Henry...this story from al Jazerra concerning the ban on the burqa has nothing to do with items of clothing or masking up in public, a la Zorro. The 'security' excuse is itself a veil. This ban is a statement by the Dutch leadership that the muzzies in Holland must integrate. The argument that there are not many muzzie sheilas wearing a burqa is irrelevant; there are not many murderers either, but there are still laws against murder. The Dutch have taken the lead in the coming wave which will roll across Europe. Clearly the sensible Dutch have decided that 'Lebanon on the North Sea' will not be their fate. This is their right.

Migrants are let into any country on the proviso that they mix in. Migrants who don't want to do this can be reasonably seen as invaders...invaders are resisted and then kicked out. History 101 tells us that. What cannot be touched is the actual religious content of their beliefs. This is what freedom of religion actually means. It does not mean that 'traditional' dress, designs of mosques, social rigidities and village world views have to be given a free hand to run riot among Europeans under the guise of 'tolerance' and such like multi/culti slogans.

The muzzies are the only ones on the international migration trail (fleeing the poverty and injustice which is endemic to Islamic countries) who actively resist integration. Not all of them, probably not even a majority, are resisting integration but certainly enough of them are to be able to browbeat the other muzzies into silence and acquiesence. They do this under the guidance of imams. Expulsion of the imams will likely be the next step in Holland. This will be a big step but will need to be taken. It is only when muzzies see their poison spouting imams being taken to the airports will they realise that the Wahhabi financed plan to 'take over Holland' is a fantasy. While ever the average Dutchman on the Amsterdam omnibus looks at the muzzies in his midst and doesn't see fellow Hollanders, but invaders, he will be entitled to protect himself and the Dutch way of life that he and his family are leading.

I am a firm supporter of migration, especially for Australia. However, migration is not a Universal Human Right. We have International Agreements on the treatment of these people and countries which have signed onto these agreements are strictly bound by their signatures. However, countries are entitled to exclude migrants from their borders. Because your life is wretched in 'Korania' it does not follow that Holland or Australia has to pick up the slack and solve your problem. Too many people today have not thought properly about these matters; they seem to think that outsiders have a 'right of entry'. They do not.

This is not to support JWH and his abominable treatment of refugees. Australia has signed the Conventions on Refugees but does not abide properly by its signature. The proper thing to do, for JWH, is to remove Australia's signature from the Conventions (and suffer the abuse and denunciations) and then he can say yes or no to refugees as the political climate at home dictates. I am not advocating this, but if our signature stays on the Conventions (and it must) then we must abide by the rules.

Ordinary migrants are not refugees (there are serious legal distinctions between the two categories of persons) and a country has a definite right to not take migrants or to now stop taking migrants or to only take migrants from certain countries. Given this, ordinary migrants have a duty to mix in when they migrate. The receiving country also has the duty to encourage and let them mix in. This last point is not always the norm in Europe. They are wrong to take people and then exclude them; if they want to exclude people, leave them in their own countries.

All of Europe has neglected sensible multiculturalism (such as that in Australia) for a generation. The fantasy world of the post Communist Left has produced all the mad ideas on this subject that have now lead to this horrible mess all over Europe and Britain.

The solution to this mess is not entirely the responsibility of the muzzies. Europeans also have to very greatly clean up their act in relation to integrating the muzzies into their countries. Muzzies living in a 'no mans land'...neither psychologically in the country nor actually physically out of it...can hardly be expected to merrily integrate. The Europeans should do the right thing or give them money to go back whence they came; but don't torture them.

That said, the muzzies do have a big job to integrate. It cannot be easy integrating into a completely alien culture, yet the effort must be successfully made. There is no other option. The Dutch have now fixed their colours to their mast...and the colours are not Islamic Green.

All the above applies to Australia as well.

Sir Wellington Boot.
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Netherlands to ban burqa in public
 
The Netherlands is the first European country to completely ban the veil in public
 
The Dutch government has decided to ban the wearing of burqas and other Muslim full-face veils in public, justifying the move on security grounds.

Reports said on Friday that Rita Verdonk, the Dutch minister for immigration, would soon draw up legislation to impliment the burqa ban.

This will make the Netherlands, once among Europe's most liberal states, the first European country to impose a complete ban on Muslim veil.

Existing legislation already limits the wearing of burqas and other total face-coverings on public transport or in schools.

The debate on face veils and whether they hinder Muslim integration has gathered momentum across Europe. Several countries in Europe have already outlawed them in specific places.

The move by the Netherlands' centre-right government comes just five days before a general election.

The campaign has focused so far on issues like the economy rather than immigration because most mainstream parties have hardened their stances in recent years.

"The cabinet finds it undesirable that garments covering the face, including the burqa, should be worn in public in view of public order, and the security and protection of fellow citizens," the Dutch justice ministry said.

Last December Dutch lawmakers voted in favour of a proposal by far-right politician Geert Wilders to outlaw face-coverings and asked Verdonk to examine the feasibility of such a ban.

Because veils were worn for religious reasons, Verdonk had feared new legislation could come into conflict with religious freedom laws. But she said on Friday that this was not the case.

France has banned the Muslim headscarf and other religious garb from state schools while discussion in Britain centres on limiting the full facial veil or niqab.

Italy has a decades-old law against covering the face in public as an anti-terrorism measure. Some politicians have called for this rule to be enforced against veiled Muslim women.

Big fuss?

The Netherlands' Muslim community estimates that only about 50 women in the country wear the head-to-toe burqa or the niqab, a face veil that covers everything but the eyes.

Dutch Muslim groups have complained that a burqa ban would make the country's one million Muslims feel more victimised and alienated, regardless of whether they approve of burqas or not.

"This will just lead to more girls saying 'hey I'm also going to wear a burqa as a protest'," Naima Azough, a member of parliament from the opposition Green Left, told an election campaign meeting for fellow members of the Moroccan community.

Job Cohen, the Labour mayor of Amsterdam, said he opposed burqas in schools and public buildings, and said women wearing one who failed to get a job should not expect welfare benefits.

"From the perspective of integration and communication, it is obviously very bad because you can't see each other so the fewer the better," he told foreign journalists.

"But actually hardly anybody wears one ... The fuss is much bigger than the number of people concerned."

Since the murder of anti-immigration politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002, the Dutch have lost a reputation for tolerance, pushing through some of Europe's toughest entry and integration laws.

Social and religious tensions have escalated in the last few years, exacerbated by the murder of film director and Islam critic Theo van Gogh by a Dutch-Moroccan Muslim man in 2004.