Netherlands: Far right politician wants licence to wear a head scarf

Radio Netherlands reports controversial Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right Freedom Party, is proposing to tax the Muslim headscarf. Any Muslim woman who wants to wear a headscarf - which he described as a 'head-rag' - would have to apply for a licence, and pay one thousand euros for the privilege. Wilders says the money raised would go toward women's emancipation programmes.

The rest of the Dutch parliament reacted to the proposal with disbelief. One after another, they asked Mr. Wilders if this was a serious proposal. For instance, would he include other types of head covering in the tax? And how about orthodox Christian women who wear a headscarf quite similar to the Muslim version?

In reaction, Mr. Wilders said he would actually prefer to ban the headscarf altogether, but that appeared to be legally impossible. He would not tax the Christian form of the headscarf, but he did not say how policy would make that distinction.

Published by Mike Hitchen i On Global Trends, world news, analysis, opinion
Putting principles before profits

Netherlands Racial Issues Muslim