The Islamic face veil is a barrier to integration in the West.

ahmed for proposing this important topic. I look forward to a thought-provoking debate. Burden of ProofBy Islamic face veil, I assume Con is referring to the Islamic burqa, which covers the head, face, and body. My opponent, as Con, has the burden to show that the burqa is not a barrier to the integration of Muslim culture in the West. I will argue the burqa is a barrier to integration in the West. MulticulturalismNo one can be a multiculturalist in any interesting or coherent sense. Multiculturalists will always resist the force of the cultures he/she tolerates, and stop short of approving other cultures when those cultures generate acts that are offensive to the canons of civilized decency. As Steven C. Rockefeller states, "important as respect for diversity is in multicultural democratic societies, ethnic identity is not the foundation of recognition of equal value and the related idea of equal rights. "A multiculturalist may enjoy Native American religious ceremonies, but will turn away when those ceromonies include animal sacrifice. Or a multiculturalist may respect other religions, but draw the line when adherents of a religion engage in polygamy. At some point, even the strongest multiculturalist and liberal must be intolerant of another culture's core values. Wearing the burqa is an act offensive to Western culture and should therefore not be allowed. What does the Islamic veil symbolize? PatriarchyThe problem with the burqa is that it is one of the greatest symbols ever invented of female humiliation and and oppression. Nazila Fathi, a reporter who has been instrumental in providing the West a perspective on Tehran, wrote the following about the burqa: “If you want to wear it, go back to where you’re from. ” According to Fathi, the burqa exists as a tool for men to control their wives. The purpose and effect of the Islamic veil makes it truly unacceptable even by the West's lax standards of what is and is not acceptable. According to the rationalizations provided by Muslim men, women must wear the burqa because, if they don't, men will rape women who show their face in public. Of course, this is absolutely false, a rationalization used by Muslim men to justify repressing women's freedom by claiming they are protecting women. The history demonstratees the true purposes and effect of veiling. In her book Feminism in Islam, Margot Badran provides an extensive history of gender issues in Islam, delving into the history of hijab and the burqa and confirming its status as a symbol of patriarchal control over women. She provides examples that clarify what the burqa symbolizes: the complete exclusion and withdrawal from public life. Women are deprived of all rights. The history of Muslim attacks on the Islamic veil go as far back as 1899, when a Muslim judge, Qasim Amin, claimed veiling was the central political problem facing Egypt at the time. According to Amin, veiling had deprived women of the legitimate rights afforded to them by Islam. Because of veiling, women were not allowed to get an education, nor to have any role in political life. In fact, they were not allowed to have any role at all in public life. Final thoughtsCon argues that it is the right of woman to wear the veil. Con has provided no evidence that woman have this right. Given the fact that it symbolizes female seclusion from the public sphere, and from engaging in political life, Con's claim that the veil gives woman the power to have a "positive impact in society" is completely unfoudned. It contradicts the history and meaning of the Islamic veil, which Con completely ignores. Con claims that those who see the veil as a barrier are "ignorant or unaware of why Muslim women practice the veil. " That is, of course, not true. The veil clearly represents the patriarchal oppression of women, which in the West, is not tolerated, not even by the strongest multiculturalists.