Hijab-wearing MP

A Belgian-born Turkish Muslim woman, Mahinur Ozdemir, who wears the hijab head covering, has been elected to the Belgian parliament and declares that she will continue to wear the hijab in parliament despite all opposition, of which there is a considerable amount. The story is reported in the English language edition of Asharq Alawset, an Arabic international daily.

Mahinur Ozdemir

Note that even Muslims don’t consider the Muslims in Belgium to be Belgians, as in this sentence: “The issue has begun to raise controversy among members of Arab and Muslim communities and amongst the Belgians themselves.” Nick Griffin in right. Muslims may happen to be—as a result of a catastrophic historical error on the part of the host societies—legal British or Belgian citizens, but they are not ethnically or concretely British or Belgian.

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Paul Belien writes from Belgium:

She was elected to the Brussels regional parliament, not the Belgian (federal) parliament.

LA replies:

Hah. See the article I linked in the Arabic daily. It repeatedly refers to “Belgian elections” and “parliament,” and calls her a “Belgian MP.”

Sort of like Muslim spokesmen back in the 1990s telling reporters that there were seven million Muslims in the U.S., a figure never challenged until the first scientific study of the matter in 1997 showed that the correct number was probably around 1.8 million.

Paul Belien continues:

Ah yes, before I forget: She was elected for the Christian-Democrats.

Richard H. (a different Richard H.) writes:

You write “Note that even Muslims don’t consider the Muslims in Belgium to be Belgians.” My family were Middle Eastern Christian immigrants to the U.S. They would always call blacks “blacks” (actually “slave” is the Arabic word), Mexicans “Mexicans,” and whites “Americans” without even thinking about it.

So my mom would be like, “I was standing in line at the store. There were two slaves, a Mexican, and an American.”

LA replies:

As Peter Brimelow always says, up to 1950 or 1960, white Americans were simply called “Americans.” And, as much as I hate to mess up the minds of the legion of anti-Semite bloggers who assiduously follow this site, “Americans” included Jews.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 25, 2009 02:01 PM | Send