Vox has decided to bring to the Cortes the debate on the ban on the full veil, which until now the Catalan far-right party Aliança Catalana had taken advantage of, forcing the PP and Junts to paint a portrait. The spokesperson of the ultra-parliamentary group, Pepa Millán, announced on Tuesday the presentation of a bill to ban the use of the burqa and niqab in public spaces, two female garments originating from Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf, which she confused with the Islamic veil. The latter, called hijab, widespread in Muslim countries and a sign of religious identity, covers only the hair and neck; while the others hide the woman’s entire body (burqa) or reveal only her eyes (nicab). Millán made it clear that his goal is not only to protect women forced to cover themselves or avoid security problems arising from the fact that some people wear their faces covered, but above all to “protect the Western identity” of Spain, which in his opinion is incompatible with the Muslim religion.
Vox’s proposal, which aims to ban the use of the niqab and burqa “in public spaces or in private places where they are projected into a public space”, creates a new crime that will punish anyone who enforces their use “through violence, intimidation or any form of coercion” with up to three years’ imprisonment. Furthermore, it intends to amend the Law on Citizen Security to punish the use of the niqab or burqa in public spaces by up to 600 euros, as well as the imposition of the same by the parents or guardians of a minor. Repeat infringement could be punished with a fine of up to 30,000 euros.
Initially, the rejection of the Islamic veil was not part of Vox’s doctrinal corpus. On the contrary, ultra education has always defended the right of parents to impose on their children the religious and moral education they desire and have rejected any type of civic or sexual education at school as “indoctrination”, claiming the right of parents to veto it through the so-called parental PIN. However, its alignment with the European far right led by the French Marine Le Pen or the Dutch Geert Wilders, who have made the rejection of Islam the axis of their political action; and the emergence in Catalonia of Sílvia Orriols’ party, fiercely opposed to Muslim immigration, have decided to raise this flag before the others, launching a campaign that will bring the debate on the ban not only to Congress but to all regional parliaments. It happens that the parties that have led this battle in Europe defend the secularity of the state and reject the use of religious symbols in schools, unlike Vox.
It will not be the first time this issue has been discussed in the Parliament of Catalonia. Last May the Catalan Chamber rejected a similar proposal from Aliança Catalana with the abstention of PP and Vox and the votes against of PSC, Junts, ERC and Comuns. However, Puigdemont’s party, in tough electoral competition with Orriols, distanced itself from the majority and announced that, when it governs Catalonia, it will take advantage of its powers on migration and education to ban the use of the burqa, niqab and burkini (swimsuit that covers the whole body) in public spaces and facilities intended for minors “to avoid gender discrimination”.
Last July it was Vox who brought an initiative to the Catalan Parliament to ban the Islamic headscarf, deeming it “a serious threat to our identity, our culture and respect for our legal and social system”. On this occasion all the other parties voted against, except Aliança and the PP, who abstained. In the debate, a fight broke out between MP Julia Calvet and PP spokesperson Alejandro Fernández, who said that Vox’s proposal “did not include a ban on the burqa or the Islamic headscarf (we would have supported this without hesitation) but rather referred to any Islamic clothing. And what does that mean? Are slippers, tunics and djellabas also banned?”
The proposal that the Congress will discuss exclusively bans the burqa and the niqab, which are a hot potato for the PP and the Junts; who will find themselves in the position to join the initiative or give that flag to their respective electoral rivals: Vox and Aliança. If they accept it, they will have to justify why some face-concealing clothing is prohibited and not others; like the carnival masks, the Easter Nazarenes or those masquerades of the neo-Nazi demonstration that swept through the center of Madrid on November 8th. In 2013, the Supreme Court overturned a Lleida city council ordinance banning the burqa in municipal facilities, warning that the right to religious freedom must be regulated by law and that it could “produce the perverse effect of denying integration into public spaces to the woman it is intended to protect.”
