[lit-ideas] Re: European civil war
- From: "Judith Evans" <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 18:43:30 +0100
>It's been suggested that Islamic immigrant populations in Europe are so
>resistant to assimilation
It depends what you mean by assimilation (sorry about that!), also of course
the populations are not homogeneous. That is, if by assimilation you mean
(e.g.) clothing, a) women who wear the full "only-eyes-showing" garb when
they leave their neighbourhood are not necessarily insular/unfriendly, b)
the "garb" varies all the way from the full robe to a coloured headscarf.
>>>
The cultural pressures Europeans face from their immigrant populations is
largely overlooked by the US press, which tends to see things like the
French ban
on head-coverings in schools as isolated phenomena rather than a policy
directed toward national assimilation.
>>>
French and British policy have always been very different, France has tended
more towards assimilationism (NB I'm not suggesting one is better than the
other). But also the school policy is a general secular policy that, for
historical reasons, bars any form of religious dress. The UK (e.g.) lacks
such a policy.
I don't know what happens in French hospitals; in ours, young women doctors
who are Muslim wear black headscarves tied back and -- in the summer heat --
open-toed clogs which they kick off to show (*gasp*) bare feet.
Otoh this country bans female genital mutilation and is looking for ways to
enforce that ban more strongly, and if people who believe in FGM don't like
that, *tough*. Also a Muslim priest is in gaol here for race hate speech
against Jews.
-- what cultural pressures? That's a serious question, Eric.
>Is the suggestion of growing conflict in Europe just some propaganda I have
>unwittingly stumbled upon,
there's a growing conflict, yes: our neo-Nazi party targets Muslims, and
Muslims have been beaten up (and one young Muslim woman was kidnapped and
rather nastily assaulted)
> or does it reflect a real concern among Europeans?
There may be a real concern among certain Europeans -- it simply isn't
apparent where I live, but OK, yes, there probably is (it's difficult to
tell because of the emphasis on "immigrants"); is their concern justified?
Concern about a terrorist attack certainly is -- but that doesn't affect
people much, honestly -- but that's a bit different. Having said that,
there is concern among Muslims as well as non-Muslims about a generation of
alienated young Muslim men (I add that of course it will only be a minority
of that generation)
Judy Evans
jaye@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Scribe1865@xxxxxxx
Sent: 30 March 2004 15:59
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] European civil war
It's been suggested that Islamic immigrant populations in Europe are so
resistant to assimilation that--in a decade or two--Europe may face the
prospect of
civil war or transformation into a Muslim power Bloc.
The cultural pressures Europeans face from their immigrant populations is
largely overlooked by the US press, which tends to see things like the
French ban
on head-coverings in schools as isolated phenomena rather than a policy
directed toward national assimilation.
Is the suggestion of growing conflict in Europe just some propaganda I have
unwittingly stumbled upon, or does it reflect a real concern among
Europeans?
Regards,
Mr. Consistency
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