| They inhabit self-imposed ghettoes, subject | | | | Muslim Council.Both Vladimir Putin, Russia's |
| to derision and worse, the perennial targets | | | | president and Yuri Luzhkov, Moscow's mayor, |
| of far-right thugs and populist politicians | | | | now take the trouble to greet the capital's |
| of all persuasions. They are mostly confined | | | | one million Muslims on the occasion of their |
| to menial jobs. They are accused of spreading | | | | Feast of Sacrifice. They also actively |
| crime, terrorism and disease, of being | | | | solicit the votes of the nationalist and |
| backward and violent, of refusing to fit | | | | elitist Muslims of the industrialized Volga - |
| in.Their religion, atavistic and rigid, | | | | mainly the Tatars, Bashkirs and Chuvash. Even |
| insists on ritual slaughter and male | | | | the impoverished, much-detested and powerless |
| circumcision. They rarely mingle socially or | | | | Muslims of the northern Caucasus - Chechens, |
| inter-marry. Most of them - though born in | | | | Circassians and Dagestanis - have benefited |
| European countries - are not allowed to vote. | | | | from this newfound awareness of their |
| Brown-skinned and with a marked foreign | | | | electoral power.Though divided by their |
| accent, they are subject to police profiling | | | | common creed - Shiites vs. Sunnites vs. |
| and harassment and all manner of racial | | | | Wahabbites and so on - the Muslims of Europe |
| discrimination.They are the new Jews of | | | | are united in supporting the Palestinian |
| Europe - its Muslim minorities.Muslims - | | | | cause and in opposing the Iraq war. This - |
| especially Arab youths from North Africa - | | | | and post-colonial guilt feelings, especially |
| are, indeed, disproportionately represented | | | | manifest in France and Britain - go a long |
| in crime, including hate crime, mainly | | | | way toward explaining Germany's re-discovered |
| against the Jews. Exclusively Muslim al-Qaida | | | | pacifistic spine and France's anti-Israeli |
| cells have been discovered in many West | | | | (not to say anti-Semitic) tilt.Moreover, the |
| European countries. But this can be safely | | | | Muslims have been playing an important |
| attributed to ubiquitous and trenchant | | | | economic role in the continent since the |
| long-term unemployment and to stunted upward | | | | early 1960s. Europe's postwar miracle was |
| mobility, both social and economic due | | | | founded on these cheap, plentiful and |
| largely to latent or expressed | | | | oft-replenished Gastarbeiter - "guest |
| racism.Moreover, the stereotype is wrong. The | | | | workers". Objective studies have consistently |
| incidence of higher education and skills is | | | | shown that immigrants contribute more to |
| greater among Muslim immigrants than in the | | | | their host economies - as consumers, |
| general population - a phenomenon known as | | | | investors and workers - than they ever claw |
| "brain drain". Europe attracts the best and | | | | back in social services and public goods. |
| the brightest - students, scholars, | | | | This is especially true in Europe, where an |
| scientists, engineers and intellectuals - | | | | ageing population of early retirees has been |
| away from their destitute, politically | | | | relying on the uninterrupted flow of pension |
| dysfunctional and backward homelands.The | | | | contributions by younger laborers, many of |
| Economist surveys the landscape of friction | | | | them immigrants.Business has been paying |
| and withdrawal:"Indifference to Islam has | | | | attention to this emerging market. British |
| turned first to disdain, then to suspicion | | | | financial intermediaries - such as the West |
| and more recently to hostility ... (due to | | | | Bromwich Building Society - have recently |
| images of) petro-powered sheikhs, Palestinian | | | | introduced "Islamic" (interest-free) |
| terrorists, Iranian ayatollahs, mass | | | | mortgages. According to market research firm, |
| immigration and then the attacks of September | | | | Datamonitor, gross advances in the UK alone |
| 11th, executed if not planned by | | | | could reach $7 billion in 2006 - up from $60 |
| western-based Muslims and succored by an | | | | million today. The Bank of England is in the |
