The burka is another of those scare tactics that the right wing inflates to the extreme in order to create social alarm, as well as tension, polarization, and, of course, hatred against specific population groups; in this case, Arab immigrants. Women forced to wear burkas in our towns and cities belong to the same category as squatters who break into homes while one is out shopping, viruses and vaccines experimented on all of humanity, and dark-skinned rapists lurking in even darker corners. These are fear stories based on specific (mostly fabricated) cases that right-wing and far-right parties, media outlets, and social networks sensationalize and spread misinformation.
It is obvious that the burka is a symbol of obscurantism that has no place in a democratic society. However, deliberately conflating the burka with Islam, and Islam with the Arab population living in your neighborhood or town, is a substantially different matter. That is precisely what the PP and Vox parties are doing with their Islamophobic rhetoric and grotesque "initiatives" like this proposal to ban the burka, which they brought to Congress this Tuesday, with the same lack of a sense of reality and the same sense of absurdity with which Vox—the driving force behind these discourses—presented Ramón Tamames as a census taker. Junts should be applauded for managing to evade this racist onslaught this time, but they had to do so by presenting an "alternative" proposal, crafted with an eye toward potential future pacts with Aliança Catalana. These are pacts, by the way, to which the Catalan far-right leader, Silvia Orriols, has already shown herself willing, but—naturally—imposing her conditions. The far right makes its supporters pay dearly, and if you don't believe it, just ask María Guardiola in Extremadura, or Jorge Azcón in Aragon. Or, closer to home, look at the Balearic PP and its president, Marga Prohens, reduced to pathetic pawns in the hands of Vox.
We already know the first part of this false debate: the left is weak and doesn't know how to engage with societal debates. The second part is missing: that's why we, the far right and the right that caves in, are putting forward hateful proposals that will ignite society with a fire that—oh, what a coincidence—only we will know how to control. Especially since it's a fire made of lies. It would be ironic, if it did nothing else, that the concern over the burka is being championed by guys who say that life was so, so good under Franco: the era when women were forced to wear veils to attend religious services, to observe mourning periods that lasted for years when a man in the household died, or to shut themselves away like nuns. By the way: Catalonia has minds that have thoroughly considered Islam and its relationship with Catalan culture, Catalan intellectuals of Arab origin, and excellent Arabists. It would be advisable to listen to them, and not to the first charlatan who comes out shouting that the Moors are coming to invade us.
