The worst problem facing the continent

[Tigermike 3,039]

The Islamophobia Circus Comes to Town

The European Union has identified the worst problem facing the continent—“Islamophobia:”

Europe's Muslims face rising 'Islamophobia,' new EU report warns

The Associated Press

Monday, December 18, 2006

VIENNA, Austria

A German Muslim says his neighbors suspect he is making weapons inside his mosque. An Austrian believer complains that some dog owners set their pets on her when they pass her on the sidewalk.

Such acts of "Islamophobia" are on the rise across Europe, where many Muslims are menaced and misunderstood — some on a daily basis — the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia warned Monday in a new report.

The Vienna-based center, which tracks ethnic and religious bias across the 25-nation EU, said Muslims routinely suffer acts ranging from physical attacks to discrimination in the job and housing markets.

It called on leaders to strengthen policies on integration, and on Muslims to "engage more actively in public life" to counter negative perceptions driven by terrorism or violence, such as this year's backlash to cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

"The key word is 'respect,'" said Beate Winkler, the group's director. "People need to feel respected and included. We need to highlight the common ground that we have."

Since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, many of Europe's nearly 13 million Muslims feel "they have been put under a general suspicion of terrorism," Winkler said.

The 117-page report reinforces the growing urgency of tackling religious tensions in Europe.

In Turkey earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI appealed for greater understanding between Christianity and Islam and sought to ease Muslim outrage over his remarks in September that cited a medieval emperor speaking about violence and Muhammad's teachings.

Last week, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called tolerance one of the "essential values" of his nation and denounced "hatemongers, whatever their race, religion or creed."

Although the center conceded it is hampered by spotty data that makes Islamophobic acts "underreported and underrecorded," it listed hundreds of cases of violence or threats against Muslims in the EU since 2004.

The incidents include vandalism against mosques and Islamic centers, abuse against women wearing Islamic head scarves, and attacks, such as one by a gang carrying baseball bats emblazoned with swastikas and racist slogans that targeted a Somali family in Denmark.

Muslims spared violence are all too often "disproportionately represented" in unemployment statistics, and many lag well behind the European mainstream in education and housing conditions, the report says.

It cites a 2004 study by the University of Paris, which replied to 258 job advertisements for a sales position and concluded an applicant with a North African background was five times less likely to get a positive reply.

"Many European Muslims, particularly young people, face barriers to their social advancement. This could give rise to a feeling of hopelessness and social exclusion," said the report, adding that many Muslims feel pressured to lose their Islamic identity.

The monitoring center called on EU nations to improve "equal access to employment" for Muslim jobseekers, revise school policies and textbooks to offer more balanced perspectives on Western culture, and require "discussion of racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia."

In accompanying interviews with 58 Muslims from 10 EU nations, many respondents bitterly complained of feeling like second-class citizens because of perceptions that the Islamic community is intolerant of Western values and supports terrorist groups such as al-Qaida.

"Many Germans feel you are producing weapons in the mosques," it quoted an unidentified Muslim in Germany as saying.

Another, a Muslim woman living in Austria, told the center: "We face Islamophobia in daily life: small incidents, small things ... Somebody walks his dog and says, 'Fass!'" — German for "Attack!"

Yet even a crisis can provide opportunities to improve relations, the center said, highlighting how authorities and clerics in Britain worked together to ease tensions after the July 2005 bombings of London's transit system triggered a 500 percent jump in Islamophobic incidents.

"Integration is a two-way street," said Anastasia Crickley, who chairs the group's board. "There is no room for complacency."

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/18/...ope_Muslims.php

Yet, oddly enough, Jews are attacked four times as much as Muslims. This problem apparently pales in comparison to the unjust suspicion Muslims have suffered after the September 11 attacks, the Madrid train bombings, the London bombings, the Bali bombings, the murders in the Netherlands, the murders of hundreds of children in Beslan, the violent demonstrations against cartoons ... well, you get the idea.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

Wait until they start getting their necks cut off. Well, can't really say that would even wake them from their stupor. Knowing Europe as I do, they'll surrender to the mujahadeen without firing a shot.

[AURaptor 1,125]

That's funny. I plan to up my Islamophobia for my new years resolution.

[CCTAU 3,333]

Here we are an open nation allowing these basically evil religions to exist. And if you try to preach Christianity in one of their nations, you can get your head cut off. I think its time we outlawed Islam until all Islamic countries open up to other religions.

[Bottomfeeder 244]

War Corporatism is the worst thing facing the world today.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12017.htm

[Tigermike 3,039]

War Corporatism is the worst thing facing the world today.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12017.htm

Yeah, it's always a bad thing to want to protect yourself isn't it? Especially if it's the US, but all those "freedom fighters" are a different story aren't they?

[rexbo 104]

War Corporatism is the worst thing facing the world today.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12017.htm

Bottomfeeder would have us close down the Pentagon and everyone just buy strap-on-bombs, to fight back against the terrorists. Isn't that what the Second Amendment was intended for?

[Bottomfeeder 244]

Go sign up guys and girls. Bush needs a bigger army so enlist today.

Enough is Enough: Send Bush, Cheney and the Twins to the Front Lines. We Have a Sociopath Running Our Government: "Bush said Wednesday he is considering an increase in American forces and warned that next year will bring more painful U.S. losses."

"Why We Fight"

[Aubie16 1]

Here we are an open nation allowing these basically evil religions to exist. And if you try to preach Chritanity in one of their nations, you can get your head cut off. I think its time we outlawed Islam until all Islamic countries open up to other religions.

Um....no?

What happened to the basic principles of this country? That darn constitution keeps getting in th way.

[CCTAU 3,333]

Here we are an open nation allowing these basically evil religions to exist. And if you try to preach Chritanity in one of their nations, you can get your head cut off. I think its time we outlawed Islam until all Islamic countries open up to other religions.

Um....no?

What happened to the basic principles of this country? That darn constitution keeps getting in th way.

When they become more than you, there will be no constitutional guarantees.