| odious regime in Afghanistan ... Muslims tend | | | | throes of preparing regulations to |
| to come from poor, rural areas; most are | | | | accommodate the pent-up demand.Yet, their |
| ill-educated, many are brown. They often | | | | very integration, however hesitant and |
| encounter xenophobia and discrimination, | | | | gradual, renders the Muslims in Europe |
| sometimes made worse by racist politicians. | | | | vulnerable to the kind of treatment the old |
| They speak the language of the wider society | | | | continent meted out to its Jews before the |
| either poorly or not at all, so they find it | | | | holocaust. Growing Muslim presence in |
| hard to get jobs. Their children struggle at | | | | stagnating job markets within recessionary |
| school. They huddle in poor districts, often | | | | economies inevitably generated a backlash, |
| in state-supplied housing ... They tend to | | | | often cloaked in terms of Samuel Huntington's |
| withdraw into their own world, (forming a) | | | | 1993 essay in Foreign Affairs, "Clash of |
| self-sufficient, self-contained | | | | Civilizations".Even tolerant Italy was |
| community."This self-imposed segregation has | | | | affected. Last year, the Bologna archbishop, |
| multiple dimensions. Clannish behavior | | | | Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, cast Islam as |
| persists for decades. Marriages are still | | | | incompatible with Italian culture. The |
| arranged - reluctant brides and grooms are | | | | country's prime minister suggested, in a |
| imported from the motherland to wed | | | | visit to Berlin two years ago, that Islam is |
| immigrants from the same region or village. | | | | an inherently inferior civilization.Oriana |
| The "parallel society", in the words of a | | | | Fallaci, a prominent journalist, published |
| British government report following the | | | | last year an inane and foul-mouthed diatribe |
| Oldham riots two years ago, extends to | | | | titled "The Rage and the Pride" in which she |
| cultural habits, religious practices and | | | | accused Muslims of "breeding like rats", |
| social norms.Assimilation and integration has | | | | "shitting and pissing" (sic!) everywhere and |
| many enemies.Remittances from abroad are an | | | | supporting Osama bin-Laden |
| important part of the gross national product | | | | indiscriminately.Young Muslims reacted - by |
| and budgetary revenues of countries such as | | | | further radicalizing and by refusing to |
| Bangladesh and Pakistan. Hence their frantic | | | | assimilate - to both escalating anti-Islamic |
| efforts to maintain the cohesive national and | | | | rhetoric in Europe and the "triumphs" of |
| cultural identity of the expats. DITIB is an | | | | Islam elsewhere, such as the revolution in |
| arm of the Turkish government's office for | | | | Iran in 1979. Tutored by preachers trained in |
| religious affairs. It discourages the | | | | the most militant Islamist climates in Saudi |
| assimilation or social integration of Turks | | | | Arabia, Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and Iran, |
| in Germany. Turkish businesses - newspapers, | | | | praying in mosques financed by shady Islamic |
| satellite TV, foods, clothing, travel agents, | | | | charities - these youngsters are amenable to |
| publishers - thrive on ghettoization.There is | | | | recruiters from every fanatical grouping.The |
| a tacit confluence of interests between | | | | United Kingdom suffered some of the worst |
| national governments, exporters and Islamic | | | | race riots in half a century in the past two |
| organizations. All three want Turks in | | | | years. France is terrorized by an |
| Germany to remain as Turkish as possible. The | | | | unprecedented crime wave emanating from the |
| more nostalgic and homebound the expatriate - | | | | banlieux - the decrepit, predominantly |
| the larger and more frequent his remittances, | | | | Muslim, housing estates in suburbia. |
| the higher his consumption of Turkish goods | | | | September 11 only accelerated the inevitable |
| and services and the more prone he is to | | | | conflict between an alienated minority and |
| resort to religion as a determinant of his | | | | hostile authorities throughout the continent. |
| besieged and fracturing identity.Muslim | | | | Recent changes in European - notably British |
