Quote: Reflections on the Revolution in Europe
When the Danish cartoons furore was at its height, newspapers the length and breadth of Europe upheld the right of free speech - yet the vast majority of them somehow neglected to reprint the offending sketches. The code insists, says Caldwell, that Islam must always be defined as a peaceful religion, yet ignores the way in which Muslim leaders in Europe lay down red lines that the non-Muslim majority is not supposed to cross. Once Muslim majorities emerge in certain towns and areas, Muslims will demand the right to live not only differently, but also separately, and Europe will lose control, Caldwell believes, of significant chunks of its territory. He ignores, in this worrying forecast, the diversity of Islam in Europe, and the often hidden ways in which Muslims in Europe are changing, as well as the strength of the secular European reaction if such developments threatened to become reality. One might reflect on the anxiety over black immigration a generation ago, and note how overdone it turned out to be.
-- Martin Woollacott of the Guardian, reviewing the book Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West by Christopher Caldwell.
When the Danish cartoons furore was at its height, newspapers the length and breadth of Europe upheld the right of free speech - yet the vast majority of them somehow neglected to reprint the offending sketches. The code insists, says Caldwell, that Islam must always be defined as a peaceful religion, yet ignores the way in which Muslim leaders in Europe lay down red lines that the non-Muslim majority is not supposed to cross. Once Muslim majorities emerge in certain towns and areas, Muslims will demand the right to live not only differently, but also separately, and Europe will lose control, Caldwell believes, of significant chunks of its territory. He ignores, in this worrying forecast, the diversity of Islam in Europe, and the often hidden ways in which Muslims in Europe are changing, as well as the strength of the secular European reaction if such developments threatened to become reality. One might reflect on the anxiety over black immigration a generation ago, and note how overdone it turned out to be.
-- Martin Woollacott of the Guardian, reviewing the book Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West by Christopher Caldwell.
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