Following the discussion in France about a possible ban on niqab, the question is hovering on the fringes of the upcoming Swedish parliament election campaigns just gearing up. I can't help but think that this is mostly populism and some kind of attempt to counter the nationalist "Swedish Democratic" party, especially considering how few the niqab-wearing women in Sweden are. There are some dimensions to the discussion that I feel don't get enough attention in our increasingly soundbyte-ified media climate.
In a debate on Swedish radio yesterday (summary in Swedish can be found here) between prime minister Reinfeldt and opposition leader Sahlin, Reinfeldt seems to suggest he wouldn't mind a ban, or some form of restriction, on niqab in Sweden. Granted, he doesn't want to frame it as a ban, instead saying that we should "talk about liberties" instead, in this case the "liberty to show oneself". Sahlin on the other hand seems to consider a ban, such as the one proposed in France, to be an example of female oppression, although she too sees a problem in the use of niqab.
I have no solutions, but I do have some reflections. I too find the use of niqab problematic. It is certainly an expression of male-over-female dominance and control, and as such an expression of values I would like to see changed. But it is also important to keep in mind that it is part of a shared reality within a group, however small that group might be.
A shared reality is generated from the persons making up a group, in relation and interplay with other persons and groups (which are in turn made up of the persons within it). One important thing to keep in mind here is that neither the shared reality nor the group are independent, discrete objects. They might seem to "take on lives of their own", we might react to them and consider them as separate "things", but they have no existence separate from the persons who generate them. So it is the persons within these groups we need to have a dialogue with, and it is only the persons within these groups who can affect a change in the shared reality, of which niqab may sometimes be a part.
A ban on the use of niqab I think misses the mark, and would only be considered an attack on the shared reality, a threat to the group and ultimately a threat to the persons making up the group. Dialogue is an activity between persons, not between groups and not between groups and persons. I think it is important to keep this in mind.
Another important thing to consider is what a ban on the use of niqab would do to the persons wearing niqab. Would a ban make a person choose not to wear it? I doubt it. Consider that the person wearing niqab is not only found within the group of, say, fundamental islamists. This person is also found within the group of Swedish citizens, or at least that is the idea. The person feels demands for acceptance from both groups. Now consider what happens when these demands are contradictory. Either she withdraws from one of the groups, most likely the one which she feels least at home in. If niqab is banned in the "public sphere", the result would risk compounding the female oppression it was meant to get rid of. Another possible scenario is that she tries to stay in both groups, finding herself torn between the two and in what Gregory Bateson calls a double bind, with potentially disatrous psychological problems.
I think, ultimately, we need to realise that the problem isn't the use of niqab in itself. The problem is cultural and social values and norms of domination, the idea that women are inferior to men. This is a problem we find in most societies today. The way out of this is not found in applying inter-group dominator tactics, in suppression and control. Instead I think we need to foster an atmosphere of mutuality, respect and tolerance between persons, without losing sight of the importance of groups for persons but also without losing sight of the fact that groups don't exist independent of the persons that make them up.
But again, I think it odd that the use of niqab get so much room in the public debate. I still think that it is mostly to counter (or cater to) the nationalist and islamophobic groups. We need to keep in mind that the use of niqab isn't particularly wide-spread or accepted even within the Muslim community.
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