The Legal Burqa: Ersem Ercil

There are countless people infected with the virus of racism, many of them appearing asymptomatic. The most serious form of racism, in my opinion, is ‘de jure’ racism. It means racism by law. I can hear you thinking: ‘how can law be racist?’

There is legislation that makes Islamic face-covering clothing (like the burqa and the niqab) illegal in the Netherlands. This law applies on public transport, in government buildings and health institutions. Now, because of the pandemic, it’s also mandatory to wear non-medical face masks in public transport.

Ironically, those things are exactly the same. Not according to me, but according to the law. How can the exact same thing be banned and mandatory? To question this, I combined the silhouette of the illegal, with the material of the mandatory.

– Ersem Ercil (he/him)


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