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Anti-Islam bigotry swells across Europe
29/ 1/2007
IT reads like a report from the German Nazi era's persecution of the Jews.
Except it is not the 1930s and not the Jews.
A Euro report on discrimination against Muslims and Islamaphobia records anti- Muslim incidents in France.
The outrages continue day after day, week after week, year after year.
Here is an extract:
16.03.2004 Bastia, punitive raid by 15 high school pupils against north African pupils from another school; 16.03.2004, Clichy, desecration of six Muslim tombs; 24.03.2004, desecration of three Muslim tombs; 29.03.2004, Attempted arson against a place of worship; 29.03.2004, Oberhaus, damage to a Muslim funeral parlour; 31.03.2004, Creil, attempted arson against a mosque.
The list appears in the report just published for the European Parliament by the European Monitoring Centre for Racism and Xenophobia.
The swelling hatred against Muslims is not confined to France. The report reveals that in Spain, for example, over the past year positive opinions of Muslims held by people have declined from 46 to 29 per cent. Respondents in Germany also have a majority negative view. Things are better in Britain, but even here opinion is on the slide towards Islamaphobia with good attitudes about the Muslim community slumping from 72 to 63 per cent.
Stereotypical attitudes predominate.
The report says: "In Germany, two opinion polls published by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in late 2004 asked respondents what they associate with "Islam": The most common concepts were "suppression of women" (93 per cent) and "terror" (83 per cent); only six per cent of the respondents described the Islamic faith as "likeable"
"In the United Kingdom, research by York University in April 2005 found 43 per cent of youths in regional towns and cities becoming more Islamophobic. Ten per cent of 13-24 year olds supported the BNP and nearly a quarter opposed Muslim women wearing the head scarf. A Mori poll for the BBC conducted on 8-9 August this year showed that 32 percent thought that multiculturalism "threatens the British way of life"."
The report finds that Muslims are the victims of a double whammy. Apart from these psychological attitudes that do lead to hatred, the social and economic position of Muslims, many of whom were born and bred in the UK and Europe, encourages isolation and feelings of alienation, especially among the young.
Throughout Europe the report finds that Muslims suffer the highest rates of unemployment of any other ethnic group, the worst housing conditions, with many still corralled into poor ghettos, and have the least educational opportunities.
It reports on several tests investigating employment discrimination, often involving job application citing the same experience and qualifications, the only difference being a Muslim sounding or western name on top of the application. These revealed that a Muslim has up to a 50 times worse chance of getting an interview than a white applicant.
These are basic, grinding facts about the mountain Muslim's have to climb to get near to the land of equality.
They put the Jack Straw-style bleating about the veil firmly in the camp of irrelevant trivia.
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I am a single white english woman living on my own,I have had to move from my home in Nelson Lancashire because of RACE ATTACKS from asian youths, my home has been attacked along wih my car but the worst is..... I WAS ASSUALTED FIVE 5 TIMES by asian youths aged from 13-25. What report it to the police....haha dont make me laugh ...I did,as if they are going to get involved, they dare not because they will then be acused of racism. I have worked with asian people and know you are not all bad but the minority are going to spark a civil war of hatred this contry has never known. When that happens may all our Gods hellp us.
23/02/2007 at 17:03