OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2016
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
OUR VIEW
Warrenton makes
right decision on
Walmart permit
N
ot everybody wants a Walmart in Warrenton or any other
regional city. It’s a divisive issue and one some Warrenton
residents share with people in other communities across the
country who oppose the big-box behemoth for a variety of reasons.
In fact, even a quick glance at the internet brings up a host of
websites that are dedicated to nothing other than keeping Walmart
out of those communities.
But despite opposition by the Clatsop Residents Against Walmart
group and others who spoke against the mega-retailer at this past
week’s City Commission meeting, Warrenton commissioners made
the right decision in renewing Walmart’s site design permit for
another year. The approval marked the third time the permit has
been extended.
The decision of whether Walmart could build in Warrenton
was originally made in 2013 when the commission irst granted
the retailer’s land use permit. That 2013 decision later drew a fed-
eral lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that claimed
the agency failed to protect wetlands in its review and approval of
a wetland ill permit application by Peaksview LLC. Peaksview
owns land that Walmart plans to build on at Ensign Lane and U.S.
Highway 101 in the North Coast Retail Center. The suit stalled
Walmart’s plans until two weeks ago when a federal judge dis-
missed the case. The delay, however, forced Walmart to ask for the
third extension of its permit.
While in past votes commissioners had been unanimous in their
approval, this time it wasn’t a slam dunk. Commissioners voted 3-1
in favor with one commissioner absent from the meeting. The “no”
vote is a bit puzzling and came from Commissioner Rick Newton,
who said after the meeting that he opposed the extension because “I
don’t think it will make life better in Warrenton.” Newton had previ-
ously voted “yes” last year on the extension issue.
Despite the lip-lop, the extension approval this past week was
right for several reasons.
Whether Warrenton should have a Walmart or not was really
decided when the city irst began allowing big-box stores. That pol-
icy was reafirmed with the original approval of Walmart’s land use
permit and then reinforced by the two additional extensions prior to
last week’s action.
And, importantly, Walmart thus far has met each legal require-
ment to build and open in Warrenton, barring a successful appeal
of the judge’s dismissal of the lawsuit. Doing an about-face on the
issue now, despite its divisiveness, is a form of discrimination and
protectionism that government has no business in practicing.
Governments make overall policy, and consumers, through free-
dom of choice, ultimately determine a business’s success by making
decisions with their feet on where they shop.
Signature events
showcase the coast
F
rom sailing and parades to concerts and clowns, this past
weekend was illed with crowd-pleasing events. Add in a
bridge rededication and the world’s largest beach volley-
ball event, according to organizers, and it made for a signature
showcase of the North Coast.
Organizers and sponsors of the 122nd Astoria Regatta festival, the
Astoria Bridge rededication and the 35th annual Seaside Chamber
Beach Volleyball event, and all the volunteers who helped at each,
deserve a hearty congratulations and a job well done from us all.
Regatta had something for everyone, and was even more inclu-
sive with Warrenton’s participation for the irst time with festivities
there as well as those in Astoria. The well-attended events included
sailboat races, the coronation of Aubrey McMahan as Regatta
queen, the annual Grand Land Parade, the Highwater Boat Parade,
the planting of roses at Lighthouse Park and a free country music
concert in Warrenton, a free concert in Astoria by the Columbia
River Symphony, ireworks and, of course, clowns and all their
hijinks.
The weekend also marked the 50th anniversary and a rededica-
tion of the Astoria Bridge with oficials from both sides of the river
participating along with dignitary guests from Astoria’s sister city of
Walldorf, Germany.
In Seaside, at the chamber’s four-day beach volleyball tourna-
ment, more than 3,000 players on about 1,450 teams battled for
championships in a host of different divisions. They were cheered
on by large crowds of family members, friends and other spec-
tators. The event has been recognized since 2011 by the World
Records Academy as the country’s largest amateur beach volleyball
tournament.
Each of the trio of events was well-run and well-supported as
evidenced by the smiles from those who attended, and each of the
events was successful and showcased the spirit and volunteerism
of the coast at its best.
AP Photo/Petr David Josek
Germany’s Kira Walkenhorst, right, tries to spike a ball past Egypt’s Doaa Elghobashy, left, during a wom-
en’s beach volleyball match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 7.
Olympians in
hijab and bikini
By ROGER COHEN
New York Times News Service
S
ince I saw a photograph of an
Egyptian and a German beach
volleyball player confronting
each other at the net in Rio, I have
been unable to get the image out
of my head. Doaa Elghobashy, 19,
wears a hijab, long sleeves and black
leggings to her ankles. Kira Walken-
horst, 25, is in a dark blue bikini. The
outstretched hands of the Olympian
women almost meet, the ball between
them.
The photo, by Lucy Nicholson
of Reuters, juxtaposes two women,
two beliefs and two
dress codes, brought
together by sport.
The world con-
fronts less a clash
of civilizations than
a clash of identities,
concertinaed in time
and space by technology. The West’s
image of Islam and the Muslim image
of Western societies are often mutu-
ally incommunicable; the incompre-
hension incubates violence.
No area is as sensitive as that of the
treatment of women, women’s roles,
women’s sexuality, dress and ambi-
tions. The story is often presented as
one of Western emancipation versus
Islamic subjugation. That, however, is
an inadequate characterization.
