Perhaps alone in the coterie focused on the Islamist threat to Europe, I am cheerful these days. That’s because I see the anti-Islamist reaction growing even more quickly than the Islamist threat itself.
The stirring speech by British prime minister David Cameron on Feb. 5, in which he intelligently focused on what he called the “hands-off tolerance” of “Islamist extremism,” including its non-violent forms, exactly fits this pattern.
In similar fashion, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany last October deemed multiculturalism to have “utterly failed.” A referendum in Switzerland about minarets manifested the concerns of that country’s population and polling around the continent showed those sentiments to be widely shared.
The rise of respectable political parties primarily focused on the issues surrounding Islam — with Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands at the forefront — is perhaps the single most encouraging sign, compelling legacy parties like the British Conservatives to pay attention.
I differ with many specifics of these initiatives — Anthony Daniels rightly points out, for example, some of what Cameron neglected in his speech — but those are secondary. That, over time, individuals and organizations are finding their voice and are learning strategy and tactics to fend off Islamism gives Europe civilizational hope.
"A referendum in Switzerland about minarets manifested the concerns of that country’s population and polling around the continent showed those sentiments to be widely shared."
The EU was established for the specific purpose of curbing and controlling the "sentiments" of people in Europe, so those sentiments are no longer very important. The only sentiments which matter there now are those of the ruling class. And up till now at least, that ruling class has deliberately encouraged the spread of Islam in Europe.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHope springs eternal. I try to be optimistic, but I spend a lot of time in Europe (Nederland, Belgium, France, and Germany.)
The biggest problem seems to be that most common people don't think about it. You can get them to think about it if you bring it up, but it is not something that occurs to them in their normal, everyday life. They are so used to the PC way of doing things that it just seems normal.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe tide is turning.... finally! Thank God!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat is sad is the agenda game that abuses context. This is a perfect example here.
David Cameron and Merkel attack radical Islamists, as they are also attacked (and rightly do) in most Muslim countries. Yet the implication here, and certainly spelled out in comments here, is the targettng of Islam itself.
The spread of misinformation by certain westerners is on par with the attempts by radical Islamists in Europe to imply that they represent the global Muslim population. Islamists in Europe talk about global Jihads and building a Caliphate which in the coffee shops from Casablanca to Amman would be laughed at. At a similar level, some waste their time talking about the Eurabia Myth and dangers to Europe from Islam that frankly is as real as crop-circles.
The reality is that Pipes is confident because he in reality knows the truth of these myths and that the real and present danger is more to do with allowing these radical Islamists (who are dangerous) from being given credibility and respect when they deserve shunning, deportation and imprisonment in some cases.
He also knows, as anyone with a bit of math, that Islam will not become (like the original author of Eurabia bosted) the dominant religion of Europe by 2050. That birthrates and immigration levels do not equate to huge numbers. Birth rates of initial migrants often match those of their country of origin but the next generation almost always falls back to the level of the national average or in some cases, such as with Turks in Germany, the second and third generation have lower rates.
The entire issue is rather pathetic and I would not even mention it except that it detracts attention from the real issues of terrorism, the ugliness that radicalism in all forms produces and also that there are agenda groups in the west who uses racism and bigotry to further their own political agendas through targetting Islam and Muslims rather like Jews and Gypsies were a generation or two ago.
Sad.
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