Bangkok--Nov 7--eTurboNews
Are we witnessing neo-Nazism a la Francaise born today? Could this have been one of the reasons all too often ignored or miscalculated by the French authorities until youths torched nearly 900 vehicles, stoned paramedics and burned a nursery school this week. In a series of riots and violence that spread from Paris suburbs to towns around France, police report a state of anarchy. Authorities arrested more than 250 people, unprecedented by far since the unrest began.
Mid-2004 a new business started to boom in Paris. Immigrant youth were finding a way to make a quick buck with brisk market in Europe. It was started in France by a group of young Arab and Muslim immigrants who were trying to ply their ware by playing on religious feelings. "Their aim was to call for a boycott of Western products. They were able create a market for their products by labeling them all Halal (a way of slaughtering animals as prescibed by Islamic law). They trade in everything, including meat, clothes, decorations, sweets and even the famous Palestinian scarf," said Mervat al Hatim. The French magazine VSD published a story in which it described the new business as "trade in the name of God" or "trade in the name of religion." Asharq al Awsat's Mamoun Al Fandi said, "Islam as a profession in the West now puts Muslims in danger. Some Arab immigrant groups are using Islam for trade and profit and not for faith."
Added the Rose al Yousef staffer al Hatim, "At the end of the report, VSD raised the question of whether the activities of the new merchants are a kind of religious, political missionary work or an opportunist trade that associates itself with religion to attract six million Muslim customers."
So did the jobless immigrants find themselves having nothing to live for, hence the pandemonium that broke in France? Or were the poor, jobless immigrant youth retaliating to the endless discrimination and mistreatment they get on the streets of Paris? Were they begging Kefaya (enough in
Arabic) a la Francaise?
Late last year an unprecedented wave of hate crimes spread throughout Europe particularly in France. Attacks targeting Arab and Muslim cemeteries came to light in a report written by Dalia Helal. "Attackers destroyed gravestones and drew swastikas on them and wrote message of hatred. Concerned authorities did not find a satisfactory explanation for this phenomenon but they mentioned that the perpetrators of these crimes belong to extremist right-wing groups," warned al Hatim.
Adding fuel to fire were France's very own think-tanks. French author and psychologist Patrick De Clarke wrote an article August 12, 2004 to the widely distributed French newspaper Le Monde. Al Sayed Weld Abah wrote that in De Clarke's aggressive and impudent article titled I hate Islam, he incited hatred toward Muslims and Arabs in France. "De Clarke wrote that Islam is a religion that leads to madness and insanity because it makes a harmful separation between the two sexes and oppresses women tragically. De Clarke also describes Islam as an ideological system based on holy war, consequently, the phenomenon of slaughters and beheadings stemming from the essence of Islam."
The Ashraq al Awsat reporter expounded De Clarke adopts the same approach that has been adopted by a number of western authors and media professionals for the last three years. "Among those authors are Oriana Fallaci who used the most offensive words to describe Islam and Muslims in her book Anger and Pride, and Michel Houellebecq who said that Islam is the most ridiculous religion. This is in addition to Jerry Falwell who regarded the Prophet as a terrorist and Franklin Graham, the religious advisor of President Bush, who described Islam as an evil religion," he added.
Abah cautioned the outlines of the hostile image of Islam in Western culture, which prevailed following the events of September 11, have three overlapping theoretical approaches. "The first approach is related to the relation between Islam on one hand and Christian and Jewish holy books on the other hand. In this approach, Islam is seen as "corrupted Judaism" or "corrupted Christianity". This selective, discriminatory approach implies an ideological shallowness because Islam, Christianity and Judaism are three monotheistic religions." The second approach has to do with the relation between Islam and modernism. From this approach, Islam is seen as a stagnant religion that is not open to change. The third perspective is related to the geopolitical relationship between the West and Islam. From this approach, Islam is seen as "the creeping green enemy" closed Abah.
So were the immigrants reacting in a way the jihadist would have executed his agenda?
Is the French government paying too little, or way too much attention to Muslim affairs within its territory?
Who is to tell what is being paid attention to or not -- when on the one hand, a simple hijab or veil issue is being debated on; while on the other, no one foresaw serious mayhem looming the French authorities could have prevented from happening? The ongoing debate on the hijab brought concerns to the Islamic organizations in France, on the forefront of which comes the Paris Grand Mosque. It urged Muslim students and their families to abide by local laws and the secularism of French public schools. A statement issued by these organizations urged female students to avoid all forms of clash.
Because, as per the Asharq al Awsat, the French Parliament passed a law prohibiting the wearing of any religious garb, including headscarf, in French public schools.
Yesterday's Paris clash took place with hundreds of young men fighting out of frustration and deep-seated anger.
Hijab? Could it because of it, plus other issues compounded? Were they giving their sisters a voice much louder?
The story gets even more complicated. Mamoun Fandi reported the sheikh of the Paris mosque was shocked when he found out some of his worshippers were actually intel agents who used to frequent the mosque. "Until one day, they revealed their identity and arrested some worshippers. September 11 has increased interest in the Islamic faith. Many white Westerners started to buy copies of the Qur'an. Swarms of Westerners have embraced Islam, but many of them are actually secret agents. This is the case in the mosques in England, Holland, Sweden and France. Westerners are the ones we thought converted to Islam leading us to believe that September 11 had a positive impact on Islam."
Added the Asharq al Awsat Fandi, "We have also witnessed an increase in the number of students learning Arabic and Islamic studies. Many of these students announce their conversion to Islam after only one semester of study. How could anyone convert to Islam after only three months of studying Arabic or Islam? The truth is they took Islam as a profession and not as faith. The fact that the imam of the Paris mosque was arrested illustrates the naivet. of these groups; these simple-minded people are out of their depths when dealing with a highly sophisticated governments." Fandi warned this was only the beginning of a long story of naeve people who do not distinguish between the call to Islam and terror.
At this point, Al Ahram al Arab's Ashraf al Ashur attested to Paris having secret dialogues with the Islamic groups to smoothen out rough edges.
"Attempts to hold dialogues with the Arab Islamic groups, not just merely to restrict relations with the Arab government have been in the pipeline according to France and the EU countries immediately after the end of the tragedy suffered by reporters kept as hostage for several months in Iraq.
However, Middle East administration officials in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated the dialogues would not negatively affect the French relations with Arab governments, explained al Ashur June 11.
That was five months ago. Times have changed indeed.
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