On Friday, one week after the March 15 mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch that killed 50 people and injured as many, women across New Zealand turned up on the streets and at workplaces wearing head scarves. The headgear, modelled on the hijabs worn by many Muslim women, was aimed at showing solidarity with victims of the terror attack as well as shunning the Islamophobic ideology that allegedly drove the attacks. The 28-year-old Australian who was arrested for the shootings detailed his motivations in a 73-page manifesto, which expressed anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiments and proclaimed support for the white nationalist movement in the US.
There were at least two social media-led movements encouraging New Zealanders to wear hijab-like scarves as a show of support: Scarves in Solidarity and Headscarf for Harmony. Participants also included news presenters, some of whom reportedly began broadcasts with the Islamic greeting “Assalamualaikum”.
The amazing beautiful people of New Zealand. Their news anchors and reporters today wearing the hijab in solidarity. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Q0I9cxjmsd
— ☤ اصفر (@AsfarSays) March 22, 2019
Very proud of many of my staff today at #WorldwideSchoolofEnglish #scarvesinsolidarity #notmynz wearing Hijab in support of our Muslim brothers and sisters pic.twitter.com/h4RcNoJuEl
— Cleve Brown (@WorldwideCleve) March 22, 2019
Not even close to all the images we received today, but how beautiful to see all this love. #HeadScarfforHarmony pic.twitter.com/cqVwV335kS
— rachelmacg (@rachelmacg) March 22, 2019
We stand in solidarity 💚💚💚 #headscarfforharmony #theyareus pic.twitter.com/PyLohW7UUL
— FRANamaste (@frantastic_fran) March 21, 2019
According to reports, one of the forerunners of the movement was Thaya Ashman, a doctor from Auckland, who came up with the initiative after hearing about a woman who was too scared to step out of her house with a hijab after the Christchurch attacks. “I wanted to say: ‘We are with you, we want you to feel at home on your own streets, we love, support and respect you’,” Reuters quoted her as saying.
But as an unintended consequence, the movement sparked a heated debate on social media. While some spoke up in support of the gesture, others decried it as tokenism and many appreciated the sentiment but criticised the method. The dissenters explained that the hijab – which women in many Islamic countries have no choice but to wear – is a symbol of oppression and control, a way of policing women’s bodies by enforcing standards of modesty.
1. I'm not a fan of reducing hijab to the idea of a piece of cloth for women alone, and I'm sure as hell not okay with attacking women that choose that voluntarily.
— Omair Ahmad (@OmairTAhmad) March 23, 2019
The Christchurch mass murderer explicitly stated in his manifesto that he was attacking the "most despised".
What is every1s problem with th headscarf?
— manjula narayan (@utterflea) March 23, 2019
Ppl in NZ choose to wear it in solidarity with their slain countrymen. Context everything. Cant bring up extreme Islamists flogging women fr not wearing it.
Context important. NZ is in my mind a truly great nation fr th empathy shown
“Kiwis to wear headscarves to show support for Muslims following the Christchurch mosque massacre”
— Yusuf Unjhawala 🇮🇳 (@YusufDFI) March 22, 2019
—
🤦♂️🤦♂️ Hijab is not a symbol to show support to Muslims. There are women fighting against Hijab imposed on them. This is really stupid https://t.co/sj3jZ6PCU0
I am sorry but I find it reprehensible to use the hijab to promote a message of tolerance and peace. There are countries where women get killed for not wearing the veil. I don't think anything can justify it as a symbol of empathy or compassion https://t.co/mmKDsoqW0x
— Vasudha Venugopal (@vasudha_ET) March 23, 2019
Hi @rachelmacg, We at @freefromhijab are women from Muslim backgrounds. Pls do NOT wear a #headscarfforharmony with Muslims. It is a symbol of purity culture antithetical to feminist values. We have women in jail & dead, for refusing the interpretation of Islam you promote. https://t.co/BvY3xF1bhz
— Asra Q. Nomani, PI (@AsraNomani) March 21, 2019
While I understand the good intentions behind this act, this celebration and adoption of the hijab by women who aren't forced to wear it from childhood - is frankly quite reductive and ill-informed. https://t.co/djnfwjGjfX
— Brown Sahiba (@Rajyasree) March 22, 2019
Novellist Taslima Nasreen was among the critics. “I consider those victims as humans. But the people who consider them only Muslims, wear hijab for solidarity,” she tweeted.
I am deeply saddened by the devastating tragedy, the death of 50 innocent people in New Zealand. But I do not need to wear hijab to protest against terriorist acts. I consider those victims as humans. But the people who consider them only Muslims, wear hijab for solidarity.
— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) March 22, 2019
I don’t understand why New Zealand’s white non-Muslim women need to wear Islamic hijab, the symbol of female oppression, as tribute to the victims of mosque attacks. Did New Zealand’s white non-Muslim men wear Islamic skullcap for solidarity? Or is it only women’s responsibility?
— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) March 22, 2019
Canadian human rights activist Yasmine Mohammed on Twitter said that even as other Islamic countries had fought against the hijab, the West was “fetishising it”.
I honestly don’t even know
— Yasmine Mohammed (@ConfessionsExMu) March 22, 2019
In Egypt they fought against the hijab, but the Islamists still won.
In Iran they fought against the hijab, but the Islamists still won
In the West, you dont even fight it. You fetishize it. You profit from it. You support the misery of others... https://t.co/iRBZ26l2xf
Journalist Raghu Karnad criticised television anchors’s decision to wear head scarves on television. “Journalists show solidarity by reorienting and deepening their coverage – not by cosplay,” he tweeted.
I'm slightly embarrassed for New Zealand television journalists and anchorshttps://t.co/5l2wQxdREU
— Raghu Karnad (@rkarnad) March 22, 2019
In India, some of the debate also took on local overtones. One Twitter user contended that Hindu women have no place to criticise this gesture or speak for the efficacy of its symbolic value.
I have a hot take for "feminist" Hindu peeps talking about whether New Zealanders should "go to the extent of wearing a hijab or not".
— Shireen (@shireenazam) March 23, 2019
It's not your place to comment. Let Muslim women speak about what they think of it. Dont be another group trying to be their saviour.
Another Twitter user said that while some Indians expected Muslims to partake in Hindu celebrations in the country, they objected to New Zealand embracing Islamic traditions as a show of support.
Majoritarian Indian liberals: Muslims should celebrate Holi to be secular.
— Maqsood (@Maq_one) March 22, 2019
Also, Majoritarian Indian liberals: New Zealand is so annoying with their hijabs, azan, ahadith and humanisation of an otherised minority.
Another discussion between activist Gita Sahgal, journalist Salil Tripathi and anthropologist Annu Jalais on Twitter sheds further light into the various strands of the debate. The three were speaking in particular about New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s decision to wear a head scarf – she did so on Friday as well as during a visit to Christchurch a day after the attack. While Jalais praised Ardern for her “brave decision”, Tripathi said though he appreciated the New Zealand prime minister’s overall response to the attacks, he wished she had taken into account the politics of the hijab. Sahgal raised apprehensions of such gestures giving further legitimacy to demands that Muslim women keep themselves veiled.
Well, the majority of Muslim women across the world do wear some form of head scarf. I was surprised whn @JacindaArdern did it but not offended. On the contrary, it comes from a position of "reaching out" in goodwill towards a much maligned community. Actually it is brave of her!
— Annu Jalais (@AnnuJal) March 23, 2019
Let me repeat: I hugely admire her and wish she were my PM. But I also expect an understanding of the politics of headscarf and what the symbol means to the many who are forced to wear it, and it is highly improbable that everyone who wears it does so out of free will, even in NZ
— Salil Tripathi سلیل تریپاٹھی સલિલ ત્રિપાઠી (@saliltripathi) March 23, 2019
I think we could all understand Ardern wearing a shawl visiting the bereaved on the first day, but the outbreak of national headscarf wearing will be used against young Muslim girls for generations.
— Gita Sahgal (@GitaSahgal) March 23, 2019
World Hijab Day has gleefully promoted the event. Islamists use the headscarf to discipline the pious and are brilliant at exploiting the pain of Muslims. Their reach extends to Australia and NZ where ex-Muslims live in secret, for fear of their lives.
— Gita Sahgal (@GitaSahgal) March 23, 2019
The headscarf gesture was one of several ways in which New Zealand citizens and authorities have decried the Christchurch violence. On Friday, thousands congregated at a memorial service at a park across the road from the Al Noor mosque, one of the two targets of the March 15 attacks. Ardern was also present at the service and addressed the gathering. On Friday, national television and radio channels broadcast the azaan, or the Muslim call to prayer, at 1.30 pm local time, the same time as the attacks the week before, following which people were asked to observe two minutes of silence.
New Zealanders have also been performing the Haka, the traditional dance of the Maori community, at events across the country, as a way to honour the victims. Praise has also flowed in for 38-year-old Ardern’s response to the attacks. As soon as reports of the violence emerged, she described it as an “extraordinary act of unprecedented violence”, called it a terrorist attack, and emphasised to migrant communities that New Zealand is their home. She also promised gun law reforms and announced an immediate ban on the sale of military-style semi-automatic guns and assault rifles.
Dunedin pupils perform a haka in support of the Muslim community. #KiaKahaChristchurch @rnz_news pic.twitter.com/PvFQbMOgSE
— Tess Brunton (@TessBrunton489) March 22, 2019