The right to speak? Or to offend? by Gazalah Ahmed

Birmingham: Boris Johnson has received much criticism due to his comments about ladies wearing a Burkah as nothing other than racism. Where do we draw the line as a society between exercising freedom of speech and being offensive. Also supporters of Boris Johnson claim that his remarks referring to the women who wear the Burkah as a ‘letter box’ and ‘bank robbers’ was merely his way of sparking a debate. Really? Does this mean that we can all make racist and sexist comments, all in the name of sparking debate and freedom of speech? Also how does this tie in with the promotion of fundamental British Values, especially ‘respect for people of other faiths and those of no Faith’, that the government has invested so much in embedding within UK society? It was only a matter of time before this issue was going to be inevitably raised in the UK parliament as we follow suit with other European countries where the full or partial veil has already been banned as a matter if national security. Once again regretably Muslim scholars and academics have adopted a reactive approach rather than addressing this issue earlier. On a personal level as a modern Muslim British women I am led to believe that I have a right to dress as I wish like all other women in this society. The right to wear a Burkah is as much my right as the right to wear a short skirt. These are my fundamental rights given to me to me by this very society I was born and raised in. This isn’t a matter that needs to be resolved in parliament or worse still a matter that should be used to settle political point scoring battles. Yet unfortunately it has come to that.