Muslims as Victims of Security Dilemma in the West

Islam is the second largest religion after Christianity in the world, and Muslims are the fastest-growing ethnocultural minority communities in the Western world. However, Muslims, especially living in Western countries, have increasingly become the victim of a contemporary form of racism and xenophobia—that is Islamophobia. Survey reports conducted across Western nations have underlined the fact that a significant number of respondents are critical of the Muslim minority community and that this negative trend poses a challenge for these Muslim minorities’ ethnocultural freedom and equality. Today, mainstream Muslims in the West are victims of both Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-like terrorism and Islamophobics. Within this context, this study analyses the causal relationship between the West’s sense of insecurity and Islamophobia through the lens of the realist concept of security dilemma using a qualitative approach.     

Trying Islam: Muslims before the European Court of Human Rights

This paper examines the reasons why the European Court of Human Rights remains ineffective in protecting the freedom of religion, especially as this issue applies to Muslims. I discuss these reasons under four broad categories: religion-specific, non-Christian religion-specific, and Islam-specific. First, there are problems that adversely affect everyone's freedom of religion. Despite expansive rights for the freedom of religion and belief that are provided in the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Court has devised some methods that largely limit the scope of these rights. Second, these problems are much more salient in the Court's dealings with non-Christian religious traditions. Third, I claim that among these non-Christian relations, the Court's handling of cases involving Muslims is particularly problematic because of fears both about Islam and Muslim visibility and demands. Fourth, the Court's desire to promote the principle of secularism has allowed it to ignore government's “assertive secular” policies even when such policies conflicted with human rights of Muslim individuals.     

What They Really Want Is a Caliphate! British Salafi Reactions to the Arab Spring

This contribution discusses the lack of references to the success of Salafi parties in the Middle East after the Arab Spring, in Egypt especially, by groups who self-identify as Salafi outside the Middle East. In their interpretation of the uprisings known as the Arab Spring, British Salafis have emphasised that Arab Muslim populations in the Middle East want an Islamic Caliphate despite cries for liberal rights and democracy. The aim of this contribution is to provide a theoretical frame for analysing a type of European Salafism on the rise preoccupied with establishing “Sharia Zones” and controlling fellow Muslims’ observance of Islamic principles in British cities but with little interest in political developments in Muslim majority countries. Rather than working for political influence, the British so-called Salafis in al-Muhajiroun are preoccupied with defining a place of their own in their European context. Thus, the argument is that in order to understand current Salafi-inspired movements in the Middle East and Europe, it is necessary to analyse practice, rhetorical expressions and political context rather than how various groups self-identify.     

Muslims in Europe: Citizenship,Multiculturalism and Integration

This article provides an analysis of the concerns in relation to citizenship and multicultural reforms in Europe. It examines the implications for the social integration of Muslims, who seemingly face insurmountable constitutional hurdles notwithstanding liberal institutional attempts, in accommodating a religion that, judged by its global politicisation, may pose more a challenge to multicultural societies than to others. While shedding light on recent developments concerning a wide-ranging panorama of the socio-legal dynamics of integrating Muslim communities in Europe, the article provides an overview of the multicultural idea, focusing on how some European countries address multicultural claims swiftly while others lag behind, busy with more basic issues of immigrant assimilation and integration. It is argued that while attempts are being made to improve Muslim integration, the rising tide of Islamophobia (political and media-manufactured), anti-terrorism legislations and security policies serve to provide a multi-pronged attack on civil liberties and freedoms of Muslim groups. In the concluding section, there will be general remarks concerning the future of Muslims in Europe and the commendable and realisable aim of Muslims to construct an inclusive national identity and find partners who will, like them, be determined to approve what Western culture produces in terms of its positive contributions and resist its deleterious effects on the human, societal and environmental levels.     

The Muslim Question in Australia: Islamophobia and Muslim Alienation

Islamophobia has become a significant problem across the Western world. Australia is no exception. The emergence of far right groups and a political environment that allows anti-Islamic discourse has created an increasingly unwelcome environment for Muslims, even though multiculturalism has long been a fundamental marker of Australian daily life. The rise of Islamophobia has been damaging to Australia. This paper explores the rise of anti-Islamic sentiments in Australia and the increasing marginalization of Muslim youth, showing that Islamophobia not only breaks the bond between Muslim youth and Australian society, it also polarizes relations within Australian Muslim communities.     

