Yes, yes, I know, I know, niqabophobia isn’t a dictionary approved word. Burqaphobia isn’t either, but give it a few years and both will no doubt have crept into common enough usage to warrant their rightful places in the OED – definitions something along the lines of “fear or dislike of Muslim ladies covering their faces”. Given the latest wave of niqabophobia and burqaphobia embracing Europe, which the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) toed up a notch with its recent proposal to ban said headwear in all public places, a timely reminder of the Hujum is called for.
The Hujum, for those who aren’t familiar with the term, refers to Joseph Stalin’s initiatives to emancipate Muslim ladies from oppression by forcing them to remove their veils. Did it work? No, it backfired like a Lada running on vodka. As an act of defiance against the State, more women than ever before chose to cover up their faces. There’s a lesson in there. There is.
There’s also a warning. The Soviet love-hate relationship with Islam, in which hate played a greater role than love, may be coming to a head in modern Russia. Ties between the State and the Russian Orthodox Church have, according to a report released yesterday by the Moscow-based Freedom of Conscience Institute, become “symbiotic”. The organisation believes that crackdowns on religious freedom together with the “large-scale and systematic persecution” of Muslims and, to a lesser extent, other religious minorities, may mean that such groups soon cease to exist in Russia.
Islamophobes and those opposed to cultural differences will no doubt applaud such measures. They won’t be so keen when the State turns its attention in their direction, though . . . .
I thought you supported Ukip plc. Or have you woken up about them?
I wouldn’t go as far as saying I support them as such, more that I agree with them on the question of the EU. Their social policies, on the other hand, I find quite concerning at times.