An anthropology of Muslims in Europe - A modest attempt by Martijn
***UPDATED***
According to Dutch politician Geert Wilders it is 4 minutes to twelve when it comes to the ‘threat of islamization’ in Europe. Geert Wilders spoke at a conference organized by the Danish Free Speech Society (agenda) which was held in the Danish Parliament. As usual a controversial speech in which he does not really care about the facts and calls for sending away Muslims who are engaged in transgressive acts or thoughts.
The Mosque in Morgantown has several interesting articles on the topic Feminism and Islam which includes women led prayer, interpreting the Quran, women’s rights, pluralism, social change, female authority, and so on.
Saba Mahmood is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California Berkeley and the author of Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. In her lecture she challenges the consensus that the Danish cartoon controversy is best understood as a clash between the values of free speech and blasphemy. Her analysis has implications for how Muslim and non-Muslim Europeans want to think about their collective future in European societies.
The representation of religion in the public sphere can bring about major debates and conflicts. In the Netherlands, the limits of free speech and Dutch tolerance are to be tested in a court case after judges ruled that a right-wing MP Geert Wilders who compared the Koran to Mein Kampf and last year released the film Fitna, should be put on trial for inciting hatred and discrimination in his speeches. Similar issues can be found in other cases such as the “Muhammad Cartoons in 2005/2006. The Dutch Association for the Study of the Middle East and Islam (MOI) invites you to attend a lecture that will address the issues of freedom speech, self-censorship and the representation of religion: “Cartoons, minorities, freedom of speech and self-censorship in Denmark” by Jørgen S. Nielsen.
The Youtube video Muslim Demographics is a hit all over the Internet. It is informed by several well-known narratives about the Islamic threat. In this article an evaluation of the most important ‘facts’ of this video. Notwithstanding the conclusion that the facts are disorted, the images in the video provide people with access to the abstract notion of the Islamic threat and in some cases (as with Fitna the movie) it creates and organizes the relationship between a particular authority and parts of his constituency. In that case, the real facts do not matter, what matters is making the fact of the Islamic threat real and concrete. ***UPDATED 15 MAY 2005***
Deze toegenomen zichtbaarheid van moslimorganisaties in het publieke domein roept zo zijn eigen dynamiek op als het gaat over de plaats van religie in de samenleving. Het debat daarover wordt gevoerd en zowel islamitische als christelijke (migranten-)groepen spelen daar zo hun eigen rol in. Daarover gaat het symposium dat op 15 mei wordt gehouden aan de VU in Amsterdam. De posities die worden ingenomen zijn niet altijd vanzelfsprekend, zeer divers, en vallen niet zo netjes binnen de scheiding religieus-seculier.
Queensday is in many cases a celebration not only for native Dutch people but also for migrants and in particular the younger generations. This time it has led to a new initiative called the Louka. A group of students will hand out more than 5,000 orange headscarves on 30 April to promote tolerance in the Netherlands in a ‘playful’ way. The orange headscarves will, according to the students, allow Muslim women to express their loyalty to their faith as well as to the queen. I’m afraid such an initiative, no matter how well intended it is, will contribute to the opposite.
Moest Wilders bij Fitna I nog zijn toevlucht nemen tot de Firma List & Bedrog om door middel van verdraaiingen, misvertalingen, halve waarheden en hele leugens het idee van islamisering aannemelijk te maken, inmiddels zijn er diverse sites die proberen om lijsten van islamisering samen te stellen.
De vraag of er daadwerkelijk islamisering van Nederland optreedt is een interessante vraag maar gezien de diversiteit aan issues en de verschillende definities nauwelijks te onderzoeken. Wel interessant is het om te weten met welke voorbeelden mensen komen en waarom zij dat voorbeelden van islamisering vinden en wat volgens hen dan de mogelijke consequenties zijn. Ik zal de lijstjes met veel belangstelling op die manier volgen hier en u mag natuurlijk altijd zelf uw voorbeelden van islamisering of vertogen daarover insturen hieronder via de comments.
Tariq Ramadan and newly appointed army chaplain Ali Eddaoudi have been the topic of controversy due to statements they did (or did not) made in the past. Ramadan has been exonerated by an investigation of the city of Rotterdam and both men receive, besides much criticism, also (online) support by websites dedicated to their cause.
Even if Ramadan made all those controversial statements, why wouldn’t he be the right man for a dialogue? In fact it appears now that the frequent attacks on him are more dangerous for his position as a person for dialogue than his statements. In particular because he is not only under attack from Dutch secularists and anti-islamists but also from radical groups who oppose his cooperation with Dutch authorities and his statements about homosexuality and his call for a moratorium on corporate punishment. According to these critics Ramadan sells himself to the Dutch authorities which inevitable means that he will have to adjust (in their view dilute) the Islamic message. Their interpretation seems to be correct due to this controversy.
