Safety and Privacy and the Rights and Freedoms
I can’t help but find it almost absurdly amusing sometimes when pro-Russian individuals from some government, and others like them, attack Muslims. What is particularly strange is that there are more Muslims living in Russia than in a number of European countries that are themselves the targets of a criticism. And secondly, these critics often reject European values themselves, so, figuratively speaking, they are only making themselves look even more hypocritical.
As for me, I often spend time in Western European communities where people of Muslim background also live. It was also from some of these people that I experienced friendliness and respect — and that was long before I ever wrote these words. Obviously, for reasons that we can all understand. These people, who are part of Western society, have, in my experience, shown greater respect for rights and freedoms than those who themselves attack or question them.
Because of these Western communities, I get the feeling that hatred toward people of different nationalities or background is largely something that takes place especially online or in certain countries, rather than in the reality I know through these Western communities. A truth is also that these communities also include people working in public offices and the police from diverse backgrounds, and in my opinion this also helps determine how well society functions.
To be honest, I don’t like bans on covering the face either. I have several reasons for this, including personal ones. If someone voluntarily decides to cover their face in public, in my opinion they should have the right to do so.
Furthermore, the protection of freedom of religion is itself part of the European and international human-rights framework. Respect for these rights should be universal—by all humans. These thoughts are fundamentally rooted in human rights and freedoms themselves, because I see human rights and freedoms as an essential expression of true human freedom—One person’s freedom ends where another person’s begins.
Just look, for example, at celebrities whom, in the United States for example, sometimes cover their faces in order to preserve their safety and privacy. They have their reasons for doing so — and the right to privacy and safety is one of them, because these possibilities for madness around them…
For this reason, banning someone from covering their face seems to me, in a certain sense, to restrict their right to privacy or safety. For some people, having their face covered may be a way of preserving at least some degree of privacy in a particular society, or even of maintaining a sense of security. I myself could appreciate having such an option in certain situations or societies.
In my opinion, the right to see a person’s face should belong only to an authority that is legally empowered to require it. Likewise, a person should not be required to prove their identity to anyone other than the authorities designated to do so. If someone does not need to establish their identity to an authorized authority in a particular situation, I see no reason why they should be forced to show their face.
And, just to lighten things up a little, I could also mention some of these girls — for example, when they sit down next to you on a train with their faces covered by a mask, even though the pandemic has been over for a long time.
One might then think that sometimes it really isn’t such a bad thing for people to keep at least a little bit of their identity or security to themselves.
In the end, also during many events is possible to keep your face covered. Not just during a Halloween one. They could just as well ban makeup, because sometimes it also means you’re not seeing a person’s real face. Or they could just ban a hair color, because a hair color change can be the change for an identity itself.
I also now remember that during the pandemic, I liked wearing face masks. Respirators were more difficult to wear, but I genuinely liked wearing masks. Sometimes people would ask me, including at events where I was on probation, why I was wearing a mask when I wasn’t required by organizers. After the pandemic, I was disappointed that wearing a mask was no longer considered appropriate.
I also admit that even in June 2023, when I was travelling to an event in the Netherlands, I took advantage of the fact that it had only been a short time since the requirement to wear a respirator on public transport in Germany had been lifted, and I wore one during the journey for personal reasons. I like Germany, and it was not meant to be anything personal against Germany, but I wanted to be at least somewhat covered.
A relevant is also Cyprus—a European Union country. If we include the entire island, including Northern Cyprus, Muslims make up approximately a quarter of the population. Although Cyprus ranks lower in some overall safety or peace rankings, this is significantly influenced by the island’s long-standing geopolitical conflict and division. But according to the UN, in 2024 there was approximately one intentional homicide per 100,000 inhabitants in Cyprus, equivalent to 0.001% of the population per year. Latvia, another EU country, has a population of around 1.8 million, with Muslims accounting for approximately 0.06% of the population. Latvia has the highest homicide rate in the EU; according to statistics, it is 4.0 per 100,000 inhabitants.
