Stephen McGann, who plays Dr Patrick Turner in BBC drama Call the Midwife, has tackled Boris Johnson’s recent comments on the niqab, the veils worn by some Muslim women.
Speaking on Twitter, McGann took issue with Johnson’s recent Telegraph column – in which he said that women in burqas (the name of the full garment that covers the body and face) look like “bank robbers” or “letterboxes” – and countered it with a touching personal story.
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In a lengthy thread, the actor reminisced about a recent trip to the Middle East and a meeting with a woman wearing a niqab. It transpired she had been a student at Swansea University and had fond memories of walking across the windswept Welsh beach.
“The only thing I couldn’t see of her was the small details the burqa covered,” McGann said. “Everything else was as clear as it was human. Everything important was communicated.”
He continued: “We live in a world full of our own veils. Presentations of the self that each of us makes to others in order to communicate some important aspect of ourselves. Religious. Political. Tattoos on the skin. Fashions and flags and non-verbal codes that tell others what we think worth knowing on our journey through our life.
“Sometimes these are social. Sometimes a signal. An aspiration, or a mark of belonging. But underneath that paper-thin carapace lies a commonality of character and feeling.”
To explain. Some years ago, I was asked to deliver a week of talks on communication skills to a financial company in the Middle East. /2
— Stephen McGann (@StephenMcGann) August 7, 2018
So for a week I found myself halfway up a skyscraper in a petrochemically-rich Gulf state, speaking to very smart Muslim staff with impeccable English about Stanislavski, body language and personal disclosure. /4
— Stephen McGann (@StephenMcGann) August 7, 2018
It was initially an alarming prospect for someone about to teach communication skills. How does one impart the art of human communication to people who one couldn’t fully see? /6
— Stephen McGann (@StephenMcGann) August 7, 2018
Whereas the men had been smart but cagey and quite hard to crack, the women entered into all the exercises with real enthusiasm. Warm and clever. /8
— Stephen McGann (@StephenMcGann) August 7, 2018
As I stood by the window, gazing out into the high-tech semi-desert from the skyscraper window, one burqa-clad woman gave a surprising answer: “Swansea beach in Wales,” she said. /10
— Stephen McGann (@StephenMcGann) August 7, 2018
She’d go there in her free time, and walk, and think, and feel. The brisk Welsh wind would whip her veil as she walked. She was happy there, and the world was newly minted. /12
— Stephen McGann (@StephenMcGann) August 7, 2018
And that was the thing. The only thing I *couldn’t* see of her was the small details the burqa covered. Everything else was as clear as it was human. Everything important was communicated. /14
— Stephen McGann (@StephenMcGann) August 7, 2018
. Fashions and flags and non-verbal codes that tell others what we think worth knowing on our journey through our life. /16
— Stephen McGann (@StephenMcGann) August 7, 2018
The veil is not the story. It never was. The story is the young woman. Standing on that beach in South Wales. Alone. Far from home. Thinking. Feeling. Everything important communicated. /end.
— Stephen McGann (@StephenMcGann) August 7, 2018
And, not surprisingly, the story was quickly praised for showing “a genuine acceptance of those different from them”.
Thank you for writing this. A breath of fresh air to see one exercise tolerance, mutual understanding and a genuine acceptance of those different from them. Appreciated ♡
— Masarat Daud (@masarat) August 7, 2018
You just made Britain a bit less bleak.😍
— Maggie Mumford (@maggie_mumford) August 7, 2018
What a blessed relief to read something with such feeling and eloquence about a subject that seems to inspire fear and hatred in the ignorant. Bravo Stephen.
— Wendy G (@santoriM87) August 7, 2018
Johnson hasn’t yet apologised for the article, in which he made the comments about the “odd bits of headgear”, while arguing against their ban.
On an official trip to Scotland, Prime Minister Theresa May condemned Johnson’s asides as “wrong”, telling the BBC they had “clearly caused offence”.
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