Liberalism and Cultural Policy in Indonesia

The beginning of contemporary cultural policy in the West is tied to the emergence of liberalism and its formulation of the subjects of governance as free individuals. Culture was judged a field where the state could teach its subjects to exercise a ‘responsible and disciplined’ freedom without impinging on that freedom. In colonial contexts, indigenous subjects were judged incapable of exercising freedom responsibly and the state considered them to require a degree of state control thought inappropriate for Western subjects. In this paper, I explore how cultural policy in Indonesia has been influenced by engagement with these two applications of liberalism from the late colonial period until the present, against the background of a changing international climate and political events in Indonesia. I also address the post-Suharto period where, due to the absence of a strong political movement for reform to drive change and the decentralisation of a number of policy areas including culture, a variety of cultural policies reflecting a variety of engagements with these interpretations exist together. I demonstrate that understanding the complexity of the application of liberal methods of governance in a colonial and postcolonial context is central to appreciating the cultural policy of that location.     

多元文化主义视阈下的少数民族权利问题

历史地看,多元文化主义一开始就与少数民族争取平等权利的要求密切相关。当前关于多元文化主义与少数民族权利的研究有两个特点,一是并不严格区分多元文化主义的不同维度;二是往往把多元文化主义仅视为少数民族的权利理论,没有从多民族国家构建的角度理解多元文化主义的重要意义。本文认为,多元文化主义至少存在于事实、理论、意识形态、政策和价值理念五个维度,每个维度下的"少数民族权利"都呈现出不同的面相,具有不同的意义和效果。少数民族权利保护与多民族国家构建是同一个历史过程的两个方面。多元文化主义不仅仅是少数民族的权利理论,它也是多民族国家构建的重要理论支点。     

多元文化主义对族裔少数群体权利的理论建构

多元文化主义关注的核心焦点是族裔文化多样性和族裔少数群体权利保护的问题,它的发展过程就是对族裔少数群体权利保护的建构过程。贯穿多元文化主义建构族裔少数群体权利的逻辑始末的线索就是族裔少数群体的三重身份问题:差异公民身份是多元文化主义建构族裔少数群体权利的事实基础,公共公民身份是建构族裔少数群体权利的政治逻辑,而文化成员身份则是建构族裔少数群体权利的道德空间。族裔少数群体权利不仅保护了群体内的个人自由,而且还可以促进群体间的平等关系,它是对公民权利的有效补充。多元文化主义建构族裔少数群体权利具有突破性的积极价值,同时也存在潜在的结构性危险,它的发展需要进一步明确方向。     

Religiosity,Citizenship and Belonging: The Everyday Experiences of Young Australian Muslims

Abstract

Since 11 September 2001 Muslim Diasporas have emerged as objects of anxiety in Western societies. Underlying this (in)security-driven problematisation is the question of whether Muslims living in the West have the capacity to become fully active citizens while maintaining their religious beliefs, rituals and practices. This apprehension has prompted reactionary government programmes, particularly targeting young Muslims. Such responses fail to recognise the societal capacities that practising Muslims possess, including those informed by the ethical precepts of Islamic faith. This paper argues that it is timely to explore expressions of Islamic religiosity as they are grounded in everyday multicultural environments. The paper draws on survey data and interviews conducted with Muslims living in Melbourne, Australia. We take into consideration key variables of age and generation to highlight how young, practising Muslims enact citizenship through Islamic rituals and faith-based practices and traditions. The paper will draw from key findings to argue that these performances provide a foundation for exploring ways of ‘living’ together in a manner that privileges ethics central to Islamic faith traditions.     

论"族格"——试探民族平等与民族自治、民族自决的哲学基础

文章提出"族格"的概念,认为族格是自然赋予的,即天赋的每个民族无论大小强弱都具有平等的权利和尊严."人格"是"族格"的哲学基础,族格是人的群体的抽象人格,在多民族国家里,少数民族完整的"人格"的实现离不开"族格"的保障."族格"包括民族政治权利的平等和文化上的多元.文章以从自然法权推导出的族格理论揭示了民族平等、民族自治、民族自决理论等的哲学渊源,阐释了正确的民族理论和民族政策. "族格"理论对于正确认识和处理民族问题提供了新的视角,对于构建国家、民族之间和国家内部各民族之间的和谐关系具有一定的理论价值.     

