2023-11-13 15:17:00
”Jean-Luc Mélenchon (the president of France Insoumise), is in favor of authorizing the wearing of the full veil – abaya – at school. And you?”, asks Martin Buxant.
It is important to clarify that the abaya is not a full veil. This is a loose outfit that covers the shoulders down to the feet, but not the face. It is a feminine garment, which can also be worn by men, in a different cut. The word abaya means “toga” or “coat” in Arabic. The “full veil”, which refers to a garment that covers a person’s entire face, is a niqab or burqa.
”I have no problem with that from the age of 8-9. It’s a private choice. This is a problem in France where we completely exaggerate and we want to pit populations once morest each other, this does not arise today in Belgium. We must stop stigmatizing a population,” insists Raoul Hedebouw. “As an activist, I don’t want that. I am once morest community withdrawal,” he continues.
The journalist then asks him if this response does not fit into the logic of electoral hunting for people of the Muslim faith. “That disgusts me,” the far-left politician reacted strongly to the question. “In Belgium, we have a tradition that the management (of schools) decides this question themselves. I am for that. We must stop stigmatizing because in France, we are heading towards a civil war.”
These comments led to strong reactions from the political class on social networks, particularly from the MR. “There are no longer any limits to the collective delirium among Belgian communists,” says Minister for the Middle Classes and Independents, David Clarinval.
Denis Ducarme even called for a cordon santé around the PTB, as his party already suggests.
“When the PTB aligns itself with the Salafist clothing styles promoted by Saudi Arabia,” George Dallemagne (Les Engagés) is indignant.
Contacted by La Libre, Raoul Hedebouw wished to provide details. “I answered regarding the abaya and not the full veil. There is indeed confusion,” he underlines. “But the answer is very clear and of course carries the French controversy around the abaya and the position of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.”
The president of the PTB therefore wanted to support his position: “I am not once morest the abaya, but I am for the ban on the full veil.”
The MP still says he is once morest community withdrawal. Isn’t the abaya a form of it? “No, it’s an outfit. I think we need to stop telling everyone what to wear and what not to wear. I don’t think the abaya is a religious sign. France has been arguing regarding this for months, as far as I am concerned I take the definition and I see what it is regarding. This does not mean that I am promoting the abaya”.
The abaya is first of all a traditional garment, characteristic of the Bedouins, according to the Dutch orientalist Reinhart Dozy in his Detailed Dictionary of the Names of Clothing Among the Arabs. Wearing the black abaya (it might be colored before) became compulsory for women in 1979 in Saudi Arabia, with the aim of a rigorous vision of Islam. The garment is then seen as a Salafist symbol in the West. In France, the abaya can therefore appear as religious attire, which the French Council of Muslim Worship contests. Its vice-president Abdallah Zekri speaks of it as a “kind of fashion”. In 2002, Saudi Arabia banned the wearing of the abaya for women during exams, in line with the liberal shift undertaken by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
As for the political reactions that his remarks provoked, Hedebouw believes that “it clearly shows that we are trying to import the French debate here. It’s good that we protect ourselves from that in Belgium”, and finds it “good war” that the MR puts the question of the cordon santé back on the table. “The MR would like to stifle any form of debate, because it is isolated within the federal government. It’s been two years since the MR called for a cordon santé around the PTB, I’m happy that no one is getting involved in that.”
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