The Conference "Europe and the Islamic World - there is more that unites us than divides us" opens on Tuesday, 14 April 2015 at the Sofitel Hotel in Brussels. Diplomats, Members of the European Parliament, officials from the European institutions and representatives of media and civil society will debate issues related to the current state of relations between Europe and the Islamic World, and prospects going forward. The conference is organised by LINKS (Dialogue, Analysis and research° and the Islamic Youth Forum for Dialogue and Co-operation (ICYF-DC) - the youth platform of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation. the event is held under the auspices of the United Nations Alliance for the Dialogue of Civilisations.
Ahead of the meeting Ambassador Elshad Iskandarov, an Azerbaijani diplomat who is currently also President of the ICYF-DC contributed this op-ed to commonspace.eu
The bloody terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo has brought the issue of Europe's relation with Islam - and its particular facet of "Euro-Islam" - to the fore both in Europe and worldwide. In fact, this issue is part of the greater paradigm of interaction between civilizations - the issue of Europe as the core of the West in opposition to Islamic civilizations, has been the focus of world attention since 9/11. The dominating European perspective has highlighted the rise of violent Islamism, and has always, implicitly or explicitly, concentrated on the question of if or when this "Islamic threat" would take over Europe. Paraphrasing Karl Marx, the last 15 years have been marked by the "specter of Islamism haunting Europe" and unfortunately, Europe's general public perception of Islam and its Muslim citizens is developing along a paradigm of fear that constitutes the basis of rising Islamophobia through three critical elements.
The paradigm of fear
The narrative behind Islamophobia firstly maintains that in a few decades the proponents of Islam will constitute the majority of the European population. An Ipsos-Mori poll in 2014 found that on average, French respondents thought 31 percent of their compatriots were Muslim, Germans' perception is 19 and Britons' is 20 percent.
Perceptions are not reality
Are these perceptions based on reality? The answer is "No", supported by the researches:
According to the Pew Research Center study, the Future of the Global Muslim Population, the number of Muslims in E.U. countries has risen from 4.1 percent to merely six percent from 1990 to 2010. In France and in U.K., for instance, the actual size of the Muslim population is four times less than that of public perception. In Germany, 5.8 percent - more than three times less. Even given the current demographic trend, in 2030 the total Muslim population of Europe is expected to be about eight percent of the continent's overall population.
The same trend is also true when it comes to the perception of the extent of Muslims' integration in European societies. For instance, 44 percent of French Muslims put their French identity first, followed by their ethnicity and only then their religious identity.
Finally, the most gruesome image of the Islamopobic paradigm is expressed by the phrase: "Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims." Contrary to this public perception, Europol - the European equivalent of Interpol - data reveals that in the last five years, less than two percent of all terrorist attacks in the E.U. were executed by so-called "Islamist terrorists."
Cui bono?
So, while the facts tell a different story, why is the paradigm of Euro-Islam being dominated by a canvas of phobias of Islam? There must exist a conscious manipulation behind the spreading of phobia about Islam and Muslims considering the statistical facts. This idea brings us to the ancient Romans would have put it," cui bono?" or for whose benefit? There is a simply noticeable connection between "the paradigm of fear" and the rise of far-right racist political forces in Europe.
The rise of Europe's "new far right" began long before the notorious Charlie Hebdo attacks, and gained momentum with 2008 economic crisis. While high unemployment across the continent is one force fueling this new far right advance, anti-immigrant anger and racist perceptions are another important drive. However, it was last year's European Parliament (EP) elections that demonstrated how far the fueling of Islamophobic sentiments can propel the political strength of the new far right which has become the prime beneficiary of phobias directed towards "Others" among whom the first victim is the Muslim minorities.
Is there light in the end of the tunnel?
The reaction to the tragedy at Charlie Hebdo has revealed nuances that have not received the analyses they deserve. While far-right radicals used the terrorist attack to bring forth a spiral of anti-Muslim sentiment, Europe's mainstream political forces intervened for the first time with messages of unity and a need to counter both radicalism and Islamophobia. The call by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who in 2010 declared the death of multiculturalism, for unity against "anti-Muslim forces" and her statement that "Islam belongs to Germany," came as particularly surprising and for the sake of the future of the mainstream.
As spokesman for Unite Against Fascism, Weyman Bennett identified the anti-Muslim approach as a danger to democracy: "The Nazis' anti-Semitic rhetoric struck a chord of deep cultural hatred for Jewish people. Nowadays it is Muslims and overt Islamophobia." Thus, Europe needs an across-the-board platform in order to fight prejudices and misconceptions, composed of politicians, academicians, representatives of civil societies and brave intellectuals like Luc Besson, who in the aftermath of the Paris attacks, expressed willingness to reach out and work together with France's marginalized Muslim community, all who are concerned with the future of Europe and the future of the hard-gained values of civil liberties, tolerance and mutual respect; and all those who uphold the true meaning of the great European Enlightenment thinker Volter's statement: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
The second element is that the majority of European Muslims do not accept the core European values such as democracy, human rights and religious tolerance. This view points out that even second and third generation Muslim immigrants despise principles such as women's emancipation and, given the opportunity, will impose their lifestyle on the rest of society.
The third facet holds that in pursuit of their ideological views, Muslims heavily rely on violent means. As one commentator summarized, "Though not all Muslims are terrorists, all terrorists are Muslims." These perceptions have combined to create a paradigm of collective fear based on an image of a "massive and immediate threat".
Elshad Iskandarov is President of the Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation, an international organization affiliated to the OIC. He started his professional carrier in the Ministry of Foreign of the Republic of Azerbaijan and continued as diplomat in the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the UN. Between 2012-14 he was member of the Azerbaijani Government responsible for the work with religious associations. He holds degree of MA in Political Sciences from the Columbia University, New York and has rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. He contributed this op-ed to commonspace.eu