Reconstructing the future: Du Bois,racial pedagogy and the post-civil rights era

This essay addresses the legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois, as both scholar and activist, at a time when the university's civic mission is imperiled by corporatisation and racial backlash, access to its resources are increasingly predicated on whiteness and wealth, and the greater public good is financially and spiritually starved with every advance of American empire abroad. Focusing on Black Reconstruction, it elaborates in particular on the pedagogical implications of Du Bois's reading of the post-Reconstruction era for progressives caught in the contradictions of the current post-Civil Rights era. Drawing on Du Bois's insistence that education (both formal and informal) is central to the functioning of a nonrepressive and inclusive polity, the essay reflects on the current crisis of black educational access to quality schooling at all levels, as well as the relentless attacks on more public sites of pedagogy, within the context of neoliberal social and economic policies as well as the racist backlash against the civil rights gains of the 1960s. It addresses the degree to which engaged dialogue about the history and politics of racialised exclusion in the US and globally in the university have been derailed by the dictates of a particularly limp version of liberal multiculturalism and its allegiance to the privatised discourses of identity and difference. In so doing, it explores the role that educators might play in linking rigorous scholarship and critical pedagogy to progressive struggles for securing the very conditions for racial justice and political democracy.     

Muslims in Harmony and Conflict in Plural Sri Lanka: A Historical Summary from a Religio-economic and Political Perspective

Islam and Muslims in Sri Lanka have a history of more than a millennium. During this long period their economic and religious experience had been one of fluctuating fortunes beginning with harmony and prosperity under Buddhist monarchs to repression and misery under Western colonialists. Economic freedom under native rulers, mercantilist restrictions under the Portuguese and Dutch and open economy under the British brought alternative episodes of economic affluence and depression to Muslims. After independence, however, under a democratic polity the community adopted a pragmatic approach to a new situation, which allowed Muslims and Islam to enjoy once again decades of peaceful coexistence and relative prosperity, until political and economic circumstances of the country changed dramatically to create an environment of anti-Muslim and anti-Islam phobia. What follows is a historical narration of these vicissitude retold from a religio-economic and political perspective.     

To be or not to be an Australian: Focus on Muslim youth

In 2001, 67% of Australians identified themselves as Christians and only 1.5% as Muslims, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Other Australians are Jews, Buddhists and Hindus – to name just a few of the religious minorities. Since 1975 until recently when the Anti-Discrimination Act was legislated, multiculturalism has been the official policy of the Federal Government. Yet in these terror-ridden times, the policy – however interpreted – has well and truly fallen into disfavour. This article discusses both the historical and contemporary dimensions of Muslim Australians’ national identity, focusing particularly on Muslim youth. It examines how one group of Australian-born Muslims exhibited their national identity during the Second World War and how the newly arrived Muslims feel about their identity during the ‘War on Terror’. The article is based on both primary and secondary sources – particularly on oral testimonies.     

Islamic Law,Secular Law,and Societal Norms: The Recognition of Islamic Legal Practices in the Netherlands and the Protection of Muslim Women’s Human Rights

This article examines the extent to which Islamic law is accommodated in the Netherlands, by analysing legislation, case law, and the political discourse in the field of Islamic divorce, and focuses on the tension and proposed balance between gender equality and freedom of religion. It finds that, as the priority lies with protecting Muslim women’s rights, Muslim law in the Netherlands remains in the unofficial sphere, potentially alienating Muslim communities. This article explores whether and how Dutch law could continue to ensure respect for gender equality while working towards greater respect for a minority group’s cultural and religious freedom. Two options are presented in this regard: more responsibilities for Civil and Criminal courts, or the establishment of Sharia Councils. Lessons are drawn from the United Kingdom’s experiences.     

论民族权利与国家整合

现代民族国家的兴起与发展,在人类社会引发了两大政治潮流:一是民族独立运动,即寻求自由、独立和平等的民族力图建立民族独立国家;二是国家整合运动,即民族国家力图以共同的国家认同为基础,有机整合国内各民族,从而建立一体化的民族国家共同体。于是,在全球范围内,民族与国家之间就出现极为复杂的政治关系。本文主要探讨在民族国家建设过程中,国家整合与保障国内少数民族权力之间的内在关系。     

穆斯林社会的非穆斯林少数族群——他们的贡献、地位、权利与义务

穆斯林社会中的非穆斯林主要包括犹太教徒、基督教徒、祆教徒、印度教徒和佛教徒等。他们尽管属于少数族群,但却是整个穆斯林社会的重要组成部分。历史上,他们为穆斯林社会的发展做出了不可磨灭的贡献,近现代以来穆斯林社会的非穆斯林与穆斯林也大多能够和睦相处。非穆斯林享有信仰自由和宗教独立、不受外敌侵略和内部黑暗势力的侵害、自由择业等方面的权利。同时,非穆斯林必须遵守伊斯兰教法,缴纳人丁税、土地税和商税。穆斯林与非穆斯林关系和睦的深层原因在于伊斯兰教的宽容性。     