What follows are accounts by two
women, an Egyptian and an Amer-
ican, of their experiences with the
hijab. Chadiedja Buijs is a gradu-
ate student in Cairo. Norma Moore
is a former actress living in Boulder,
Colorado, who recently visited Iran,
where the rules obliged her to adopt
Islamic dress codes.
CHADIEDJA BUIJS
My parents — Egyptian mother,
Dutch father — separated when I
was 4, and I grew up in the Nether-
lands. My mom doesn’t wear a head-
scarf, and when I began to at the age
of 19, ive years ago, she said, “What
the hell are you doing? I left my coun-
try so that you could be free, and this
is what freedom did?”
I had a lot of issues with myself,
with my spiritual needs and my state
of being. I was very hardworking,
very controlling. I began to feel that
as a religious person I needed to real-
ize that some things are bigger than
me. I started with prayer. I stopped
drinking. I began fasting. I’d been so
obsessed with material things. After
a while I became convinced that it
would be good if I could wear the
headscarf out of devotion and humil-
ity, as a sign of giving up some of my
control. It worked.
Our Prophet says faith is like the
ocean. Sometimes the waves are
high, sometimes low. Sometimes I
am shaky in my faith, sometimes very
strong.
The hijab is a matter of represen-
tation. I know the person I am and the
ideas I have. But the person in front
of me sees only the exterior. With the
tension in Europe, things are worse.
In a Dutch village, in a cafe full of
rich white people, a man tore my veil
off. It was shocking but not as frus-
trating as some of the looks and com-
ments, the job rejections (“You do not
it the image of our store”).
After the attacks in France, my
mother said, “Please take your veil
off.” It is my choice to wear it. I
will die with it on. That is my right.
Nobody will take it away.
But balance is important. There is
this life and the afterlife. Sometimes
you need to think about your spiritu-
ality. Sometimes you need to adapt.
In the West, now, I may wear tighter
jeans, or have my neck showing, or
use short sleeves. Here in Egypt I
may wear maxi-skirts, long and wide.
They do not look great. They make
me fat. But, hey, that’s the point! My
family here is quite conservative.
Who is to
say which of
the women
is more
conservative,
more of a
feminist
or more
liberated? We
do not know.
There is very little religious lit-
eracy in secular Western countries.
And there is a crisis within Islam,
over what it means to be a Muslim.
As Muslims we have to acknowledge
the problem. The Islamic State group
controls what Islam looks like in Iraq
and Syria — religious symbolism,
lags, statements and verses. This is
real. We cannot deny it. But we cre-
ate extremism by talking about Islam
only through this prism. The head-
scarf becomes a fetish.
Elghobashy is wearing leggings in
the photo. I think she represents peo-
ple like me. International-minded,
young, modern Muslims who want to
go out and study and work and play.
We need different images of Islam.
I got different responses from
men when I chose to wear a head-
scarf rather than a short skirt. It cre-
ated a kind of distance. But I still have
my sexuality in my own hands. I can
be very lirtatious, go out and meet a
man — but I decide in what mode I
want to be. I can be focused on my
spirituality, prayers and study with-
out distraction, or I can have a period
when I choose to be sexy even in a
headscarf through how I act or speak.
I feel I have more power and indepen-
dence vis-à-vis men now.
NORMA MOORE
I am a deeply religious person.
I don’t have a label to attach to my
faith, but it is there nonetheless at
the core of my being. I believe that
God created me and created me with
love as I am — just as God creates
every other person. When I put on the
hijab in Iran and the shapeless tunics
I experience an attempt to deny how I
have been made — an attempt to neu-
tralize me.
It has made me afraid. I started this
trip almost completely covered by
my hijab. Before coming I practiced
with the help of an internet video so
that no trace of hair or neck or calf
would show and make me vulnerable
to stares or the humiliation of being
chastised. I had come here voluntarily
and accepted the terms of admission,
so I began the trip in a willing state of
submission.
But then the weather got hot —
very hot. I got overheated and all I
could think about was tearing this
hijab off. I felt suffocated. I thought
how I wouldn’t let an animal suffo-
cate like this. If my animal were cov-
ered like this and suffering I would
tear the fabric off out of simple
decency.
My hair, the curves in my body,
were given to me by God. To cover
my head and wear shapeless clothes
feels like I am pretending not to be
a woman and that somehow I am
responsible for keeping men’s sexual-
ity within social bounds.
I just can’t wrap my head around
God making me responsible for
men’s sexuality.
The Olympics volleyball photo-
graph is tantalizing. The few inches
between the women’s hands may
as well be a chasm. More than once
I have heard Iranian imams, with
preposterous certainty, equate limsy
women’s attire in the West with dec-
adence and prostitution. To West-
ern sensibilities, the covered Muslim
woman must de facto be the disem-
powered woman awaiting liberation.
Reality is many-shaded. Elgho-
bashy wears an anklet of colored
beads. The only colors on Walken-
horst are those of the German lag.
Who is to say which of the women is
more conservative, more of a feminist
or more liberated? We do not know.
What we do know is that we need
more events that provoke us to ask
such questions and discard tired cer-
tainties that may be no more than dan-
gerous caricatures.