Posted on 19-4-2004

European Muslims Ask to Be Seen Differently
by Julio Godoy, oneworld.net

PARIS, Apr 15 (IPS) - Several leaders among the 12 million Muslims in
Europe are asking for new policies and attitudes of acceptance.

The attacks in Madrid last month apparently by Moroccan and other Arab
terrorists have confirmed the need to integrate Muslims into European
society in order to overcome the challenge posed by radical Islam,
analysts say. But many intellectuals accept that Muslims too must adopt
more secular ways. "To overcome the challenge represented by political
Islam, we Europeans -- Christians, atheists and Muslims alike -- must
encourage a new secularism among immigrants," Leila Sebbar, a French
writer of Algerian origin told IPS.

Sebbar says European societies have misunderstood or ignored real Islam,
and that many young immigrants suffer social rejection and discrimination.
"To face these problems we have to launch a broad campaign of education to
teach immigrants their rights and the values of democracy." Sebbar,
co-author of a pledge for a modern Islam in Europe published February, has
been campaigning for years against "political Islam" which she sees at the
root of terrorism. "Muslims in Europe can cherish their religion, and at
the same time be against terrorism, misogyny and anti-semitism," she says.
"These three characteristics make political Islam."

Despite the different policies towards immigrants all over Europe, leading
Muslim intellectuals are urging European authorities to give immigrants a
stronger feeling of acceptance and recognition in society.

The largest Muslim community in Europe is in France, home to some five
million immigrants from Arab and other Muslim regions. Germany too has a
strong Muslim minority of some 2.5 million people, mostly Turks.

Cem Ozdemir, a former deputy at the Bundestag, the German parliament, says
what that can be like. "I was born in Germany, I have been a people's
representative at the Bundestag, I am absolutely fluent in German, and
yet, in the eyes of most Germans, I am only nominally German," he told
IPS. "For the overwhelming majority of Germans, I am still a Turk," he
said. "This vision cannot help integration. Without policies of positive
discrimination in favour of Muslim immigrants, their integration wouldn't
advance one step."

Muslim immigrants in Europe often feel rejected, says Cumhur Gür, a
Turkish publicist and author in Sweden. "To get recognition, they look for
cultural refuge among other immigrants from their countries, leading to a
revival of their native cultural rituals," he says. "That's why some
Turkish folklore dances are better practised in Stockholm and Berlin than
in the far-away Anatolian mountains."

To counter this identification with the native country and improve
integration in the new society, European authorities must pursue policies
encouraging employment and education of immigrants, Gür says.

Immigrant intellectuals in Europe say media, especially television, must
increasingly recruit immigrants to convey the idea that they are a part of
society. "Integration passes necessarily through media, especially
television," says Prem Radhakishun, a Surinam-born lawyer and television
anchorman in Holland. "The visibility of immigrants in public spheres,
such as media, politics, and the arts helps mentalities to evolve, both
among immigrants and the society at large," Radhakishun added.

At the same time Muslim leaders are urging their communities to reject
violence. Ahmad Jaballa, imam at the Courneuve mosque on the outskirts of
Paris is reputed to be a radical Muslim, but at prayers every Friday he
repeats passages from the Koran forbidding murder. "The Koran verses 32
and 68 forbid killing people," Jaballa tells his congregation regularly.
"Real Muslims must know that the Koran forbids violence against other
people on religious grounds."

European political leaders have begun to urge governments and institutions
to support Muslim immigrants moving towards modernity. "Fanatics are
trying to impose upon us the war between religions and civilisations, but
we Western democracies should find new ways of dealing with the crisis,"
says Miguel Angel Moratinos, designated Spanish minister for foreign
relations in the recently elected leftist government. "We must use all
means within our legal systems to fight back terrorism, but at the same
time respond to the needs and desires of the Muslim world within and
outside Europe, to help it to reach modernity and progress," Moratinos
says.

The so-called clash of civilisations is only a slogan designed to justify
neo-colonial wars, he said in a statement. "We're not facing a war of
civilisations or religions, but a conflict of hegemony and interests."

Hans Blix, the Swedish diplomat who led the United Nations weapons
inspections in Iraq, and who opposed the U.S.-led war against the regime
of Saddam Hussein, also rejects ideas of an anachronistic, violence-prone
Islam searching to destroy Western society. "Most Muslims are people like
you and me, only looking for ways to earn an honest living," Blix told the
French newspaper Libération.

Other experts say most Muslims are already secular. Bruno Etienne,
professor of religion at the University of Aix-en-Provence, and author of
several books on Islam in Europe points out that less than 20 percent of
Muslim immigrants in France go to a mosque regularly. "Well over 90
percent of Muslims in Europe are well integrated, and identify with
Western society," Etienne told IPS. That explains the proliferation of
secular Muslim associations, he says.

The major risk lies in the influence exerted by Saudi Arabia over certain
imams in Europe, he says. "Saudi Arabia nourishes anti-semitism and
radicalism among some religious leaders in Europe, by circulating radical
literature during the pilgrimage to Mecca," Etienne says. "And yet some
Western countries still see Saudi Arabia as an ally."