COMMENT
There are some mornings when I would give anything to be able to throw on a big black burqa. Bags under the eyes, nothing to wear, a face that seems to be in free-fall as I near 40 - the equivalent of a cloth rubbish bag, covering everything except my bloodshot eyes would be just the ticket. I'm surprised the family hasn't suggested it - I have absolutely no doubt that I bring shame on us all as I trudge down to the supermarket with my exposed face and my mismatched clothes. And when you see some of the young luvvies wandering around town with their flabby white bellies exposed and cascading over their low-slung jeans like over-yeasted dough, you can't help but think burqas aren't all bad.
The brouhaha over the burqas has been in the news this week because of a legal stoush going on in the Auckland District Court. Two Afghani women, now living in New Zealand, are prosecution witnesses in a fraud case, and they have insisted on wearing their burqas in court, saying they'd be in trouble with God if they showed their faces in public. The lawyer for the defence Colin Amery, isn't having a bar of it. He's adamant that the two women should get their kit off, as it's a fundamental principle of Western justice that a person be permitted to see their accuser. This case has become a talking point for everyone around the country, and the told-you-sos are having a field day. See, they say.
We told you "they" (for they, read brown people with different religions) will never fit in here. We told you they shouldn't come. Winston Peters, the pin-up boy of the anti-immigrationists summed it up succinctly by saying that if these women won't abide by our rules, then they should go back to where they came from. Even the most laissez faire of latte-drinking liberals are having a problem justifying the women's point of view. I'm with the latte drinkers.
While I firmly believe that these women can wear what they like around their homes and around the streets, there are some occasions when they're going to have to compromise. In court is one of them. Judging from the transcripts of the exchanges between one of the women, Fouzya Salim, and Amery, Fouzya is no timid tremulous thing. She got quite stroppy with Amery and certainly seemed to hold her own in the verbal sparring. She survived the indignity of removing her veil to have her driver's licence photograph taken; I'm sure she'll survive the courtroom appearance. And as for that nonsense about killing herself if her face is exposed to the public, I really, really don't like hearing that sort of hysterical emotional blackmailing. It reminds me of the Tampa refugees in Australia sewing up their lips and eyes in protest at their treatment.
That sort of extremism makes me very uneasy. It makes the Muslim community uneasy too. Most Muslims are moderates, and as New Zealand's only Muslim MP Ashraf Choudhary says, going the full burqa is a rare thing. Choudhary hasn't come out one way or the other on this one, but when does he ever? However, he pointed out that nowhere in Islam does it say a woman has to cover her face. It appears the practice originated centuries ago as a way of protecting women from marauding tribal enemies. The plundering rapists had a tendency to carry off the youngest, prettiest women, so the logic went that if all the women, young and old, were covered up, the marauders wouldn't be able to pick off the most valuable fertile ones quite so easily. I would be most reluctant to see the courts accede to the Salim family's demands - or indeed the demands of any fundamentalist religion.
We're a nation of apathetic moderates - let's keep it that way.
Let's celebrate this select group of teens
An OECD report out this week has highlighted the problem of the number of single parents in this country who don't work.
The author of the report suggested slashing the DPB to make going on a benefit less of an attractive option, but that suggestion has been squashed by the major parties, and rightly so.
I refuse to believe that anyone with an ounce of intelligence would choose to spend their lives eking out an existence on a benefit.
Living on a benefit means you're one car breakdown, one serious illness, one washing machine repair away from disaster. Surely such a hand-to-mouth pinched lifestyle is not something anyone would choose. Plenty of people have been quick to condemn the young women they say go on the benefit as a career choice but I'd like to point out there are plenty of examples of teenage parents who have turned their lives around thanks to the dedication of a few educationalists.
He Houarahi Tamariki was the first school designed for teen parents where the young ones could study while their babies were cared for in an adjacent creche. For years, these kids had their school in the old Canon's Creek pub in Porirua, a place that was still redolent of the years of drinking and smoking.
Despite the less than salubrious surroundings, the commitment from the teachers and the hard work of the teens produced some remarkable results. The daughter of a local gang member is now working in the public service after completing her schooling and graduating from university as a legal executive. One young woman has graduated as a nurse. A young man passed all his subjects in NCEA and is now an electrician, and taking care of his family.
Yes, I know there are plenty of people ripping off the system, but let's also remember there are many many people doing the best they can to achieve. Let's celebrate their successes rather than constantly labelling them as bludgers.
- THE HERALD ON SUNDAY
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