Antoni Bassas' analysis: 'The veil is a sign, not the problem'

The Islamic veil isn't exactly the tip of the iceberg, but it's close. The veil is a sign, a symbol, proof of how the human landscape of our streets has changed, and it's a subject of political debate.

Behind the veil lies a religion, a culture, a custom inherited from mothers to daughters, even a source of pride. Some see the veil as a form of women's submission to men and, therefore, are against it out of feminism. Others are against it out of secularism, because religion cannot make a difference in public spaces, such as schools, for example. Some remain silent or even use it strategically to reach a new group of voters. ERC has always made its MP Najat Driouech very visible wearing a headscarf. Some don't want to make a fuss because they know it's a very sensitive issue and believe that time will lead Muslim girls to abandon it, like those who abandon the Ramadan fast or use birth control and no longer have as many children as their mothers. Nor is wearing a headscarf the same as wearing the niqab and walking down the street covered from head to toe, only revealing their eyes. In short, it's not quite clear what to do with the veil.

The far right knows, because they already know that the far right, like the Catalan Alliance, Vox, or Trump, has easy answers to complex problems, and the answer is to ban everything they don't like, and what they don't like are immigrants. They don't like seeing immigrants on the streets, or seeing them go to social services, but they love seeing them as cheap labor, so they can pay them little or even make them work without a contract.

The fact is that yesterday the Catalan Alliance proposed a motion in Parliament to ban the Islamic veilHe lost with the votes against all the parties except Vox, who voted for everythingThe PP negotiated and voted in favor of some points, such as prohibiting minors from wearing any veil in public spaces. Together they voted against the motion, as did the PSC, Esquerra Comuns, and the CUP, because they see the motion as "xenophobic" and "steeped in hate," but Together they spoke out in favor of banning the veil in schoolsThe Catalan Alliance criticized Junts for having "plagiarized" its position.

Let's see, the polls all the parties have indicate that the Catalan Alliance will gain. It will gain votes from everyone, but especially from Junts, which is the leading municipal force in the country and knows firsthand how, with good reason or lack of another flag, the far right uses identity (formally, vaguely Christian, Western) as a way to gain political popularity. And Junts, which knows that at dinner parties with friends and family, there are voters who say they'll vote for the Catalan Alliance, gained strength with the transfer of powers over immigration.

I return to the beginning: the veil is a symbol. It's a sign, sometimes a custom, sometimes a sign of the arrival of an imam in the village with an old-fashioned discourse. Teachers tell you this: there are children who spend the afternoon in Koranic school and, as they grow older, they realize the gap between what the teachers teach them in the classroom—gender equality—and what the imam says in the mosque. Religious freedom is a fundamental pillar of democratic societies, but democratic societies must be anchored by a foundation that everyone can agree on. They haven't completely emerged anywhere. We must debate this and ensure that no woman is discriminated against in the name of religious freedom. And this goes far beyond the veil.

Good morning.