Comments on EUMC report

The European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) recently put out a report "Muslims in the European Union: Discrimination and Islamophobia". The report is divided into 3 parts - a general overview, a list of anti-Islam acts across the EU and recommendations from the EUMC.

First the good points: The report stresses quite often that there is a lack of statistical data. That is indeed very true and I do hope that the various EU countries would start collecting such data. The report also has a good overview of the Muslim veil/headscarf debate across the EU. I shall try to add on from it to my own summary in the near future.

The report, of course, talks about the connection between anti-Islamic acts and terrorism. However, though it mentions such 'events' as the September 11th terrorist attacks, the report does not come out and say things clearly. An alien from outer space reading this report would have a hard time understanding the connection in sentences such as these: "Muslims feel that since 9/11 they have been put under a general suspicion of terrorism".

Another interesting point: The report brings the 2005 Pew Survey saying that the majority state that "Muslims want to remain distinct" and that "they have an increasing sense of Islamic identity". This is brought as an example of anti-Islamic sentiments. But the report also mentions that "Muslims feel that acceptance by society is increasingly premised on 'assimilation' and the assumption that they should lose their Muslim identity." In other words, the majority in the 2005 Pew Survey just have a good perception.

I do see a difference between torching a mosque and asking a Muslim to show ID when boarding a bus. One is criminal behavior based on hate, the other is rational behavior based on the will to survive. While all of those are lumped under one heading it will be hard to deal with the real hate crimes. It is a shame, since those hate crimes are usually performed by extremist right-wing organizations for whom Muslims are just sometimes the easiest target.

The report also talks about the fact that Muslims do not have a hierarchical structure - and therefore have trouble forming umbrella organizations. I have read this in previous studies about Islam. This usually comes with a statement saying that Islam is discriminated in Europe since Europeans expect religion to be what they know and they do not take other religious organizations into account. This might come as a surprise to some, but Judaism doesn't have a hierarchical structure either. That did not prevent them from forming organizations and adapting to the countries in which they live.

What I found most interesting in this report was their outlook on the Mohammad cartoon debate, as I suppose it is representative. According to the report the time line went something like this:

- Danish imam tour of the middle east
- Norwegian magazine reprint cartoons
- Diplomatic protests
- Danish prime minister apologizes / Jyllands-Posten apologizes
- Other European newspapers republish images
- (as a result of reprints:) Violent protests

When I read this, I was sure they had it wrong. After all, the Danes did not apologize just because of diplomatic protests. And the violent were directed specifically at the Danes and Norwegians.. not really at every EU country that reprinted the articles.

Doing a bit of back reading, I discovered the time line went as follows:

- Danish imam tour of the middle east
- Norwegian magazine reprint cartoons
- Diplomatic protests
- Boycott against Denmark
- Danish prime minister apologizes / Jyllands-Posten apologizes
- Other European newspapers republish images
- Violent protests

Were the violent protests a result of the reprinting by other European newspapers, or a result of the Danes breaking down after the boycott announcement? I suppose it all comes down to your outlook.

See also: EU: Islamophobia Report