Cerebral sparks

sparks in my mind unleashed online

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Islamophobia and the oppression of Muslims in the West.

Islamophobia refers to an irrational fear of Islam. Negative perceptions of Islam can be traced back to the Crusades and through colonialism, but it has gained new ground post 9/11 all over the world. Most islamophobists stereotype Islam as more or less a terrorist religion with various factions all across the world involved in just a single motive, the Jihad. The Jihad itself has been grossly misrepresented in the West; and this has led to increasing marginalization of Muslim communities all across the world.

The Congressional Research Service came out with a report on the difficulties faced by European countries in particular, in integrating Islamic communities and in creating a sense of nationalism amongst them. The report goes on to say how the British, French and Spanish governments have failed miserably in addressing this aspect of immigrant integration. This, along with the lower socio-economic status of many muslims in Europe, has led to an increased exploitation of these masses by fundamentalist islamic terrorists. From the time of 9/11 various Western countries have formed new policies to contain these "homegrown" terrorists and have intensified their dialogue with the moderate elements living in the West. Newly formed laws in legalization of citizenship status, immigration as well as anti-discrimination legislation have led to further marginalization of the muslim factions.

In fact the term Islamophobia becomes irrelevant at this point, for this discrimination is not purely based on religion; but also on race, ethnicity and class. It is also now a state-formed real threat; similar to the massive anti-semitism that was created by Nazi leaders all over Europe during the second world war.

  1. The religious diversity of Islam and the ethnic populations that practise it are subsumed by the policies of the West and is compounded by the lower socio-economic status of muslim immigrants in Europe.


When we look at the various islamic communities across the world, we see a very diverse set of societies in many countries. They differ ethnically and in their religious perception of Islam. All this is usually subsumed when the western governments make policies entirely based on religion. All over Europe the islamic communities usually form the underclass. There is rampant unemployment among these communities; and most of them live in extremely poor conditions usually set apart from the mainstream population.


2. Terrorism is viewed as something that has infiltrated in along with the immigrants. Many Western countries do not accept this as a problem that has been caused by their own failure to reach out to the ethnic muslims in their countries.


With increasing terrorism; many European countries have created stricter immigration laws. What they fail to see is that terrorism is neither foreign nor domestic ; it is as if the internal and external security policies have been conflated with one another. Part of the 9/11 attacks were planned in Europe; in Hamburg. At least twenty people that have been arrested in Guantanamo Bay are Europeans. In France for example, the police was given extra power to stop and search vehicles at will, to search houses without prior notification and also extensive monitoring of electronic equipment. In Germany, religious groups could be legally banned in the interest of maintaining democracy. In England, suspects could be detained indefinitely if they were perceived as "unsuitable" for living in the country. One in eight people arrested as a terrorist suspect was a muslim. Increasing number of muslims were arrested for other kinds of crimes due to the now -increased power enjoyed by the police. These are just a few representative examples of the many European countries that have strengthened anti-immigration laws, making expulsion of foreigners easier.
The worst policies were however exercized by the US government. The PATRIOT Act lessened the restrictions on surveillance, allowed various personal records to be obtained by authorities, reduced the privacy of attorney-client conversation, and broadened the definition of terrorism to include ‘material support,’ a concept which has not been fully defined. Along with these changes in the law, American citizens have been imprisoned without judicial review, mosques have been searched for radiation without warrants, phone calls and phone records have been obtained without court approval, and individuals have been abducted and sent to secret prisons, as well as foreign prisons where they could be interrogated with more violent methods.

  1. Islam is seen as a threat and there is increasing anti-muslim sentiment among the western populations
    .Islam is now seen as a threat to the integrity of European countries. There is increasing anti-immigration sentiment among the people. This anti-Muslim sentiment is widely seen not just as an increased physical abuse of muslims, but also abuse through political, media and intellecutal discourse. This discrimination stems from the policies towards ethnic minorities, anti-terrorism policies, and legal changes expressed in immigration and naturalization processes. In Europe rejection of cultural differences has thus become more common and more public.
    Islamists are also seen as terrorists in Europe. There is an increasing suspicion of Muslims to be rooted in radical islam; but out of the 358 terrorists arrested in France, only 94 are muslim; the rest are Basque separatists. In the UK, all search laws as well as anti-terrorism laws were disproportionately used against people from South Asian decent.
    In the immigration policies, many European countries have a naturalization test that immigrants must take. This has increasingly become anti-Islamic. Islamic women living in France are banned from wearing the burqa in public and they must accept treatment from male doctors too. Netherlands and Germany show increasingly sexual pictures of nudists and expect the immigrants to be completely OK with sexuality, and other kinds of sexual orientations. It is increasingly clear that most of these tests create a bridge between the immigrant and the mainstream by showing extreme differences in their respective cultures. Muslim immigrants also face increasing difficulties in obtaining residence permits, visas and nationalization.

  1. There’s been an increase in the physical and verbal abuse of ethnic Arabs, South Asians and other marginalized communities stemming from anti-muslim sentiments.


Increasing hate crimes against muslims are also a characteristic of islamophobia. Right after 9/11 eighty separate physical abuse incidents against muslims were carried out in Netherlands, a bomb was placed in a muslim primary school; and a right-wing youth set fire to a mosque.
In England, mosques were defaced, women and taxi drivers were increasingly abused physically and anti-muslim epithets were shouted across to them. France and Spain are also guilty of vandalization and increased violence against Muslims, which includes murder of muslim citizens.

  1. There’s been an increase in the number of political parties that openly condemn Islam and gain popular vote hence.

The dynamics of islamophobia also stem from the translational formation of European Union and erosion of boundaries. This along with pressures from increasing immigrant populations has led to a redefinition of nationalism. This is seen as the Forza Nutva, a political party in Italy wanted it to be recognized as essentially a catholic state, which naturally means that muslims cannot be good citizens. In Spain, while the socialist party contends to integrate marginalized communities, the centre right popular party condemned this problem as a problem of immigrants and not that of the state. The anti-immigrant tendencies that have been present in these states as shifted more to islamophobia as masses are exposed to images of the stereotypical radical Islamic terrorist. For example, the Bradford riots in England could have been classified as racist, but the British National party instead classified it as a natural reaction to international terrorism. Le Pen and the National Front in France have played up on the already present fears of anti-muslim sentiments and have gained power. Italian and German political parties have used similar propaganda to gain popular vote. So much so that former prime minister Margaret Thatcher quoted that all muslims were responsible for terrorism. Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi has made many claims that the Western Civilization was far superior to Islam. In Spain former president of the Catalan Autonomous Government was quoted saying, that it was easier to integrate the Polish, Italian and French populations but not the Arab populations, even the moderate ones. Netherlands however brought about the most drastic political changes, by incorporating extreme ideas such as forbidding of Islam, deportation of second generation Moroccans, and the ban of gender segregated mosques.

Increasingly some politicians such as Nicholas Sarkozy have started using terms such as “good” and “bad” islam. The fact the muslims have to prove that they are good law abiding citizens shows the underlying assumption that they are viewed as troublemakers.

  1. Skewed representation by the media and anti-islam literature have compounded the racist problems faced by muslims.

The media has been sending out subtle images of that are clearly islamophobic. Sensationalist news are now seen in all channels about international terrorism, and in covering such events, the media groups together all kinds of Islamic forces together, and subsumes them under one major radical Islam population. The media increasingly mixes the “Islamic religion” and the “muslim world” portraying muslims as largely homogeneous and monolithic, and inherently bad because of being a muslim; often raising questions of the largely negative ideas that stereotype islam such as status of women’s rights, rising fundamentalism and some cultural practices that the West finds offensive.

The media thus portrays a pretty skewed picture of muslim life in all the different countries. Usually sensational stories cover honourable sacrifices, forced marriages of women, etc and never anything in positive light. The media thus adopts public attitudes and prejudices instead of being informative portraying Islam and muslims as potential threats to the society.

Many intellectuals have also contributed to this growing oppression of muslim populations all over the world. Oriana Follaci’s “The Rage and the Pride” attacks muslims as being part of a terror-religion bent on destroying the Catholicism in Italy. The book sold 1.5 million copies. Many professors share the opinion that Islam is a terror religion and some of them oppose muslim immigration as it would bring in these terrorist fractions into the West. In Netherlands, the prominent philosophy professor Herman Philipse has openly claimed that Islam is a violent tribal culture that is incompatible with modern day life.

