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SEWING CAFÉS JANUARY 2009

Language Function: discussing issues

Vocabulary / Topic: burqa ban in France; freedom; civil rights; controversies; discrimination;

religion; tolerance; Islam & the West

PRINT & TEACH LESSON APRIL

BURQA BANadvanced

upper-interm

intermediate

pre-interme

www.english-4u.com page

issue introductionActivity 1. Read the text below. What else do you

know about the problem? Have there been anyrecent developments?

In April 2011 France took a controversial

move and instated a burqa ban, aimed at the

traditional religious covering worn by

conservative Muslim women. The ban does

not say anything about the burqa explicitly,

and it is called the “law forbidding the

covering of the face in public space”.

However, in effect it is all about Muslims and

Islam.

The ban will potentially affect up to 2,000

women who wear a full-face veil in public,

though it is unclear how the enforcement will

work as police cannot remove the veil.

Women who refuse to lift the burqa or niqabmay be taken to a police station for an

identity check, face a ! 150 fine or a

compulsory citizenship course.

Men who force women to wear the veil are

threatened with ! 30,000 fine and up to a year

in jail.

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www.english-4u.com page 2

discussion ammo: vocabulary

Activity 2. Study the words and expressions below. You will find them useful whendiscussing the burqa ban. Use a dictionary to look up unknown words and phrases.

to ban the burqa in publicplaces

to go into effect (about aban / a law, etc.)

to enforce (a ban / a law, etc.)

to instate a burqa ban

to impose a ban

to pass a law banning wearing veils that cover

faces

to enact laws banning the burqa

to impose legal sanction on someone

to force women to expose their faces in public

to forbid people from covering their faces inpublic

to comply with the law

to refuse to comply with the new law

to obey the laws

to disobey the new law

to violate the law

to break the law

to defy the law

to uphold the liberties of people

to ensure the dignity of the person

to be pro-choice

to set a precedent

to campaign against the law

to show a public show of defiance

to ensure equality between sexes

to promote racial hatred

to approve of the ban

to back the ban

to infringe on another person’s individual

choice and freedom

to restrict the practicing of religion

to preserve the right to wear what one wants

to spark a debate over religious freedom

to create tension between the West and theMuslim world

niqab / veil / burqa

a ban on the burqa

a six-month warning period

conservative Muslim women

harsh consequences

multiculturalism

the fundamentals of secularism

the free exercise of religionan egregious abuse of a fundamental right

infringement of religious freedoms

outraged religious groups

racist law

religious discrimination

BURQA BAN

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www.english-4u.com

Activity 3. Divide into two teams. Your team will support the ban, the other will

attack it. Study arguments below, think of other points you can make to prove thatthe ban is a good idea. Discuss the issue with the critics of the ban.

! Jacques Myard, a member of the National Assemby of

France: “The face is a dignity of a person. The face is your

passport. So when you refuse me to see you, I am a

victim.”

! The ban protects women’s rights. The state should act

when many women are forced to wear a niqab or burqa.

This coercion is “a new form of enslavement that the

republic cannot accept on its soil.” The aim of the the ban isthe emancipation of oppressed Islamic women.

! The ban conforms to the French Constitution as the

law did not impose disproportionate punishments

or prevent the free exercise of religion in a place

of worship.

! Majority of French people back the ban. Some

82 percent of French people polled approved

of a ban, while 17 percent disapproved.

! The ban does not target the wearing of a

headscarf, head-gear, scarf or glasses, as

long as the accessories do not prevent the

person from being identified. The hijab, which

covers the hair and neck but not the face, and

the chador, which covers the body but not the

face, are not banned by the law.

BURQA BAN

PROPONENTS OF THE BAN

debate:

Does the burqa ban protect Muslim women’srights or tramples their freedoms?

discussion ammo: arguments supporting the ban

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Activity 3. Divide into two teams. Your team will oppose the ban, the other will

support it. Study arguments below, think of other points you can make to provethat the ban is a bad idea. Discuss the issue with the supporters of the ban.

BURQA BAN

CRITICS OF THE BAN

debate:

Does the burqa ban protect Muslim women’srights or tramples their freedoms?

discussion ammo: arguments against the ban! The French President is forcing women not to wear

the burqa just like Osama Bin Laden and his ilk force

women to wear it. Women are just a play thing for

these men.

! Burqa ban is trampling people’s freedoms. Women

have the right to wear what they choose.

! The ban may act as a stepping-stone toward harsher

laws. You start with the burqas, who knows where it’s

going to stop.

! Amnesty International had repeatedly urged France

not to impose the ban, saying it violates European

human rights law.

! Many Muslim women are not forced to wear the veil

against their will but choose to wear it as an important

symbol of their cultural and religious identity.

! The ban might aggravate the situation and

restrict women’s freedom by tying them to

their private homes.

! The law, viewed by many as islamophobic,

could be counterproductive and provoke

terrorist retaliation.

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