A debate is erupting around Islamic face coverings in Finland’s educational institutions.
Archived version: https://archive.is/20250813123725/https://yle.fi/a/74-20177195
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I always love the irony when people worry that others are being dictated on how to dress so they then themselves dictate to people how they can dress.
I always love the irony when people making such comments are unable to understand that setting SOME dressing rules in schools and working places is absolutely NOT the same as the dictation of wearing distinct clothing anytime and anywhere. The latter has far bigger restrictive impact on your freedom of expression.
On the one hand I agree that some dressing rules in schools and working places are fine - but on the other you have to be willfully ignorant if you can’t see the blatant Islamophobia at play with targeting religious head coverings like this. Note how they always go after niqabs, but never dastars. Dressing rules at school should be about teaching kids what’s expected in polite society, and polite society should make room for cultural expression.
don’t think i’ve ever seen one in any nordic or european country. first time i saw one was when i visited north america. there has never been a debate around them, because there are basically no sikh in the nordic countries. germany has about 25000 sikh and they’re the most populous country in europe. for comparison, canada has half the population of germany and 30 times as many sikh.