  1. There is increased oppression of muslims when it comes to openly practicing their religion in public.

Many western countries have claimed to have adjusted to allow muslims to practise their religion. But this has been done mainly within the legal and social frameworks of Chrisitianity. Attempts to build mosques always have local resistance. The practice of religious instruction in public schools has presented problems to muslims, especially in the context of the blame Islam faces for international terrorism. In 1998, in Sttutgart, Baden- Wuettermburg, Germany, a school refused to hire a public school teacher because she wore a veil. In 2003, seven German states followed suit to ban the wearing of head scarf in schools. With respect to ongoing religious education in school, muslims have always been at a loss. Accustomed to the organization of the European Christian churches, their voices are not heard for lack of an official hierarchal clergy.

Thus in this increasingly islamophobic scenario, many institutions try to fight against discrimination of muslims. Muslims have tried to strengthen their own organizations to keep account of separate events and discriminatory policies. In Germany there has been no dialogue whatsoever for the protection of Muslims. The Deutsches Islamforum is a Muslim organization that battles anti-muslim tendencies in the society. Spain and Netherlands have various organizations trying to fight the dual evils of xenophobia and racism. There has been some community efforts in the UK to battle islamophobia. For example the campaign of the Southwark police and the muslim community with slogans such as “Islamophobia – Don’t suffer in silence” gives hope to some Muslims living in the country. There still is however a huge ocean to cross, to reach out to suffering Muslims in various marginalized communities across the world.

Reference: SECURITIZATION AND RELIGIOUS DIVIDES IN EUROPE

Muslims In Western Europe After 9/11: Why the term Islamophobia is more a predicament than an explanation by Jocelyne Cesari, GSRL-Paris and Harvard University Submission to the Changing Landscape of Citizenship and Security 6th PCRD of European Commission

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11 Comments:

  • At 8:14 PM , Blogger Vatsav said...

    "All this is due to the fact for muslims, their religion comes first. They indulge in anti-national movements in the name of saying that their religion requires it. Every muslim is told to put his religion before nation. When a muslim offers namaaz, he turns the Mecca way! Tell me, how do you expect the muslims to be nationalists? By their very nature of religion, they do not belong to any nation."

    Such an easy way to negate the muslim contribution to our own freedom struggle

    "Should the countries not engage with moderates of islam? "

    Yes, they should. Not by attacking them.

    "Moreover, after 9/11 there has not been a single full blown terror act reported from US"

    Clearly you are unaware of the anti-muslim hate crimes that happen here.

    "In a free environment such as US and UK, how come Hindus do well and muslims still remain underclass? It's all about efforts and self-determination of the people."

    uhmm, first of all the "free" environments you talk about is pretty racist. And to correct you again, Muslims in the US are not underclass they're (like other South Asians) some of the high achievers. In Europe these are immigrants. And yes, people do become violent if they're impoverished cos they're oppressed.
    And you cannot compare India to the West, cos there's the race factor. Don't tell me there have been no riots in India irrespective of religion. There was even a Sikh-Hindu riot (no muslim involved) in Delhi once.

    "Nudity and sexual openness is in the character of European countries. And do you expect them to change themselves just cause some muslims are in the country. By the same token of illogical reasoning all Hindus in India should stop any sign of religion, demolish the temples and become muslims! What has this got to do with marginalization?"

    uhmm, so if you plan to integrate and create a diverse atmosphere you do not do it by showing them stark contrasts from the mainstream. You tell them that there are cultures of the mainstream that are different and you assure them of respect for their personal beliefs.
    And yes I do not expect people to change the way they live; but I do expect people to be tolerant and let live.

    "When they kill thousands of people mercilessly (right inside a temple, church) they somehow expect others to remain silent spectators. I am not advocating harassment against muslims, but to pick a few incidents here and there (shouting???) and claim that muslim innocent souls are being tortures is stretching the victim hood tag a tad too much"

    Then why are you targeting muslims? Kill all the christians for the numerous atrocities they've done through the centuries. There's nothing like Hitler's anti-semitic Jew cleansing, or Native american cleansing, nothing like the amount of violence inflicted on Africans and slavery.
    If you wanna fight, fight the white people and christians first. Then fight Islam.

    And besides, a victim is a victim. People who're harassed and murdered are not terrorists. And frankly if you think this is the best way to go about things, cool; I have nothing to say.

    "all crimes committed by muslims in the name of islam is solely due to the majority community's fault"

    Well given the fucked-up US foreign policies and the oil drive, I would pretty much agree. only I'd replace 'majority community' by white supremacists and capitalists, and policies of the US government.

     
  • At 8:15 PM , Blogger Vatsav said...

