Monday, April 26, 2004
Europe's Jihadi problem
Everyone knows Europe has a serious problem with balancing it's liberal values with the lunatic fringes of its large Muslim population. For example, how do you balance free speech with hate speech? Of course, every time something like the Iraq conflict happens or headscarves are banned in France, the nutters get more radicalised while some fence-sitters become nutters. There are of course those that argue that the nutters would be nutters irrespective of provocation since they are in fact dreaming of a pan-Islamic caliphate. The very existence of anyone who thinks otherwise would therefore be provocation enough. The New York Times has a pretty chilling story today on how bad the problem has become.
In this former industrial town north of London, a small group of young Britons whose parents emigrated from Pakistan after World War II have turned against their families' new home. They say they would like to see Prime Minister Tony Blair dead or deposed and an Islamic flag hanging outside No. 10 Downing Street.
They swear allegiance to Osama bin Laden and his goal of toppling Western democracies to establish an Islamic superstate under Shariah law, like Afghanistan under the Taliban. They call the Sept. 11 hijackers the "Magnificent 19" and regard the Madrid train bombings as a clever way to drive a wedge into Europe.
Despite tougher antiterrorism laws, the police, prosecutors and intelligence chiefs across Europe say they are struggling to contain the openly seditious speech of Islamic extremists, some of whom, they say, have been inciting young men to suicidal violence since the 1990's. One chapter in Sheik Omar's lectures these days is "The Psyche of Muslims for Suicide Bombing."
The authorities say that laws to protect religious expression and civil liberties have the result of limiting what they can do to stop hateful speech. In the case of foreigners, they say they are often left to seek deportation, a lengthy and uncertain process subject to legal appeals, when the suspect can keep inciting attacks.
Admittedly, the nutters are still confined to the fringes of mainstream Muslim society. But then it becomes incumbent upon the mainstream to control and tame the lunatic fringe, rather than have the government become heavy handed. Perhaps there is more to the internal battle within Islam that Tom Friedman keeps talking about than I was willing to believe.
In this former industrial town north of London, a small group of young Britons whose parents emigrated from Pakistan after World War II have turned against their families' new home. They say they would like to see Prime Minister Tony Blair dead or deposed and an Islamic flag hanging outside No. 10 Downing Street.
They swear allegiance to Osama bin Laden and his goal of toppling Western democracies to establish an Islamic superstate under Shariah law, like Afghanistan under the Taliban. They call the Sept. 11 hijackers the "Magnificent 19" and regard the Madrid train bombings as a clever way to drive a wedge into Europe.
Despite tougher antiterrorism laws, the police, prosecutors and intelligence chiefs across Europe say they are struggling to contain the openly seditious speech of Islamic extremists, some of whom, they say, have been inciting young men to suicidal violence since the 1990's. One chapter in Sheik Omar's lectures these days is "The Psyche of Muslims for Suicide Bombing."
The authorities say that laws to protect religious expression and civil liberties have the result of limiting what they can do to stop hateful speech. In the case of foreigners, they say they are often left to seek deportation, a lengthy and uncertain process subject to legal appeals, when the suspect can keep inciting attacks.
Admittedly, the nutters are still confined to the fringes of mainstream Muslim society. But then it becomes incumbent upon the mainstream to control and tame the lunatic fringe, rather than have the government become heavy handed. Perhaps there is more to the internal battle within Islam that Tom Friedman keeps talking about than I was willing to believe.
