The UK’s former Foreign Minister Mr Boris Johnson is once again caught in the eye of the storm after he used his weekly column in the Daily Telegraph to discuss one of this weekend’s European events: the first Burqa-ban fine given in Denmark.
Of course, Mr Johnson got caught up in his own writing style when he said that women who wear the ‘oppressive’ burkas and niqabs look like 'bank robbers' and 'letterboxes,' infuriating several opposition government members.
Mr Johnson: “If you tell me that the burka is oppressive, then I am with you. If you say that it is weird and bullying to expect women to cover their faces, then I totally agree and I would add that I can find no scriptural authority for the practice in the Koran.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Boris Johnson compares women wearing the burqa to a 'bank robber'<a href="https://t.co/mHiC6Id8OD">https://t.co/mHiC6Id8OD</a> <a href="https://t.co/1rWXsOtdDI">pic.twitter.com/1rWXsOtdDI</a></p>— Mirror Politics (@MirrorPolitics) <a href="https://twitter.com/MirrorPolitics/status/1026389502925987841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2018</a></blockquote>
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“I would go further and say that it is absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes; and I thoroughly dislike any attempt by any, invariably male, government to encourage such demonstrations of “modesty”, notably the extraordinary exhortations of President Ramzan Kadyrov of Chechnya, who has told the men of his country to splat their women with paintballs if they fail to cover their heads.”
Related coverage: <a href="https://thegoldwater.com/news/30784-Boris-Johnson-Resigns-As-Tory-Voters-Told-Lose-May-Or-Lose-Power">Boris Johnson resigns from government</a>.
“If a female student turned up at school or at a university lecture looking like a bank robber then ditto: those in authority should be allowed to converse openly with those that they are being asked to instruct.”
However, referring to the Danish installment of a total ban on the coverings, just like France, Austria, Bulgaria and Belgium have done, Mr Johnson feels that doing such in the UK would risk backfiring and fanning the flames of radicalism, both on the left and the right.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Boris Johnson was accused of “fanning the flames of Islamophobia” for comparing Muslim women in burqas to bank robbers and saying they “look like letter boxes" <a href="https://t.co/hH64pl0YyJ">https://t.co/hH64pl0YyJ</a></p>— Alexandre Renoux (@Alexandrenoux) <a href="https://twitter.com/Alexandrenoux/status/1026445688522125312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Mr Johnson: “If you go for a total ban, you play into the hands of those who want to politicise and dramatise the so-called clash of civilisations; and you fan the flames of grievance. You risk turning people into martyrs, and you risk a general crackdown on any public symbols of religious affiliation, and you may simply make the problem worse.”
Related coverage: <a href="https://thegoldwater.com/news/33100-Denmark-First-Burqa-ban-Fine-Issued-After-Scuffle-In-Copenhagen-Shopping-Centre-Video">Denmark issues first Burqa-fine after scuffle in shopping centre</a>.
In response, Labour MP David Lammy branded the former Foreign Minister a 'pound-shop Donald Trump' and who is spreading Islamophobia.
Mr Lammy stated: “Muslim women are having their burkas pulled off by thugs in our streets & Boris Johnson's response is to mock them for "looking like letter boxes."
“Our pound-shop Donald Trump is fanning the flames of Islamophobia to propel his grubby electoral ambitions.”
Source:
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