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rfmcdonaldFrom The Globe and Mail, Marina Jiménez' article "Sharia protesters target Canada":
As I wrote back in July, the biggest problem with giving a community's religious conservatives privileged status is that it imposes the sort of static and reactionary conservatism that has been and is being rejected elsewhere. Of course, said conservatives like this sort of situation, preferring the privatization of human rights and their transformation into things that you can have only if you were lucky. Conservatives always like defining a culture down to its most reactionary elements: It makes it easier to control their culture's members, especially the weaker ones. This is as good a reason as any to remove that profoundly flawed religious arbitration law from Ontario's books.
A campaign against Ontario allowing sharia tribunals to resolve family disputes has spread to Europe, where protests are planned for Sept. 8 in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Düsseldorf and Stockholm.
As many as 89 international groups have spoken out against an Ontario law allowing faith-based arbitration, saying it will create a precedent for religious fundamentalists working to suppress women's rights, and give fodder to political Islamists in Europe who are also lobbying for sharia law to be used to settle family matters.
"A lot of French people cannot believe it, because for us Canada is a country with very good rights for women. It is unbelievable," said Michèle Vianès, president of Regards de femmes, a non-governmental organization in France. "Under sharia, women do not have the same rights as men. Sharia is a bad idea. How is it possible that Canada would back it?"
As I wrote back in July, the biggest problem with giving a community's religious conservatives privileged status is that it imposes the sort of static and reactionary conservatism that has been and is being rejected elsewhere. Of course, said conservatives like this sort of situation, preferring the privatization of human rights and their transformation into things that you can have only if you were lucky. Conservatives always like defining a culture down to its most reactionary elements: It makes it easier to control their culture's members, especially the weaker ones. This is as good a reason as any to remove that profoundly flawed religious arbitration law from Ontario's books.
