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| French
Muslim women’s protests received sympathy from their
counterparts in other parts of the world.
|
France’s
anti-hijab measures have prompted unprecedented reactions from
Muslim women. For the first time in history, women now protest for
the head cover. And for the first time in history, Muslim women
from around the world are actively mobilizing for the protection
of their right to wear hijab, viewed by many outside observers
as a sign of subordination and marginalization, a form of
patriarchal oppression from which women wished to be liberated.
UK
- USA - Indonesia - Lebanon
- Palestine - Egypt
In
Britain…
In
response to the first protest by French Muslim women in Paris,
the Muslim Association of Britain and the Muslim Women Society
have jointly called for an International Day of Protest Against
Hijab Ban on January 17th. The call has received
worldwide response from Muslim women in many parts of the world.
Human rights organizations, religious and women groups in over
20 countries have already started holding pickets and vigils,
they have already starting demonstrating writing letters in
support for their Muslim sisters in France.
Also,
London is likely to host an international conference of group
leaders, activists and prominent opponents firmly standing
against the French move.
In
America…
American
Muslim, Jewish and Sikh groups are joining hands for large
protests and preparing for sit-ins outside the French embassy in
Washington D.C. as well as French consulates around the country.
Demonstrations will be take place in all cities that host French
diplomatic missions.
On
Sunday, January 11th, 2004, representatives of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) met
with French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte to deliver a
letter of opposition to the hijab ban in public schools for
French President Jacques Chirac.
Action
in America has already opened the ground for dialogue on hijab,
what it means, and why a Muslim woman is required to wear it.
Many mosques nationwide will be opened for non-Muslims to know
more about hijab.
Grass-root
organization ANSWER (Act Now To Stop War and End Racism) will
also join forces, supporting hijab as an expression of basic
human freedom.
In
Indonesia…
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| Indonesian
women protested today, January 15th, 2004 in Jakarta.
|
Dozens
of Indonesian Muslim women gathered before the French embassy in
Jakarta, January 15, 2004, wearing white hijabs, and held signs
stressing the truth about hijab in Islam.
In
Lebanon…
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| Lebanese
students protested outside the French embassy in Beirut.
|
Lebanon
is currently stage to the largest anti-hijab ban women protests
in the Arab world. Lebanese women of all walks of life and of
all ages are voicing their solidarity with their Muslim sisters
in France on a daily basis.
“We
have announced a campaign week in Lebanon. Universities and
schools from all over the country are holding protests
throughout the week – with placards and posters – which will
lead to a massive march to the French embassy in Beirut on the
17th of January,” Omar al-Masry, head of the Muslim Students
League, told IslamOnline.
“France
should understand that freedom is not selective. It should be
granted to all French citizens,” he added.
The
Muslim Students League is organizing the campaign in association
with the Najat Social Islamist Women organization and other
Lebanese human rights movements.
“We
have mobilized many women movements for the defense of hijab
rights, forming the Lebanese Women Congregation for the Defense
of Hijab,” Samira al-Masry, head of the Najat organization,
told IslamOnline.
“On
the 17th of January, a joint letter will be handed to the French
ambassador, urging him to bring measures of discrimination in
his country to a halt,” she added.
Leaflets
and posters are being distributed nationwide. Lectures, debates
and discussions on secularism, with special reference to the
nature of French secularism, are also hosted periodically in a
number of universities.
On
January 5th, 2004, the Muslim Ulama Congregation of Lebanon
released a declaration calling upon Muslims to stress on the
invincibility of the hijab ruling in Islam as the primary step
from which to address the issue. They also called upon the
French government to meet its responsibilities toward its
citizens in providing the safe atmosphere required for the
practice of their religious rights, and to avoid inevitable
cultural and social divisions that would stem within the French
society as a result of such measures.
On
January 7th, 2004, 150 Muslim female students marched to the
French Embassy in Beirut, expressing their solidarity with the
Muslim students of France, under the slogan: “Hijab is no
symbol, it is a commandment from Allah.”
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| Lebanese
student Momena Lubda gives talk during protest in
Tripoli.
|
In
Tripoli, 700 Muslim female students protested before the French
cultural center and called upon the French government to respect
the three main pillars upon which the French nation stands:
liberty, equality and brotherhood.
And
on January 8th, 2004, thousands of Muslim women marched again to
the French Embassy, under the organization of the women division
of Hizabullah, stressing that the hijab of the Muslim woman is a
religious duty and not a symbol with political, or even ethnic,
affiliation intended to alienate others, or to promote
exclusivity or division within societies. The declaration also
stressed that a woman’s simple headscarf presents little or no
threat to the French government, and that banning it indicates a
serious move towards placing secularism as a religion in itself;
one that is based on exclusivity, intolerance and rejection of
the “other.”
In
Palestine…
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| Palestinian
women protesting in Gaza City
|
Even
the women of Palestine, occupied with the daily losses of life,
family and property, expressed their solidarity with the Muslim
women of France. On January 5th, 2004, they marched to the
French culture council in Gaza City, carrying placards with
verses from the Qur’an that declare the hijab commandment to
women.
And
in Egypt…
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| Egyptian
women carry placards for hijab. One of them reads
“Hijab is personal freedom.”
|
On
January 6th, 2004, Hundreds of Egyptian women gathered before
the Journalists Syndicate to protest against the hijab ban. They
carried banners lamenting discrimination against Muslim women in
secular France. The protest preceded talks held by prominent
Egyptian female intellectuals touching upon the heart of the
debate in France.
“To
my sisters in France, you must know that you are not alone, and
will never be alone,” said Amira Fuda, a female speaker.
“This…
is a message to France which is now opposed by Muslims all over
the world who once valued its brave stands [in support of
Arab-Islamic causes],” Mohammed Abdul Quddus, Chairman of the
Syndicate Freedoms Committee, told IslamOnline.net.
Like
action in all other countries, the move called upon all Egyptian
women to gear up for the protest in front of the French embassy
in Cairo on January 17th, 2004.
Around
the World on the 17th…
Abeer
Forown, one of the representatives of the British call for the
worldwide protests, said that there have also been responses
from Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia and Mexico for action on the
17th.
Protests
are also planned in Germany and Belgium, where many Muslims fear
similar anti-hijab measures threatening their lives in the near
future.
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