Blair joins the attack on Britain’s Muslims (tags)
Prime Minister Tony Blair has placed himself at the head of an ongoing and sinister campaign against Britain’s Muslim minority. This week he used his monthly press conference to solidarise himself with former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw’s attack on the veil or niqab, telling reporters that it was “a mark of separation and that is why it makes other people from outside of the community feel uncomfortable.” He also backed the decision by Kirklees council to suspend the young teaching assistant Aishah Azmi for refusing to remove her veil in front of male staff.
The Public Stoning of Martha Stewart: A Lifting of the Veil (tags)
Members of the mainstream press flew into Martha Stewart with more than their usual viciousness following her setting out as a political victim. Having nothing substantial to use against her, they have given negative connotations to her success, mocked the domestic skills upon which she has built her life’s work, twisted what she said and misquoted her, and made hateful remarks that could not have gotten past the editor in the days of ethical media practices. . . .
Iraqi women 'forced to veil' (tags)
UN officials in Baghdad say they are very concerned that religious extremists are intimidating women and girls into wearing the veil. In particular, some radical clerics have demanded that women - even Christians - wear the veil.
My awareness of what is happening started when Sue Skinner wrote me about the Post Office Peace Gathering she started in Astoria, Oregon, population 10,000. They meet each week by the side of a busy highway in front of the post office (they had to fight for that right).