Like it or not, the keffiyeh has become a political symbol

Maybe it seems like a bit of a storm in a teacup (or a storm in a teakettle, as North Americans would have it, which I confess has never made any sense to me), but the fracas over the wearing of keffiyehs in the Ontario Legislature is still going on.

House Speaker Ted Arnott banned the wearing of the traditional checkered scarf, which is commonly worn in Arabic countries, but which has come to more specifically represent Palestine and its independence struggle in recent years. Just yesterday, Arnott partially walked back the ban, ruling that it could be worn into the legislature buildings, but still not in the legislative chamber itself.

Apparently, the Speaker of the House does have the authority to enact such a ban, and have the Sergeant-at-Arms enforce it, even if, as in this case, the Premier disagrees. The rules prohibit "the display of signs, banners, buttons, clothing with partisan/political messages" within the legislature (which, when you think about it, is kind of bizarre in a place that exists solely to argue politics). It is up to the Speaker to interpret that rule, and Mr. Arnott has ruled that the wearing of the keffiyeh has crossed that line.

MPP Sarah Jama started wearing one about a month ago to express her solidarity with Palestine, and was removed from the NDP caucus and asked to leave the chamber several times. Jama is actually of Somali heritage and, although a practising Muslim, is not actually Arabic. So, any claim that she is wearing it as a cultural symbol is pretty disingenuous. She certainly didn't wear it before the Israeli war in Palestine started.

More recently, left-wingers Kristyn Wong-Tam and Joel Harden have taken to wearing it, and they definitely can't claim any cultural connection. It's hard to argue anything other than that the keffiyeh is being willfully and knowingly used as a political symbol or prop. 

That said, Mr. Arnott could have just left the whole issue alone. He has the discretion to be able to do that, as evidenced by his later decision to allow it in the outer parts of the building. And Doug Ford clearly wishes he had done, calling the move unnecessarily divisive, one of the few times I find myself agreeing with the Premier.

But, make no mistake, whatever the keffiyeh used to be, or may still be to some people, in this context the keffiyeh is most definitely a political, not a cultural, statement. And if the Speaker chooses to ban it for that reason, you kind of have to go along with that. Don't try and argue that it's just an innocent piece of cloth, or a cultural symbol of deep personal significance.