Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

THE RISE OF ISLAMOPHOBIA IN EUROPE

Atman Zerkaoui | 23.06.2010 21:24 | Anti-racism | Migration | World

This article is about the rise of Islamophobia in Europe. It discusses the last November referendum in Switzerland that banned building a mosque with a minaret in that country.

It’s not that the Swiss and the French sound like the far right: the far right sounds like them

By Atman Zerkaoui
Traduction : Karen Wirsig/Decolonial traduction group
WEBSITE:  http://www.indigenes-republique.fr/
EMAIL:  redaction@indigenes-republique.fr

The result of the Swiss referendum held 29 November 2009 means that building a mosque with a minaret is now banned in that country. Switzerland is apparently shocked and even surprised by the vote.

Switzerland, the country that has already had several referenda to limit immigration, is surprised?

The Swiss Green Party has decided it will launch an appeal before the European Court of Human Rights since the European Union is apparently surprised as well.

The European Union, which has made itself into a murderous fortress against immigration, is surprised?

The European Union, which approved the “return” directive allowing states to imprison men, women, elderly people and children for up to 18 months without a ruling after refusing to grant them status, is surprised?

The European Union, which claims to be Christian in order to refuse membership to a Muslim country, is surprised?

The European Union, which claims to be concerned about the rise of islamophobia in Europe even while – in the name of human rights – it defends the French law excluding girls who wear a hijab from school, is surprised?

People in France are also apparently shocked. And surprised. How could it happen? France is concerned about the rise of “anti-muslim racism.”

France, where the word islamophobia must not be spoken, is concerned?

France, where a law is being drafted to prevent women who wear the niqab from leaving their homes, is concerned?

France, where Muslims who wear the hijab are prevented from going to school, is concerned?

France, which wants to build mosques certified – controlled – by the state like in the good old days of French Algeria, is concerned?

France, which elects a president who vows an unprecedented attack on social programs and – to compensate – a ban on the slitting of lambs’ throats, is concerned?

France, which takes twenty years to begin building a mosque in Strasbourg, is concerned?

Switzerland is concerned? Europe is concerned? France is concerned?

No. They are all reaping what they have sown.

The parties on the right and the left have explained that “communalism” is dangerous, so as to say, indirectly, that Arabs, Blacks and Muslims are dangerous and need to be watched closely. After all this and the Swiss vote, the French National Front is proposing a referendum on “communalism” so that the people finally have a chance to say “get lost you crooks, niggers and terrorists” echoing what the media and the politicians have long insinuated when they go on about communalism, troubled neighbourhoods, problems with immigration, illegal aliens, incompatibility with the Republic, diversity, religious fanaticism, terrorism, insecurity, etc…. In trying to cover their racism with platitudes, they’ve opened the floodgates. It’s not the Swiss or the French that are talking like the National Front; it’s the National Front that’s talking like them.

Bravo and thanks to the Republic.

For years, we have denounced the islamophobia that has been encouraged and applauded so proudly. We have pointed out its effects and its growth. Together with attacks on their liberty, Muslims suffer hateful stares that turn into insults, that turn into assaults, that have turned into murders. And when the first deaths are acknowledged, France will be surprised. Just like the butcher who discovers that in slaughtering the chicken he has killed it.

There are no doubt some who are aware, or are becoming aware, of this. To those, I say the time has come to act. The moment for simple demands and hand-wringing has passed. It didn’t work and has never worked. Such monstrous people and institutions won’t be nice just because you ask them nicely. Those who say you have to trust French institutions and parties are lying, whether they know it or not. We can’t align ourselves with those who want us to lose, we have to fight them. Our enemy is active and organized in the political sphere and that’s where we have to fight them. It’s time to create a party that will stop them in their tracks and force them to back down.

Atman Zerkaoui is a member of the Mouvement des Indigènes de la République (which, since the French version was published, has become the Parti des Indigènes de la République).

Atman Zerkaoui
- e-mail: redaction@indigenes-republique.fr
- Homepage: http://www.indigenes-republique.fr/

Comments

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech