“It serves to counter the birth of enclaves, counter-societies in which sharitic law and not the Italian legal system applies“, with these words – and others – Fratelli d’Italia presented a bill to ban the full veil and dictate other measures “to prevent the entrenchment of fundamentalist practices and opaque funding that can threaten security and social cohesion”.
Here we are again, therefore, the party in government proposes rules against “Islamic fundamentalism” which, at least in the expressed intentions, would aim to counter “Islamic separatism” and the rooting of fundamentalist practices on Italian territory.
The text – explain the deputies Galeazzo Bignami, Sara Kelany and Francesco Filini – aims to “defend national identity, women’s freedom and citizens’ safety”, introducing a series of measures defined as “civilization and legality”.
What does the FDI bill provide?
Among the main provisions contained in the proposal:
But is it really necessary? The criticisms and reaction of the Italian Islamic community
The reactions were not long in coming. Various civil rights associations, religious communities and political observers have expressed concern about the tone and concrete effects of the proposal.
The risk, in fact, could be that such measures target not fundamentalism, but the entire Muslim community, fueling stereotypes and marginalization.
The idea of banning the full veil is judged by some as an interference with the religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution, and a rule which – although justified in the name of security – could open the way to discriminatory controls. Even the expression “defence of Western values” risks transforming an issue of public order into an identity battle, useful more for political consensus than for real integration.
He intervened on the issue Massimo Abdallah Cozzolinoimam and Secretary General of the Italian Islamic Confederation, who recognized how the ban on the full veil can be justified from a public safety perspective, but questioned the real usefulness of a new law, recalling that a similar rule already exists. Law no. 152 of 1975, in fact, prohibits the use of helmets or any other means that make identification difficult in public places, unless there are well-founded reasons.
And not only that: don’t you think that the protection of women comes through tools of emancipation and education and certainly not through bans?
The proposal of Fratelli d’Italia, in an attempt to “protect Italian culture“, will end up dividing rather than integrating, reinforcing the idea of an “us against them” which has little to do with social cohesion. Let’s be careful.
