Boris’s burqa-bashing is not ‘Islamophobic’

Aug 8, 2018 by

by Frank Myers, Spectator:

For an illustration of just how kneejerk accusations of Islamophobia have become, look no further than the row over Boris Johnson’s latest column. Writing in the Telegraph, the former foreign secretary criticised Denmark’s ban on the burqa. A ban runs against Denmark’s ‘spirit of liberty’, he said. He makes clear that he opposes the introduction of a similar ban in the UK.

Yet while Johnson is against banning the burqa, he is nonetheless critical of this garment. It is ‘oppressive… to expect women to cover their faces’, he says. He adds that it looks ridiculous and its wearers sometimes ‘look like letterboxes’ and ‘bank robbers’. For making these remarks, despite his call not to ban the burqa, Johnson stands accused of right-wing, racist demagoguery

The Muslim Council of Britain has accused him of ‘fanning the flames of the far right. Labour MP David Lammy calls him a ‘poundshop Trump’. Stella Creasy says that, in Johnson’s ‘racist’ behaviour, she sees the hand of Trump’s erstwhile spindoctor, Steve Bannon. Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi labelled the article a ‘dog whistle’ – unwittingly revealing her own prejudices about the supposedly animalistic voters who respond to such Pavlovian cues.

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Read also: Sky Data poll: Comparing women who wear burkas to bank robbers ‘not racist’, Yahoo News

Boris Johnson and the liberal criticism of Islam by Brendan O’Neill, Spectator

As a Muslim, I strongly support the right to ban the veil by Qanta Ahmed, Spectator

“Difficult, and often embarrassing, conversations” by Paul Goodman, Conservative Home

BoJo, the burqa and the Left’s blatant double standards by Gary Oliver, The Conservative Woman

The countries around the world that have banned the burka, Mailonline

 

 

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