With the burqa back in the news, only one thing can be safely stated: the garment intended to render Muslim women invisible in the public space ironically has turned her into an object of constant global attention. But there is clearly more than what meets the eye here. Taking sides in the raging war over the veil, distinguishing between friend and foe is not easy since the opposing camps do not follow familiar divides. If you think it’s only about Islam vs the West, or Islam vs the Rest, think again. For it’s also the West against the West, liberals against liberals, feminists against feminists, Muslims against Muslims.

In recent years, the West that is home to the bikini and the miniskirt has shown increasing discomfort at the presence of the burqa in its midst. The looming terror threat has added a security dimension to the ban demand. The June 22 verbal barrage of French President Nicolas Sarkozy — “The burqa is not a religious sign, it’s a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement. I want to say it solemnly, it will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic” — comes like the bursting of this building reservoir of discomfort. Interestingly, among Sarkozy’s staunch supporters on the issue is André Gerin, a Communist MP who represents a poor, multi-racial area in the suburbs of Lyons. Also on Sarkozy’s side is a Muslim woman of Algerian descent, Fadela Amara. A crusader for Muslim women’s rights, currently France’s minister for urban renewal, Amara wants a total ban on “this coffin which kills the fundamental rights of women” in France.

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