From Ren's Blog http://sidesteppingreal.blogspot.com
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Censorship, Religion & Sex (update)

Sometimes things get lost in translation before they ever leave the source.

An update and a correction regarding Ekbal Baraka.

While I posted last month that her book had been confiscated by the Egyptian
Mufti, a new email from her makes it clear that this was inaccurate.

The Mufti had been attempting to confiscate and ban the book. As stated in
the earlier post, he had also been trying to forbid her from writing and
publishing in Egypt.

In a letter addressed the Chair of International PEN's Women Writers
Committee and myself, as their Human Rights Commissioner, Baraka gives a
brief update of the situation.

The Minister of Culture appeared on television where he "criticized the
[compulsory use of the] Hijab" on television. This caused a conflict between
the Minister and members of Parliament who have demanded an apology. The
Minister of Culture has held his ground, saying that he had been expressing
his private views- as a citizen- and not speaking as the Minister of
Culture.

This has lead to an active debate among intellectuals. It is unclear from
the email who these "intellectuals"* Baraka mentions are- but this group is
supporting the Minister of Culture's right to freedom of expression and,
furthermore, they are publicly declaring a refusal to force women to wear
the veil on the grounds that there is no basis for compulsory veiling in the
Qur'an.

These proponents of free speech are quoting Baraka's book in these
discussions.

Baraka points out that the female students of Al Azhar have demonstrated
against Baraka, the Minster of Culture and their supporters.

The daily newspaper Al Ahram ** has stopped publishing Baraka's weekly
column.

Baraka was able to obtain a copy of the letter in which the Mufti recommends
confiscating her book, and a lawyer representing the Journalists' Syndicate
is preparing to sue the Mufti and The Council for Religious Researches.

Despite the attempts to silence Baraka- and, of course, due to the attempts
to silence her- her book has sold very well and she has been interviewed by
several television programs and newspapers.

She is hoping the book will be translated into English.

The debate continues.

* Please note that I put the word intellectuals in quotes because I don't
know how else to define the group of people Baraka is referring to. I am
conscious that it could appear that I am contrasting the female university
students from intellectuals. I am not.

** The link is not to the newspaper Baraka writes for. It is to an English
weekly version that I believe is published by the same organization.

Also, please don't comment to enlighten me in regard to the meaning of the
word hajib and it's relationship to the veil. The conflict described above,
and as Baraka describes it, is not about modesty, it is about the compulsory
use of the veil. Baraka uses the term hajib in this debate, and her
opponents are not arguing semantics.