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Hijab - freedom of choice or an imposed tradition?
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Dear guests, today we have an unusual video bridge between Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Kazan.
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The topic of our dialogue today, and I think that we'll manage to create a dialogue today,
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however strange it may sound to some, is: hijab - freedom of choice or an imposed tradition?
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And we will talk about hijabs in Europe, Russia and Arab Muslim countries too.
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The most important thing for me is the situation inside the country.
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How society perceives the hijab and whether it makes a difference between a hijab, a nicab, a burka, etc.
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The question that we pose today is very subtle in the context of what is said today in the world about Muslim clothing.
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I will not conceal the existing ambiguous public opinion on the construction of a mosque in Moscow.
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Certain speculations and ignorance split our society.
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Lilya Muhamedyarova, journalist, president of the "Solidarity" charity fund:
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I would like to separate two notions - the hijab and the nicab.
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A hijab is the duty of every Muslim woman to cover her body and leave open the face and her hands.
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A nicab is more traditional clothing of the Persians and Arabs, which has a little to do with Islam.
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However, due to geographical reasons, it happened that many Muslim women around the world wear nicabs
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and it became a stumbling block in France where it was prohibited this summer.
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It was prohibited as a political symbol and it is written in the law - not as a religious, but as a political symbol.
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Earlier, in 2004, hijabs were banned only from schools.
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It was not the hijab itself that was prohibited, but any signs of religious difference - large crucifixes, headscarves, beanies.
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But we understand it very well, and the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, also said it, that it is a struggle with a women's head scarf that is going on.
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He said explicitly that Muslim clothing which covers women entirely should be banned, as it insults women.
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I propose recalling one story.
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In Algeria in the fifties of the last century, when the French colonialists
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were trying to establish their customs on a foreign land,
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the hijab became a symbol of resistance to the French colonialists.
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Your question is whether the hijab is a tradition or a forced obligation.
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Certainly, the hijab is not forced on women, it is a matter of choice, as it has many meanings.
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It is not just a headscarf, it is also an inner religious education, what we call an "inner hijab."
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In Arabic, hijab means a "veil" that covers a woman from the not very beautiful sides of life.
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In Antiquity, in the times of the prophet Muhammad, Allah bless him and grant him peace,
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wealthy women, not slaves and not captives, were obliged to wear a hijab.
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That points to the fact that a hijab is a matter of honour and dignity of a woman
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and not what we are used to hearing nowadays from the media.
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Igor Rimmer, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Saint-Petersburg:
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Today we should acknowledge that nationalistic sentiments are strong
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and they are caused by an outburst of criminality and by some movements not loyal to the authorities,
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such as the Wahhabi movement.
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The protests in society are largely due to the unclear migration policy of the state, which causes aggravation
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and no one can prove the necessity for such a high number of immigrants.
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I stand, for example, for a strong immigration policy,
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but the immigrants who have been already invited by us should be strongly protected legally.
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These are people who deserve our respect, if we have invited them.
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However, we've been letting the police make money from them, as well as their employers, for years.
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So if we want to look at the situation today we should note that the core issue is not the headscarf.
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The core issue is a certain conflict which is quite strong,
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and the fact that the largest part of the immigrants have come from the ex-Soviet republics in Asia.
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The questions are whether they fit into the system and whether they are taking others' jobs or not,
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and the same questions exist now in France.
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These problems are largely caused by an unreasonable immigration policy,
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which did not stimulate the immigrants to settle in a common environment,
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but put them in enclaves, where, being on their own, they certainly appeared to have their own stereotypical behavior
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Therefore, I consider it necessary to have a very exact diagnosis,
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an understanding that an interethnic conflict in a multiethnic country is a catastrophe,
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while we still can't settle the situation in the North Caucasus.
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Once again, being a multi-confessional and multiethnic country with deep traditions of respect towards Muslims
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on the part of Orthodox Christians,
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Russia nowadays should have a clear understanding of what is happening with us in our multiethnic country
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and what should be done to prevent it.
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Today there is an inter-ethnic collision.
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Thank God, it doesn't touch upon religion.
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The leaders of Orthodox Christianity and of Islam, as well as Catholics and Hebrews,
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manage to preserve well-balanced relations with each other.
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So let's say the truth in a politically correct form: the issue today is not the hijab, but inter-ethnic conflict.
