Monash European an EU Centre 2013
Summer School– Dr Natalie Doyle
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As in the United States and Australia,
discussion of the place of Islam in liberal
democratic societies has been conducted in the
shadow of fear, the fear of Jihadist terrorism
There is however a difference in the ways
“Anglo-saxon” countries like the USA and
Australia have approached Islamic terrorism
and the way European countries have done so
To a large extent, this difference explains how
European societies have responded to the
growth of Muslim migrant communities
Peter R. Neumann “The trouble with radicalization” International Affairs 89: 4
(2013) 873-893.
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The Anglo-saxon approach aims to deal with
behavioural radicalization, with acts of
terrorism and violence, rather than with
“cognitive radicalization” or extremist beliefs
The threshold for government intervention is
the individual’s intention to break the law, not
their political ideas or motivations
Freedom of speech and expression is
paramount: people’s political views as well as
lifestyles and religious practices must be
protected from government interference
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This approach originates in a historical tradition
characterized by a passionate belief in the freedom
of speech and a greater confidence in the
robustness of democracy
As a result, non-violent extremists are not
regarded as a political threat; the view is that all
societies should tolerate a degree of extremism
In practical terms, counter-radicalization has been
solely defined as counter-terrorism and has been
entrusted primarily to the police
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By contrast, the European approach seeks to
counter the radicalization of ideas
It rests on the assumption that extremist ideas
can lead to extremist violence
Extremists are thus seen as essentially
problematic and potentially dangerous
Extremism is a political threat: it question the
social order or in the German perspective, the
“constitutional order”
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The European approach is also conditioned
by history : the rise of extremist ideologies
in the 1930s which destabilized sociaty n
Spain, Italy and Germany
This experience entrenched the view that
“the intolerant cannot be tolerated” ( Karl
Popper The Open Society 1945)
The difference between the “Anglo-saxon”
and “ European” approaches is evident in
the way they deal with the influence of
Salafism
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Salafism: a militant
group of extremist
Sunnis who advocate a
return to the early Islam
of the Koran and
traditional “Sunna”
piety (Salafi= pious
ancestors)
Salafis believe
themselves to be the
only correct interpreters
of the Koran and
consider moderate
Muslims to be infidels
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Salafism is not the only type of
Muslim fundamentalism with a
political dimension that is
present in Europe
But over a decade it has gained
many supporters in Europe,
especially via France as a result
of links to Algeria where it was
repressed by the state in 1990s
Tariq Ramadan, Swiss
academic and writer,
professor at Oxford
University, son of Wafa AlBana, eldest daughter of
Hassan al Banna founder of
the Muslim Brotherhood
There is an activist political strand of
Salafism advocating the creation of an
Islamic state
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And especially a “Jihadist” one
linked to terrorist organizations
operating across the planet
http://nationalinterest.org/node/1792
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The 24 year old French terrorist
Mohamed Merah who killed three
soldiers, one school teacher and 3
students in a Jewish school in March
2012 was linked to a Salafi Jihadist
group, Forsane Alliza
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Salafis, however, is not a
homogenous movement
The majority of its currents,
are in fact pietist, focusing
on religious education
They promote an a-political
and non violent conception
of Islam
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The majority of Salafis in Europe today ( the
second and third generations) are politically
and socially conservative, advocating
acceptance of the authority of the state
They talk of the “Islamization” of Europe
through their proselitizing efforts but in a
utopian vein, over the very long term
In this respect, they function as a sect,
cultivating a distance from mainstream society
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For the past 10 years or so, in Europe, Salafism has
been gaining support among the young and
disenfranchised of Muslim culture
There have also been conversions amongst
“white” Europeans
This religious extremism has become perceived as
a threat by European states
Sami Amghar “Salafism and Radicalisation of Young European Muslims”
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/DigitalLibrary/Publications/Detail/?lng=en&id=45690
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The spotlight has been put
on the question of its
incompatibility with
European values:
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Secularism
Women’s rights
The “Islamization of
Europe” has been seized
by the xenophobic right
e.g. Geert Wilders in the
Netherlands and Marine
Le Pen in France
The Niqab or “ Burka” has
become a symbol of the threat
which Muslim religious
radicalization is perceived as
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Arguably, this has
triggered a logic of coradicalization, encouraging
“liberal measures” being
proposed to protect Dutch,
French , “European” values
etc.
This led in France to the
wearing in public of the
niqab being banned in
2011 and praying in the
street
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These measures were discussed with respect to the
need to protect the French understanding of secularism
as a legal definition of the strict separation of Church
and State known as laïcité introduced in 1905, later
referred to in the constitution
This law prohibited all references to religious beliefs in
state institutions but it also guaranteed the freedom of
worship and cannot easily be invoked to justify
banning the burka and street prayers
The activism of the French state has inspired similar
measures in other European countries
R. Gould “Alien Religiosity in Three Liberal European States” in Politics,
Reigion and Ideology, 14:2, 2013.
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The French state’s language of secularism has
been amplified by the extreme xenophobic
right with echoes even in Australia
See the pamphlet denouncing the threat of an
Islamization of Australia: “Australia is based
on the separation of Church and State”
There is in Australian history no equivalent to
the 1905 French law or to the USA’s
constitutional separation …