    "an you point out what does this mean? Do you mean yo say that western policies should now look into whether the group is a sunny/deoband/shia" and so on before they frame their policies? The west makes its policies based on it's concerns. What has the religious diversity got to do with? Do you also demand a similar policy for Hindus? Buddhists? Jains? Why single out the muslims?"

    YES I demand this for every religion. And you cannot justify the West being white supremacist.

     
  • At 12:33 AM , Blogger pradeepkumar said...

    "All Muslims are not the stereotypical radical islamists"

    Of course not. No one says all muslims are radical islamists. But when terror acts are committed one after the other in the name of islam, what else do I take them? How do I know who is who? And most importantly I was referring to how the stereotype has been built up? It didn't happen in a single day/single year!

    "jihad is not used for conversion to islam or colonialism"

    Do you know what the terms Dar-Ul-Harb and Dar-Ul-Islam mean? If not, you don't understand the concept of Jihad. One meaning you attribute to Jihad is that it is a kind of inner spiritual struggle against one's sinful temptations. In this aspect it amounts to inward looking (a concept quite familiar to Hindus).

    But by the term Jihad muslims actually mean the acts necessary to convert a nation from Dar-Ul-Harb to Dar-Ul-Islam. It can be said that it is a war against infidels. The origin of Jihad can be traced to Muhammed's time, when he and his followers used to carry out against Pagan Arabs.

    Muhammed gave an open call to "kill every Jew". If you examine the hadiths about Jihad, then it is mentioned that a successfull Jihadist will be allowed in Jannat where he can feast upon unlimited supply of water (a precious commodity in Arabic desert), 72 virgins and unlimited supply of young and nubile boys (sodomy was/is popular in Arabia). It is also a duty of every muslim to wage a jihad and try to make Dar-Ul-Harb to Dar-Ul-Islam. In this process, they are encouraged to "spread lies, kill people and adopt unfair means".

    Now you tell me, what is the "real
    meaning" of Jihad?

    See http://www.historyofjihad.com/

    You talk about racism against muslims. Do you know that Kaafirs in Islamic states are not allowed to even have their place of worship? They cannot display any religious behaviour that is not islam. They also have to shut of work when muslims offer namaaz. During the months of Ramadan, they cannot cook from morning till evening. These are not figments of my imagination but ask anyone who lived in Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh and other islamic countries and you will know the truth.

    The worst part is that this behaviour is sanctioned in islam. Now, tell me are muslims not racists (Ok, not in strict "race" sense...but never the less discriminatory).

    "How many muslims do you personally know that are violent?"

    How does it matter? For all I know, a muslim sitting right next to me might be violent. The point is not whether I know of someone who is violent or not. I do know that majority of terrorists are muslims and that is sufficient.

    "YES! bingo!"

    Support your bingo. Do you know of any country that US occupied and subjected to colonialism (apart from recent Iraq invasion....which I condemn whole heartedly)? And what imperialsim is present in Malaysia? India? Pakistan? Afghanistan? Europe?

    "True for most religions, not just Islam."

    Untrue for all religions. Except Christianity. And only islam actively encourages its followers to adopt violent means to achieve this! Promises Jannat for those help bring a nation under islamic rule. Other religions can only persuade to convert...violent acts not allowed (another matter whether they follow it or not....btw, only Christianity and islam are engaged in conversions. No other religion needs/does this).

    "If it is a minority. yes it can"

    Thats true for any minority community. Not just muslims. I am also referring to the cases where muslims are as minority as Hindus. Then why is that only muslims turn radical?

    "Maybe India and China went down because of similar things too...cos we were prohibitive of arts and sciences"

    India's downfall began after muslim invasion from Mohammed Ghazini. During the 11-14th centuries Hindu religion forced itself to change it's practices due to the muslim oppression. Do you know why marriages in north india take place at mid night? The hindu girls could be abducted by muslim subjects without any fear of state.

    Have you heard of Sati system, child marriage before muslim invasion? The Sati system started during the wars against muslims to prevent the hindu girls being forced to harems of muslims.


    "Persian and the Arab countries were some of the richest civilizations once upon a time; and surprise they were Islamic then."

    Surprise...they were NOT islamic when the great civilizations flourished. Mesopotomia (modern Iraq and Iran), Egypt, Greece, Arabia, Persia all flourished BEFORE they became islamic! In fact, after islam spread among these countries, they lost their greatness. The reason as I said because islam considers any form of art, singing, dancing and science as haraam!

