The Left Defends Driouech's Veil: 'Women's Right to Their Own Body'

The Islamic veil has once again been a source of conflict this week in Parliament. The Muslim deputy from ERC, Najat Driouech, once again addressed Sílvia Orriols in a derogatory manner. This led to an exchange of reproaches that ended with the president of the chamber, Josep Rull, warning the deputy from Aliança Catalana.

"You should be ashamed of yourself for posting on your social media photos of seasonal workers saying they are receiving subsidies from the Generalitat." This was Driouech's interjection to Orriols that opened Pandora's box. "You should be ashamed for normalizing misogyny and Islamic essentialism in this chamber," replied the leader of Aliança Catalana.

Josep Rull called Sílvia Orriols's attention for "imputing inappropriate, illegal, or criminal actions." He added that "you also can't offend another deputy of the chamber."

The Rights of Muslim Women

The controversy reached social media, where ERC-EUiA councilor Yasmina Sánchez Oussadik supported Najat Driouech and called to combat fascism. "What happened today in Parliament is very serious. Racism and hate speech are crimes and we can't trivialize them," she stated in relation to the events.

Deputy Najat Driouech has received other expressions of support, among which the one from Unitat Contra el Feixisme i el Racisme stands out. The entity has shown its support "to our Muslim colleagues" and has defended "their rights." Including "their right to decide over their own bodies."

They have stated that those who deny this right "are not only Islamophobic but also promote the oppression of women." That is, they claim the Islamic veil as a symbol of women's freedom. And they consider that those who oppose the Islamic veil oppress women.

Symbol of Freedom or Oppression?

For Islam and the woke left, the Islamic veil is a cultural symbol, and its use is a manifestation of the essential right to religious freedom. Any contrary opinion is categorized as Islamophobia, a result of Western white supremacy. UCFR goes further and labels it as a source of freedoms and rights for Muslim women.

On the contrary, there is a radical current that considers the Islamic veil a symbol of misogyny and Islamic essentialism. This includes from its milder form, the hijab, to the more severe garments, like the burka or the niqab.

In the middle are the critics of the Islamic veil when it is an imposition and not the free decision of the woman. The submission of women in Islam means that in most cases, unfortunately, the hijab is more an imposition than a free decision. More and more women within feminism consider it an element of women's oppression.

The most flagrant case of the left's contradiction is when they ignored the struggle of Iranian women to remove the veil. In Iran, going without a veil on the street is grounds for arrest, torture, and even death. That's why tweets like UCFR's are increasingly jarring.