A few weeks ago, the Conservatives were falling far behind in the polls. Harper sent his campaign manager packing, and hired Lynton Crosby - a notorious political strategist from Australia who has won elections for right-wing governments around the world using 'dog-whistle politics' - a phrase that describes the use of subtly racist slogans and tactics that rouse our basest tendencies - those of xenophobia, intolerance, and other tendencies we Canadians like to think we don't possess. Since Crosby's arrival, dog-whistle tactics have already infiltrated our political landscape and discourse (think old-stock Canadians, calling refugees a security risk, stoking the flames of the niqab controversy).
The Conservatives style themselves as the strongest party on the economy and security. Their new slogan, "Protect Our Economy", is classic dog-whistle politics, synthesizing these two issues and subtly introducing racism into any discussion of our economic performance. (We must protect ourselves from refugees and immigrants, who will bankrupt our economy and steal our jobs). It’s very high-level manipulation, and it’s working.
We’re being played, and it is embarrassing.
The truth is that the burkha/niqabs is not worn for the same reason consistently from person to person and in region to region. It is worn for both reactionary and progressive reasons. For example, it may be worn as a form of protest against the encroachment of Western cultural imperialism. On the other hand, it may be used as an instrument of oppression against women. Context is everything.
Clothing is a technology, and like all technologies, the same tool may be used in different circumstances to achieve different ends. The burkha/niqabs itself is not a problem, but the reason for its use may be considered so, depending on the situation.
However, we should also stand with veiled women against xenophobes and racists. Also saying that every woman who wears a burqa/niqabs is brainwashed is basically implying that non-Western women are incapable of agency. Would you say that every woman who wears a cross or becomes a nun is brainwashed? Banning what people can do with their own bodies and expression because you think it's from societal brainwashing is still oppressing people and inherently hypocritical of us to call it "barbaric" despite Western sexist traditions that are still used (paternal carrying of surname, Miss and Mrs, etc).