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Zeynab Nesterova, administrator of the "Islam Na Neve" site, co-founder of the Islamic Cultural Center "Spring":
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Regarding France, Europe in this situation follows a policy of double standards.
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On the one hand, they like to talk about freedom,
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but on the other hand they tell a Muslim woman that they will dress the way they want to
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and she should dress the way they tell her to.
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In this case it is not democracy anymore.
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It is a dictatorship, and a totalitarian society.
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Just as one cannot order a woman to put on a headscarf, as it is her personal choice,
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one cannot tell her to take if off or to dress up the way someone wants to see her.
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My outfit is my own choice. Nowadays people in Europe are all very different.
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They change sexes; they dress up like emos or Goths.
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They are free to put on any clothes they want and no one will force them to dress up the way they want them to.
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Thus, one attacks religious people, as Mr. Rimmer was saying.
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Talking about criminality, a religious person will not commit a criminal act.
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Criminality is being practiced by what we call ethnic Muslims.
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These are people who belong to the confession only officially.
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Therefore, this separation is not adequate.
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Referring to what Lilya was saying, to say that we will ban the nicab from Russia
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is the same as saying that we will not allow donkeys to be ridden in the streets of Russia.
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In the last ten years in Saint-Petersburg I've never seen a single person in Muslim circles wearing a nicab,
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because it is indeed a part of the ethnic culture of the Arab countries.
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We have our own Islam, a Russian one.
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We are not used to wearing nicab and that's why we don't have it in Russia.
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So in our country the nicab is not an issue. We can discuss, though, the situation in Europe.
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Yana Amelina, expert of the Center for Euro-Asian and International Research, Kazan (Privolzhsky) University:
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I fully agree with the previous speakers. The Hijab is not of course at the center of the problem.
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And I hope that no one in Russia, except for some ignorant people, is calling for a ban on the hijab in Russia.
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The issue at stake is the attitude promoted towards hijabs, not only in the Caucasus but also in the Volga region.
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I remember how three and a half years ago, when I moved to Kazan, there were many fewer women wearing hijabs than today,
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and their number is growing.
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I don't want to say that it is bad.
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But under the sign of "hijabization" an extremist Islamism, an Islamic fundamentalism, is coming to the region.
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We are conducting research into this issue in Tatarstan
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and I am convinced that, if the authorities do not start paying attention to this problem,
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we will soon be facing the same situation as in the Caucasus.
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I think everyone knows what that is like.
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We've heard here a thought from several people that the hijab is the personal choice of a woman.
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I am sorry, but it is not like this entirely.
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In Tatarstan, in Moscow and other cities probably it is like that.
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But, for example, in Chechnya, which is a part of the Russian Federation,
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I have experienced myself what the head scarf is, when it is on your head and when it is not.
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I should say it is very unpleasant.
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One can say that Chechnya is Chechnya, and that is absolutely true, but one should note this tendency.
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According to my experience, three years ago there were no hijabs,
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no one was interested in this question in Chechnya, except for inhabitants of distant villages, it's hard to say.
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Right now it is a problem and quite an unpleasant problem,
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which I hope will never come to the European part of Russia and to the Volga region.
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So let's not only discuss it in a politically correct way, but also formulate the problems the way they are.
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Igor Rimmer:
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I would like to answer Yana and she has said it herself.
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Yana, you said that the hijab is a form of protest, a certain statement of one's political position.
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But don't you think that when we ban the material evidence of the problem we will just hide it deep inside?
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Believe me, when doctors are trying to cope only with a rash on the human body,
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not understanding that it is caused by problems inside the human body, by some disease,
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they can remove it, but they cannot remove the processes in the stomach.
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Therefore, if we ban the hijab, in line with the formal manifestations, although you have explained yourself,
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that the problem is the inner position that people who are wearing hijabs emphasise by wearing it,
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we won't solve the problem.
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So let them wear the hijab and let's discuss the rest, let's try to find common ground.
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Thank you very much.
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You know my wife has a hijab. It is in her wardrobe.
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Every time she opens the wardrobe and says the traditional "I don't have anything to wear!"
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I answer her in such cases: "Maybe you should put on your hijab?"
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Sometimes she puts it on, sometimes she doesn't. I cannot force her.
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And although we are Muslims, I don't think it is something obligatory.
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I am more than convinced that the discussion will not end here,
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but I think that if we have become to some extent closer to each other, our work was not in vain.
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All the best to you and good bye for the moment!
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