| numbers are not negligible. Two European | | | | - legislation openly profile and target |
| countries have Muslim majorities - | | | | Muslims.This is a remarkable turnaround. |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania. Others - in | | | | Europe supported the Muslim Bosnian cause |
| both Old Europe and its post-communist east - | | | | against the Serbs, Islamic Chechnya against |
| harbor sizable and growing Islamic | | | | Russia, the Palestinians against the Israelis |
| minorities. Waves of immigration and birth | | | | and Muslim Albanian insurgents against both |
| rates three times as high as the indigenous | | | | Serbs and Macedonians. Nor was this |
| population increase their share of the | | | | consistent pro-Islamic orientation a |
| population in virtually every European polity | | | | novelty.Britain's Commission for Racial |
| - from Russia to Macedonia and from Bulgaria | | | | Equality which caters mainly to the needs of |
| to Britain. One in seven Russians is Muslim - | | | | Muslims, was formed 37 years ago. Its Foreign |
| over 20 million people.According to the | | | | Office has never wavered from its pro-Arab |
| March-April issue of Foreign Policy, the | | | | bias. Germany established a Central Council |
| non-Muslim part of Europe will shrink by 3.5 | | | | for Muslims. Both anti-Americanism and the |
| percent by 2015 while the Muslim populace | | | | more veteran anti-Israeli streak helped |
| will likely double. There are 3 million Turks | | | | sustain Europe's empathy with Muslim refugees |
| in Germany and another 12 million Muslims - | | | | and "freedom fighters" throughout the 1960s, |
| Algerians, Moroccans, Pakistanis, | | | | 70s and 80s.September 11 put paid to this |
| Bangladeshis, Egyptians, Senegalese, Malis, | | | | amity. The danger is that the brand of |
| or Tunisians - in the rest of the European | | | | "Euro-Islam" that has begun to emerge lately |
| Union.This is two and one half times the | | | | may be decimated by this pervasive and sudden |
| number of Muslims in the United States. Even | | | | mistrust. Time Magazine described this blend |
| assuming - wrongly - that all of them occupy | | | | as "the traditional Koran-based religion with |
| the lowest decile of income, their combined | | | | its prohibitions against alcohol and |
| annual purchasing power would amount to a | | | | interest-bearing loans now indelibly marked |
| whopping $150 billion. Furthermore, recent | | | | by the 'Western' values of tolerance, |
| retroactive changes to German law have | | | | democracy and civil liberties."Such |
| naturalized over a million immigrants and | | | | "enlightened" Muslims can serve as an |
| automatically granted its much-coveted | | | | invaluable bridge between Europe and Russia, |
| citizenship to the 160,000 Muslims born in | | | | the Middle East, Asia, including China and |
| Germany every year.Between 2-3 million | | | | other places with massive Muslim majorities |
| Muslims in France - half their number - are | | | | or minorities. As most world conflicts today |
| eligible to vote. Another million - one out | | | | involve Islamist militants, global peace and |
| of two - cast ballots in Britain. These | | | | a functioning "new order" critically depend |
| numbers count at the polls and are not offset | | | | on the goodwill and communication skills of |
| by the concerted efforts of a potent Jewish | | | | Muslims.Such a benign amalgam is the only |
| lobby - there are barely a million Jews in | | | | realistic hope for reconciliation. Europe is |
| Western Europe.Muslims are becoming a | | | | ageing and stagnating and can be |
| well-courted swing vote. They may have | | | | reinvigorated only by embracing youthful, |
| decided the last election in Germany, for | | | | dynamic, driven immigrants, most of whom are |
| instance. Recognizing their growing | | | | bound to be Muslim. Co-existence is possible |
| centrality, France established - though not | | | | and the clash of civilization not an |
| without vote-rigging - a French Council of | | | | inevitability unless Huntington's dystopic |
| the Islamic Faith, the equivalent of | | | | vision becomes the basic policy document of |
| Napoleon's Jewish Consistory. Two French | | | | the West. |
| cabinet members are Muslims. Britain has a | | | | |