integrated into this society. We have Muslims in all fields of British society from Universities to Hospitals and television. It is in fact a failure of certain parts of British society in accepting British Muslims: Spurred on by the Media and the Government in its ever increasing racist tone. The ‘War on Terror’ is a disaster, troops are struggling in Afghanistan and Iraq seems to be getting worse by the day. The attention needs to be turned away from these issues onto a home grown ‘threat’. This situation is only benefiting the Government in its attempts to take away British civil liberties, with the introduction of ID cards and draconian terror legislation.

There is definitely an issue of the veil but it is not the few inches of cloth the BNP sounding MP’s would have us believe it is. The issue of the Veil is that the Government seems to be putting the veil over the eyes of the British people, hiding its failure on the international front and deceiving the people to give up there rights for so called protection from an imminent threat.

By Michael Olson