Monday, December 15, 2014

China Becomes Latest Nation to Impose Burqa Ban in Muslim Western Capital



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China Becomes Latest Nation to Impose Burqa Ban in Muslim Western Capital

by Phyllis Chesler
Breitbart
December 15, 2014
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China has just banned the burqa (ambulatory body bag and face mask) in the mainly Muslim province of Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi. The government has also banned Islamic head coverings and beards in an effort to contain restive Islamic fundamentalism ("political Islam") from turning into a full-scale Jihad against the state.
"Beijing blames Islamist separatists for several deadly bomb and knife attacks that have killed hundreds of people in the past two years," Reuters notes. According to experts and exiles, China's "heavy-handed policies" may be the cause of ethnic and religious unrest.
Communism still views religion as the "opiate" of the people and as having the dangerous power of dividing a citizen's loyalty between private faith and the state. Thus, China has controlled permitted religious practices—but it has also jailed clerics, instituted bans, restricted certain religious practices entirely. In neighboring Tibet, occupied by China, Buddhist monks, nuns, and former nuns have immolated themselves in protest to the "brutal repression" of their religion.
While I do not agree with many of China's policies, their ban on face veils, body bags, and beards in public may make sense. Many European cities and countries have also banned the face veil (with varying degrees of success).
Communist Russia was unsuccessful in holding back the tide of political Islam in Afghanistan. Although they did offer education and other benefits to poor people, including women, the Afghan mode of resistance was associated with the burqa, the turban, and the beard. China is well aware of this.

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