4th Quarter

In chapter 9 of his book, Caldwell discusses the topic of tolerance and impunity. The chapter begins with the issue of the growing involvement of European Muslims in the politics of their host countries. European governments are increasingly having to answer to and gain approval from foreign religious leaders when they are making domestic policies. As I have mentioned in previous posts, the Muslim community in Europe remains very much connected and concerned with the issues faced by Muslims in the Middle East. The consequence of this is the ability of a growing Muslim population to shape the issues in European politics to benefit their countries of origin over their European hosts. Issues relating to Islam are dealt with through intimidation, not the normal political process. Considerable percentages of Muslims, 36% in Britain, believe that execution of is a fitting punishment for religious crimes like apostasy. Violence and threats of violence are common ways of dealing with politicians, writers and professors who contradict Islamic dogma. Caldwell lists the 4 stages of prohibition regarding treatment of Islam:

1.      “Muslims must respect Muslim law.

2.      Members of the Muslim “community,” even if they are nonbelievers or if their allegiances lie with the larger national culture, must respect Islamic law.

3.      Non-Muslims must respect Muslim law

4.      Non-Muslims must be above even the suspicion of not respecting Muslim law”

The aftermath of September 11^th was a moment that Europeans really began to become skeptical about the political attitudes of their new Muslim neighbors. Muslims held celebrations in some European neighborhoods and surveys found that the Muslims in Europe did not fully sympathize with the US after the attacks.

            The reemergence of anti-semitism in Europe is also directly linked to the growing Muslim population that supports political Islam.  Jews are victims of violent attacks in the streets and their property is vandalized by gangs. This use of violence is justified by Muslims claiming to be the “victims,” “Laboring under socioeconomic disadvantage in Europe as well as occupation in Palestine…. An increasing number of Muslims saw themselves, in fact, as the “new Jews.” Caldwell goes on to write “the ideology of diversity and racial harmony…. Now became the means through which anti-Jewish fury was reinjected into European life.” The Jews themselves were the new Nazis. This situation is made even more ironic when one considers that, as Caldwell puts it, “an immigration of the sort that brought Muslims in such numbers to Europe would have been unthinkable without the anguished moral self-examination the Holocaust brought in its wake.” Anti-Semitism has been advanced under the banner of anti-racism.