Madam, - Fintan O'Toole is quite correct when he writes that diversity endangers liberal ideas on equality (Opinion, January 20th).
Diversity is based on culture, which is of necessity collective, while the liberal vision of equality is based on the rights of the individual.
Clearly, with regard to issues such as female genital mutilation, the interests of women's rights indicate that "culture" per se cannot be sacrosanct, and strenuous efforts are being made to eradicate the practice. However it is equally clear that culture is the key element in creating an individual's identity, and the negation of that identity or culture will lead to conflict.
There are cultural rights as well as human rights; in particular, Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights compels states to give minorities the right to enjoy their own culture. There are also visions of equality that focus on collective structures, suggesting that giving people "equal opportunities" is not enough, that people must be enabled to overcome systemic barriers to their rights.
What are the relative rights of the individual, the group and the state, and whose vision of equality will prevail? It does not matter whether a style of dress is "authentically" derived from the Koran or is "merely" a cultural tradition (no matter how authoritarian); the individual still also has a right to culture and identity. We are not all equal human beings, as, despite rhetoric and law, oppression is still with us as minorities everywhere in Europe can testify.
Individuals therefore seek shelter in culture and community. Do they not have the right to do this when they go to school? That, then, becomes an issue of freedom, the freedom to be who you are, whoever you are. As long as they are within the limits of legal norms of decency and of practicality in terms of expected school behaviour, can such freedoms not apply?
The central issue is one of balancing the freedoms and rights of the individual with the rights and freedoms of community - once again the old trio of liberty, equality and fraternity. - Is mise
JOHN MULLOY, Knockrooskey, Westport, Co Mayo.
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Madam, - There has been much comment about the decision of the French government to ban the wearing of the hijab by Muslim pupils in schools. Many representatives of the Islamic community have rightly spoken out for freedom of religious expression and there was a demonstration outside the French embassy in Dublin last weekend.
Can we now look forward to their holding similar protests outside Saudi Arabian embassies to show solidarity with their Christian counterparts who are banned from even having a bible on Saudi soil? - Yours, etc.,
GAVAN FAGAN, Ard Ross Avenue, Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan .