West must understand that Islamophobia is as dangerous as anti-Semitism
by
JOHN L. ESPOSITO*

However, this stunning Swiss vote (57 percent) approving a referendum to ban minarets, was really not all that surprising, considering the growing power of Islamophobia. In both Europe and America right-wing politicians, political commentators, media personalities and religious leaders continue to feed a growing suspicion of mainstream Muslims by fueling a fear that Islam, not just Muslim extremism, is a threat.

In the aftermath of the attacks in America and in Europe, the relevance and viability of multiculturalism as a policy in the US and Great Britain were challenged by those who charged that such an approach contributed to domestic terrorism: retarding Muslim assimilation and civic engagement, perpetuating foreign loyalties and providing a space for militant radicals. The process of integration, in which immigrant citizens and residents could retain their religious and ethnic differences, was rejected by many, in particular the far right in Europe, who demand total assimilation.

Modern-day prophets of doom have predicted that Europe will be overrun by Islam, transformed by the end of the century into “Eurabia.” The media, political leaders and commentators on the right warn of a “soft terrorism” plot to take over America and Europe. Bernard Lewis, a Middle East historian and an adviser to the Bush administration on its failed Iraq policy, received widespread coverage when he chided Europeans for losing their loyalties, self-confidence and respect for their own culture, charging that they have “surrendered” to Islam in a mood of “self-abasement,” “political correctness” and “multiculturalism.” Daniel Pipes, a columnist, political commentator and relentless Muslim critic who wrote the article “The Muslims are coming. The Muslims are coming,” also declared: “Western European societies are unprepared for the massive immigration of brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and maintaining different standards of hygiene… All immigrants bring exotic customs and attitudes, but Muslim customs are more troublesome than most.”

The rise of anti-immigrant far right political parties in recent European elections has emboldened many of its leaders to applaud the Swiss vote and encourage similar prohibitions. Geert Wilders, a leader of the anti-Muslim Party for Freedom in the Netherlands who has supported the mass deportation of Muslims, called for a vote to “stem the tide of Islamization” in the Netherlands.

The far right persistently refuses to face a 21st century reality: to acknowledge and accept the fact that many Muslims are integrated citizens and that Islam is now a European religion and, in fact, the second-largest religion in many European countries.

Fortunately, many Muslim and Christian leaders across the world, major European politicians and human rights experts have condemned the ban, and the Vatican has denounced it as an infringement on religious freedom.

However, the Swiss ban, like some other European countries’ policies, highlights a failure of Western liberalism and raises fundamental questions about religious discrimination and freedom of religion. While there are only four minarets in Switzerland, a country that is home to approximately 400,000 Muslims, supporters of the referendum mindlessly charge that the minaret is a political symbol of militant Islam. This makes about as much sense as saying that church steeples symbolize militant Christianity.

Where do we go from here? Western political and religious opinion-makers and the media will need to resolutely address the dangers of Islamophobia as aggressively as they do other forms of hate speech and hate crimes, ranging from racial discrimination to anti-Semitism. European Muslims will need to continue to speak out publicly, demanding their rights as European citizens and residents and also denouncing religious discrimination and violence as well as limits placed on constructing churches in the Muslim world.

Globalization and an increasingly multicultural and multi-religious West test the mettle of cherished democratic principles and values. Islamophobia, which is becoming a social cancer, must be recognized and be as unacceptable as anti-Semitism, a threat to the very fabric of our democratic pluralistic way of life. The continued threat and response to global terrorism coupled with the resurgence of xenophobia and cultural racism have contributed to threatening the fabric of liberal democracies in the West and their Muslim citizens in particular. The fine line between distinguishing between the faith of Islam and those who commit violence and terror in the name of Islam, between the majority of mainstream Muslims and the acts of a minority of Muslim extremists and terrorists must be maintained. Blurring these distinctions risks the adoption of foreign and domestic policies that promote a clash rather than a coexistence of cultures. They play into the hands of preachers of hate (Muslim and non-Muslim), religious and political leaders, and political commentators whose rhetoric incites and demonizes, alienates and marginalizes.