    "hindu riots in Gujarat"
    Gujarat riots are a completely different issue. It did not happen cause someone offended hindu sentiments. It happened because muslims "BURNT" a bogie full of people (S6 containing 72 people, including women and children). What about Kashmiri hindus made refugees in their own land? Did Kashmiri hindus take up arms?

    I am not aware of christianity based hate crimes. Can you give me some incidents?

    "Such an easy way to negate the muslim contribution to our own freedom struggle
    "

    When a caliph in Arabia was dethroned, muslims in India started violent protests and taking lives of innocents. Leaders such as gandhi supported them. This led to large scale looting/burning of hindus in India. This is called Khilafat movement. That does not look too nationalistic to me!

    Moreover, I stand by what I said. For a muslim, his religion takes precedence over others! You can choose not to believe it but then it's your call!

    "again differentiate terrorism and religion."

    Beauty of islamic jihad is that it is a combination of both. Religion mixed with fanaticism. Deadly combination!

    "Many Sikhs have been murdered in the US, for being mistaken for muslims."

    I don't dispute this. Very true.

    "nti-muslim hate crimes"

    Clearly you did not get my point. I was referring to the terror acts....not hate crimes. Terror acts such as suicide bombings, blowing up buildings, malls and people etc.

    "And yes, people do become violent if they're impoverished cos they're oppressed."

    What a justification. Can you tell me if muslims in US are high class achievers, how on earth they are oppressed? And are muslims in Europe "oppressed"? See, the community has to make efforts to get into main stream. If they want to bury themselves in madarasas instead of joining main stream schools how can one help them?

    "Don't tell me there have been no riots in India irrespective of religion. There was even a Sikh-Hindu riot (no muslim involved) in Delhi once."

    You don't know what you are talking about. Hindus and Sikhs have never fought on the basis of religion fanaticism. The riots you are talking about are the ones that followed the death of Indira Gandhi. And the recent findings have clearly established that it was the handiwork of congress croonies (Tytler has been implicated in the case).

    " Kill all the christians for the numerous atrocities they've done through the centuries"

    Against whom? And they have gotten what they gave, The people rose against them (remember renaissance?). You are justifying the actions of muslims by bringing the old issues, Shall we also kill all muslims for their atrocities against hindus? Let the Buddhists kill muslims for destroying their Bamiyan statues. Problem with muslims is that they suffer from self-imposed victim hood mentality. They want to always find excuses to carry out terror acts against innocents!

    "If you wanna fight, fight the white people and christians first. Then fight Islam.
    "

    Wrong. I will fight muslims first (for hindus they are the offenders) and then think about christians. For christians may be muslims are the target. But this is nothing new between them. If so, then why should christians give any concession to muslims when in the past they have had their ass kicked by muslims?

    "And frankly if you think this is the best way to go about things, cool; I have nothing to say."

    You are clearly muistaken. I have been trying to tell that the best way for muslims to get themselves out of the stereotypical projections is to launch a massive drive against terrorists who committ all their acts in the name of islam.

    How many "moderate" muslims have you seen condemning the terrorists without attaching some form of justification (usually it is the US, Israel, muslims being oppressed type arguments) for the acts. I have not seen one. If you want the majority to believe in you, start building bridges. It is your fucked up community that is killing innocent people in the name of your religion. So, you set your house in order. Then expect the majority to support you!

    You can't be both terrorists and oppressed at the same time!

    "uhmm, so if you plan to integrate and create a diverse atmosphere you do not do it by showing them stark contrasts from the mainstream"

    Who is planning on "integrating" them? If they can't handle the things they are always free to skip the country. As I said, if I come to your home and start demanding ridiculous changes from you, I should be kicked out. It is my responsibility to try and understand your culture. Moreover, don't tell me muslims are offended by nudity! Do you know why a muslim man is never asked to shave off his beard but to shave his moustache off? (I will not give the answer to this .. .find it out.. It's worth it).

    "Well given the fucked-up US foreign policies and the oil drive, I would pretty much agree. only I'd replace 'majority community' by white supremacists and capitalists, and policies of the US government."

    So, it comes to this. It's all the US fault. You could have saved me some time by just pointing out your "great finding". Tell me, isn't this the same line used by radical muslims all the time to support their terrorist brothers (and now even sisters...look at Pakistan's mosques..getting filled with women suicide bombers!).

     
  • At 1:57 AM , Blogger Vatsav said...

    Clearly this post on islamophobia was meant for people like you :-)

     
  • At 1:59 AM , Blogger Vatsav said...

