Show Us Your Face

I say burka, you say burqa. Burka, burqa, let's take the whole thing off.

If you happen to be a Muslim woman and happen to habitually wear a burka (or burqa), then you might be well advised to give Sa Pobla a wide berth. Little Sa Pobla, a town fast seeking for itself the title of Mallorca's most publicity-attracting municipality, is to ban the burka. Good for Sa Pobla. Not because it's necessarily a good idea, but because it's a means of deflecting attention from the town's parlous financial state.

Banning the burka, however, could help to swell the town hall's coffers. A 50 euros fine here, 200 euros fine there, three grand for a serial burka offender. "Alhamdulillah"; Sa Pobla is suddenly rich again.

Sa Pobla has a relatively high Muslim population. Most are from Morocco, some 2,000 people out of a total of around 13,000 inhabitants. According to one blog, other Muslims are from countries such as Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, and the women can typically be seen, clad in the burka or niqab, at the gates of schools waiting for their children. I'll take its word for it.

The town is to become the first in the Balearics to say no to the burka. It follows where towns and cities on the peninsula have led, especially in Catalonia (and the blog I refer to is a Catalan one). The Catalans have bigged up a burka ban. The town of Lleida was the first and then Barcelona said show us your face.

There is no ban as such on the burka in Spain. The national Senate voted in favour of a ban last year, only for the Congress to not vote in favour. The issue is meant to be up for debate, but seems to have been lost along with a general law on rellgious freedoms. Nevertheless, ban or no ban, the Islamic Human Rights Commission has complained that the Spanish Government permits local councils to regulate as they see fit.

When I first heard about Sa Pobla's ban, my reaction was "how can they?". I am not against them banning the burka - it is an absurdity; obscenity even - but on what basis can local authorities take such a measure? An order of good government, citizenship and co-existence would seem to allow them to do so. However, this is an issue on which the state should be arbitrating and legislating, not a small town in Mallorca.

The state should be legislating because ad-hoc bans are questionable in terms of the constitution, which explicitly makes provisions for religious freedoms and for safeguarding (for all people in Spain) their traditions, cultures and human rights.

It is this constitutional aspect that ties up with mooted reforms of laws on religious freedoms. The key word in all of this is "co-existence", one seemingly invoked in the local law in Sa Pobla, and "harmonious co-existence" in particular. This, and its definition in law and under the constitution, is a potential minefield. What exactly would represent the parameters of "harmonious co-existence"?

For the mayor of Sa Pobla, it is pretty clear what it means. The town should not be subject to "elements which ... distort the co-existence". Moreover, there should be integration based on the "values of our society, which is Mallorcan". It is the very mention of "Mallorcan", however, that shows how complicated the debate is and therefore how complicated any legal or constitutional amendment would be.

Are law and the constitution meant to reflect the traditions of every individual part of Spain when it comes to co-existence and religious freedoms? Because this is what the mayor seems to be suggesting. In Andalusia, there are values, as there are in Galicia and in Catalonia.

And to raise the "values" word is a minefield of its own. What are the values of Mallorcan society in any event? Or indeed of Spanish society?

The values, for which read also traditions, will mean that in Sa Pobla a blanket ban on the face being covered will not be totally blanket. A son of Michael Jackson would probably be included, and the wearing of balaclavas will certainly be included, but exceptions will be made for the pointy-head hoodies of Easter processions, for demons and beasties and for the "big heads" of fiesta times.

The difference is that the burka is not something worn for a specific celebration. Its wearing is absurd. Sa Pobla is not wrong to seek its banning, but it is wrong in that it should be the state which is deciding and in that it, as with other local councils, should not be allowed to play fast and loose with the constitution.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.