ITALY: A SPINE HAS BEEN SPOTTED, MY GAWD IT IS AN EPIDEMIC

Veils gag falls flat

An imam's 'death threat' to an Italian MP has not stopped her speaking out on Islam and feminism, writes John Hooper

Britain and Australia are not the only countries where debate is raging over the Islamic veil. In Italy, the issue burst into the news this week after the interior ministry ordered round-the-clock police protection for an MP, believing she had been threatened for expressing her views on the subject.

Daniela Santanche, an MP for the formerly neo-fascist National Alliance, clashed in a TV chat show with the imam of a mosque near Milan. After Ms Santanche insisted that the Qur'an did not call for women to wear a veil, the other guest, Ali Abu Shwaima, angrily replied: "I am an imam and I will not permit those who are ignorant to speak of Islam. You are ignorant of Islam and do not have the right to interpret the Qur'an."

The ministry said it had been advised that the words used by the imam might amount to a coded death sentence - which the imam has vigorously denied.

At all events, his admonition has done nothing to silence Ms Santanche. A few days later she returned to the attack, comparing the veil to the yellow Star of David the Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis.

Her words have so far had two results. The first has been a debate among Muslims themselves. One imam has gone so far as to argue that the niqab, which leaves only the eyes visible, is obligatory for Muslim women. Not so, said the president of the Muslim Assembly of Italy, Abdul Hadi Massimo Palazzi: "The veil is a tradition that spread at a late stage among Muslims".

The other has been discussion of the position to be taken by non-Muslim Italian women.

"Muslim males want to show that their women are submissive. They want to assert their macho, autocratic culture," Ms Santanche said this week. "I'm not worried by the threats. What worries me is the deafening silence of feminists."

This was less than fair. Several women politicians of the left who would consider themselves feminists expressed wholehearted support for Ms Santanche after her first broadcast.

The Equal Opportunities Minister in Romano Prodi's centre-left government, Barbara Pollastrini, has taken the issue a step further by proposing the creation of a consultative body made up of women from various different religions, apparently to help the politicians strike a balance between respect for tradition and the protection of basic human rights.

So far, Italians have been reluctant to follow the French lead of banning religious symbols - perhaps because the crucifix is so omnipresent in society, whether hanging on the walls of public offices or round the necks of Italian women. As for the headscarf, it is not so very long since it was commonplace for Roman Catholic women, especially in the south, to cover their heads when outdoors with a triangle of cloth tied below the chin.

But the niqab and the burqa do arouse concern, not least because Italy has a law - intended to foil terrorists - against wearing masks in public. An MP of Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right party, Forza Italia, wants a bill clarifying that the law applies to veils.

Ms Santanche's position in this ethical maze is intriguingly paradoxical. Until this week, she was perhaps best known as the inspiration behind Italy's "porno tax" - a 25% levy on everything from hard core DVDs to sex toys.

"Perhaps" - because she is also renowned for the delight with which she shows off her own considerable physical charms.

This year she turned up for the opening of parliament in an outfit so low cut that one of her male colleagues in the National Alliance jokingly covered her up - with a huge handkerchief that could have easily been mistaken for a veil.

The story comes to you via The Religion of Peace...
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