Recently, the Catalan Alliance's motion, presented with the support of Vox, seeking to ban various forms of the Islamic veil in public spaces or institutions such as schools and institutes, was rejected. This sought to revive an old debate that began in Catalonia in 2010. Today, around twenty Catalan municipalities still have ordinances with some form of prohibition.
The first thing to note is that the "veil issue" is repeatedly constructed as a problem. It's a conflict that doesn't exist. In reality, it's a way of attacking Muslims, of channeling both existing Islamophobia and the rejection of migration in search of votes or media attention. It's a way of telling them: you will never be "from here" if you are Muslim. Although Silvia Orriols says that "the veil discriminates," no one really cares about the situation of these women, because if that were the case, the questions would be different: what are their needs? Where are their voices in the public debate?
These far-right actors claim that "Islam is incompatible with Western values." They are not very original in this; they simply copy the arguments of other far-right parties throughout Europe. The argument involves attributing gender discrimination to other cultures, primarily Islam, to foster a sense of national superiority: Catalan—or Spanish—culture is better than other less "advanced" ones. Islam is thus portrayed as a perpetually fundamentalist religion and Muslim women as perennial victims in need of rescue. The profound contempt and racism revealed by these positions, incapable of recognizing their agency and decision-making capacity, is evident.
Could there be pressure to wear the headscarf in certain contexts? It's possible. But if this were truly a concern, the strategy to address it should be completely different: it should emphasize the economic and vital autonomy of these women to increase their possibilities for decision-making and action. In fact, the biggest problem for most of these women is not the veil, but rather their lack of papers, working conditions, since they often work in the most exploited segments of the workforce, and the daily racism they must face, whether they are migrants or Catalans or Spaniards. Furthermore, the bans ignore the fact that the headscarf, for many Muslim women, constitutes a legitimate religious and cultural expression and, of course, they do not seek to protect girls, but rather to exclude them using religion as an excuse.
If in Iran the state imposition of the veil has been used as a weapon against women's rights, as feminists we support these women in their struggle against the dictatorship. But for the same reason, in Europe We must oppose the ban on this very veilLet no one tell us how and where we should dress and which parts of our bodies we can and can't show. Not in our name.
