A little report from my neighbourhood... It's a bit long perhaps, but well worth the read:
Oslo: 'Morality police' in immigrant neighborhood
Bobby Burner is hungry after work and is chewing a samosa while walking on Grønlandsleiret street. Suddenly two young strangers block his way. Curtly and aggressively they ask: "Don't you know it's Ramadan? You should know better!"
Sosionomen, originally from Iran, might look like a Muslim, but he isn't. During the Muslim fast last fall he was - as so many times before - in the capital's multicultural district where the trendiest cafes are next to the cheapest curry stands.
In Grønland turban-wearing men leave Friday prayers as the young and trendy start the long weekend in town. The city's greatest concentration of khat joints and minarets are here. Burner likes the cultural diversity. But in particular after September 11, 2001 he's noticed a negative development: increased use of social control, hijab and full-body veils. More men with beards.
"To be stopped on the street I see as harassing and threatening. It was worse than being attacked. There's no evidence for this form of harassment," says Burner.
In the fall there were sharp responses when a gay couple who walked hand in hand in Grønland, was attacked and insulted. The man who harassed them said that they were in a Muslim district where 'this sort of thing' is undesirable.
The following debate was mostly about the treatment of visible gays. A direct consequences is that the summer's gay parade moved and will start in Grønland's square.
But there are many others who experience as much strict control when they walk in the exotic street community.
In working on his dialog meetings about integration, Abid Raja got reports from many Muslim girls about how stressful they see Grønland. Some stay away, others adapt and dress in traditional clothing to avoid persecution. Most widespread are the non-verbal harassment of aggressive looks of rebuke, scorn and contempt.
Both Raja and others stress that it only applies to a limited group. But some men act as a religious police for Muslim girls who dress in Western clothing, because they fear that they daughters will do the same.
"Even strange girls they don't know, the men try to control. the control is becoming more widespread, but in Grønland acceptance for it has developed," says Raja.
Somali author Amal Aden thinks it's frightening that social control is becoming much stricter since she moved from Grønland eight years ago. She tells of young girls where men touch their breasts and pinch their bottom, claiming that it's the girls' own fault for not covering themselves.
"This affects women and girls who in the opinion of these men are lightly dressed, almost naked, when they go in jeans and Western clothing."
Last fall Bobby Burner was harassed once when he was eating a fruit while going into a barbershop where he was a regular customer.
He noticed the barber's hostile gave, the other customers who exchanged glances and looked contemptuously at him.
Curtly the barber informed him it was Ramadan, before he turned on the radio with Koran recitations. With quick, angry movements the barber started working on Burner's hair.
"He acted as if I was impure, which he would rather not touch. He wanted to get rid of me as quickly as possible."
Burner thinks we will see more segregation than integration from now on.
"Many of minority background feel pressured by the majority population to develop their own community. Invisible walls are being built between people who create their own society with their own rules. They prefer to interact with each other and have little contact with others," he says.
Olsojente Forum Posts (5,070)
both of you!!!
An egg...
?????
RE: These are the moments when u need a man in u house
Very true!!!