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Veil debate: opinion from the street


AM - Thursday, 19 October , 2006  08:20:00

Reporter: Rafael Epstein

TONY EASTLEY: In Britain, the debate about Islam is in full flight, fuelled in particular by the Prime Minister Tony Blair's assertion that a Muslim woman's veil is a "mark of separation".

Britain's airwaves and streets are full of talk about whether British multiculturalism encourages segregation or integration.

With visibly observant Islamic women now at the centre of this discussion, our Europe Correspondent Rafael Epstein went onto London's streets to ask them for their views.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: To find out how this controversy is affecting the women who wear a headscarf or a full-face veil, I came to Edgeware Road. It's on the western edge of the city, and it's one of the capital's major Muslim centres.

I'm also just a few hundred meters away from one of the underground stations that was bombed in those attacks in July last year.

FARA: I'm Fara (phonetic), I'm a pharmacist.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: And you're how old, can I ask?

FARA: I'm 23.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Can I ask if you've always worn a headscarf like you're wearing now?

FARA: I started wearing it when I was about 15.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: And can I ask why?

FARA: I chose to wear it. At that particular point in time, I went to an all-girls Catholic school, and a lot of my friends were starting to go into places like clubs and bars and things like that, and I personally felt that the hijab was right for me.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: So that's what you're wearing now, just a headscarf, not a full-face veil?

FARA: No. In a way it does protect the modesty of a woman, and you can sit there and say that, "Oh, she's been brainwashed, she's been brainwashed".

A lot of people do say that. But if that's what someone believes, you've got to respect that. And that's the kind of appeal Britain has, because there's supposed to be freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of action in this country.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: So when the Prime Minister says that he sees the full-face veil as a mark of separation...?

FARA: As the Prime Minister of this country, he actually represents everyone's views, including the people who put him in power. And that will include people who are wearing veils.

And just to go and say that it's just like he's... there's a debate going on and he's already sort of said, yeah I'm already on that side, which I really think is quite upsetting.

NUSHEEN: My name's Nusheen (phonetic), and I'm a trainee architect. To some people, even wearing a headscarf without the veil seems like a big deal to them. I don't really understand why that is.

Muslims have been in this country for a very long time. Whenever they address this issue, they always speak as if they're talking about a bunch of outsiders.

I've had things thrown at me, lit cigarettes, for example. They don't feel that's it's wrong because Islamophobia hasn't been put into a box as something that's being wrong.

It's not being racist, it's not something that's really publicised.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: So people think it's acceptable to insult someone because they're wearing a headscarf?

NUSHEEN: So it seems, so it seems, because they don't think that people are going to react to them.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: So is part of it, it just changes the way that men might look at you?

NUSHEEN: Whenever I'm working or things like that, people address me with a lot more respect.

It is there as a sort of barrier because people don't automatically see me as a "oh look at that lady with her great whatever".

They see my scarf and they go, "Oh, ok. She doesn't go that way".

TONY EASTLEY: Nusheen, a trainee architect, speaking with our Correspondent Rafael Epstein.