    I have nothing to say for anything that you've commented, basically because most of your politics is flawed.

    And neither of us have studied the religion of Islam to be able to comment on Jihad well enough.

     
  • At 6:54 PM , Blogger pradeepkumar said...

    "I have nothing to say for anything that you've commented, basically because most of your politics is flawed. "

    Just a couple of questions and your rationality ran out of fuel? Instead of calling my politics is flawed (and not offering ANY supporting statements) why don't you pinpoint what is wrong with my politics? Or, did you expect everyone to just say Yes for whatever you wrote?

    "And neither of us have studied the religion of Islam to be able to comment on Jihad well enough."

    Agreed that I am not at all an expert in islam but I'd like to point out that I have read Koran (translated of course) and I have a muslim friend with whom I discuss these issues and I must admit there is a lot of ambiguity in what Koran says. But at least I try!

    Look, you don't realize the gravity of situation of the islamic terrorism. It is easy to throw in words like, "US Imperialism, Oil Mafia, Colonialism, Oppression" and make statement against US and "West"... It is considered "cool". But except saying that my politics are flawed, you don't offer any support for your arguments.

    At the heart of all these is not the islamophobia, but the self-imposed imaginary victim hood of muslims which make them feel alienated from the main stream. There has to be a inner movement from the learned muslims who have to call a spade a spade and start debating how islam has been hijacked by the radical jihadists and what they can do to stop the trend.

    Just go through this link which records a number of terrorist incidents in India.... the pattern is similar elsewhere!

    http://offstumped.nationalinterest.in/?s=islamic+terrorism

     
  • At 9:17 PM , Blogger Vatsav said...

    Well to start with,
    1.your idea of culture and Western philosophy is very monolithic and homogenous.
    2. you clearly do not have a background on the formation of the Middle East, the growth of international terrorism, and the role of the US and intervention in the Middle East (that itself would take me a lot to explain)
    3. This very article is about differentiating terrorism, and religion; and I have substantiated well enough how terrorism did not infiltrate in along with the muslims into the west in the article. I've talked about how internal and external security policies are different, and how lack of both can lead to terrorism.
    4. If you read my article well enough, you'd have seen how there's massive marginilization (if you know what the term means) of not just muslims, but south asians and arabs; on the basis of anti-islamic rule.
    5. Your idea of "defending" international terrorism is pretty fucked up. I really don't want to go into it.
    6. I'm not sure if you understand the meaning of imperialism, and how it's capitalizing on resources of its ex-colonies, how the dynamics of the oil-race works, how radical islam is hence propagated due to the presence of external factors in the Middle East.
    7. I've even quoted statistics for you about the number of muslims who were arrested who were actually muslim in some of the European States. And how they're a minority and how there's so many other forms of terrorism.
    8. Besides, you simply don't have any idea how there's various factors at work here, radical islam, class, marginilization, mainstream prejudice, lack of security, etc.

    I'm ready to talk to you after you read about all of these and then we can discuss.

     
  • At 9:19 PM , Blogger Vatsav said...

    7th point should read
    number of terrorists who were arrested who were actually muslim

     
  • At 9:22 PM , Blogger Vatsav said...

    And just to let you know, these ideas in the article were not my own (as you can see the reference); they've come from a sociology study from Harvard in collaboration with some European sociologists, activists and left politicians.

    The theories have been well substantiated, and I've quoted most of the examples and date that they have used in the study to make it clear that these are not off their head.

    If you want to attack anything, quote reliable data, and evidence.

     
  • At 10:50 PM , Blogger EP/ UK said...

    I beg to disagree.

    There is no reason to assume, a priori that Islam (note, not followers of Islam, but Islam itself) ought to be treated on an equal footing with other religions/belief systems.

    Looking forward to a critique of the "culture", policies and anyotherreligionotherthanislam-o-phobia in Islamic countries. Nations can do what they want. That being the case, the west has been extremely tolerant and open thus far. End of.

     
  • At 1:33 AM , Blogger Vatsav said...

    I never said I endorsed the anyotherreligion-ophobia in Islamic countries.

    This article is not about Islamic countries.
    And I did not want Islam to be treated as any other religion.
    That's not what I've written.


    And no, the West has not be very tolerant either.

    I wish you knew about how the Middle East was formed, how radical islam evolved and how they've come to terrorize the entire world, and of course the dynamics of the big oil race.

     

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