Interview: Pia Kjærsgaard (Danish People’s Party) understands how some are provoked by women wearing [head]scarves.
By Anna Meera Gaonkar, July 15 11:49 AM CET 2014
Interviewer: In the Friday edition of [newspaper] Politiken, several women revealed that hey have been beaten, spat on, kicked, and yelled at on the street, because they wear a scarf. You write on your blog on TV 2 that you have great understanding for how the scarf provokes, but make no mention of the violence. Why?
Kjærsgaard: I assume that, if violence has been committed against them they will turn to the police. Hence, it hasn’t been necessary to mention the violence in my entry.
Interviewer: But aren’t you indirectly legitimizing the violence by ignoring it, when you write that you understand how one can be provoked by women with scarves?
Kjærsgaard: Not at all. But it provokes me so much, when women in the Danish society invoke the right to wear a scarf.
Interviewer: In a debate concerning violence against women with [head]scarves, shouldn’t you address the violence, which is the central topic?
Kjærsgaard: Just because I haven’t written in bold type that I abhor violence, it doesn’t mean that I support it. I am writing that I feel provoked by women with scarves. That others feel provoked by these women I can understand. That they have subjected to comments, I can understand just fine.
Interviewer: You understand that women with scarves are subjected to vituperative comments?
Kjærsgaard: I’m saying that I understand, if someone feels like saying “tell you what” and engages them verbally.
Interviewer: What does “tell you what” mean? And where’s the line?
Kjærsgaard: That’s for each individual to decide. But I also feel like saying that some women with scarves want to be victims. I find that too much.
Interviewer: You must be a victim, when you as an innocent person are subjected to violence?
Kjærsgaard: Yes, but women with scarves could also just think through the situation; if they keep getting those reactions on the street, they could just take off the scarf. Then they would also signal that they want to be a part of the Danish society.