Islamophobia in Western Europe: A Comparative,Multilevel Study

Abstract

This study examines the prejudice against the Muslim immigrants in Western countries. The literature explains anti-Muslim prejudice almost exclusively by individual-level factors. Alternately, this study conducts a comparative, multilevel analysis to include cross-level processes as well. The analysis covers 16 Western European countries, and the data come primarily from the fourth wave of the European Values Study in 2008. Results offer strong support for the relevance of the country-level factors to individual prejudice, while confirming the findings of the major individual-level perspectives. More specifically, the findings suggest that the individuals who live in countries with (1) an official religion or (2) a liberal citizenship regime are more likely to be tolerant toward Muslims. The study also offers some support for the contact hypothesis.     

Diversity,rights or privileges? Denunciation of multiculturalism, ‘political correctness’ and anti-racism of the ex-Commander of Scotland Yard Ali Dizaei

The widely disseminated court verdict on the former Scotland Yard commander, Ali Dizaei, as a violent bully and a liar at the end of his first trial in February 2010, brought about a noted denunciation of multiculturalism as ‘political correctness’. The jury's decision on the abuse of power by the Iranian-born officer was used by the denunciators to condemn the politics of rights that aligned multiple ethnic and racial identities as equal. The denunciation is looked at as a contingent mobilisation of the apolitical subject that is loitering on the boundary of politics calling for the ‘end of politics’ marked by the exclusion of the Other. At the same time the trial revealed that by advocating a policy designed to subsume particular ethnic and cultural belongings within a universal exercise of rights Dizaei had been able to resume his cultural differences as a source of privileges among his compatriots. Drawing on the incident as a result of which Dizaei had to stand trial and later a re-trial, using various sources, the paper examines the tension between the exercise of rights and privileges built into multiculturalism. The pertinence of the sources used to highlight the tension remains largely unaffected by the questioned reliability of the main witness of the prosecutor and the Appeal Court judges’ decision to order Dizaei's re-trial. The paper argues that multiculturalism sets in motion the incompatible agencies of the citizen, the member of a political community, and Man whose role is inscribed within civil society. Thus, the exercise of equal rights calls for dis-identification of the subject as a social and cultural agent. Such dis-identification, however, is displaced when the subject asserts his identity as Man, the bearer of unequal relations based on class, gender and race. In making provision both for the exercise of rights as well as the assertion of identity multiculturalism becomes instrumental in the subsumption of cultural differences within rights and the resumption of these differences in the articulation of privileges. The mediation of multiculturalism in the realization of rights and privileges accounts for the Iranian-born officer's oscillation between subsuming his cultural differences within British citizenship and resuming these differences in asserting his identity as an Iranian among the diasporic community. Using the notion of cultural diversity Dizaei was able to keep at arm's length the two spheres of rights and identity that allowed him to claim ‘not to be one of them’ thus oscillating between claiming the rights of a British citizen and the privileges of an Iranian magnate. The noted disruption in his power game that brought Dizaei to sit in the dock was the result of a failed attempt by the Iranian-born officer to contain the growing tension in his advocated multiculturalism arising from his simultaneous resort to rights and privilege.     

Iconizing “Muslim Terrorism” in a British Newspaper and Public Perception

By examining a news story and reader responses published in the Daily Mail Online (DMO), our study discursively argues that this daily newspaper promotes an Orientalist perception of Islam and Muslims. The religion and its adherents are both framed and perceived as a threat to British society and its “Western values”, thus reinforcing Islamophobia within society. This study also argues that the DMO espouses the perceived Orientalist threat posed by Islam through juxtaposition, exaggeration and manipulation of facts, through lexical choices and visual images that eventually establishes the perception of a cultural clash. In addition, by examining the readers’ responses toward the news story, this study demonstrates that the vast majority of respondents perceive Islam and Muslims as a threat to “the West”. Their comments, as triggered by the text, also contribute to the discourse of Islamophobia and the perceived Orientalist view of an Islamic threat.     

世纪震荡：阿拉伯世界政治动荡的原因和前景

当前阿拉伯世界政治动荡的主要原因包括——社会经济问题的长期存在;政治民主化进展迟缓;地区人口的年轻化;公民社会的发展;全球化时代阿拉伯国家社会经济问题的进一步凸显;相关国家外交上缺乏主动性;信息化时代的政治影响;西方国家长期以来对“民主、自由”的鼓吹;阿拉伯世界的整体性。当前阿拉伯民众抗议的开端是社会经济性的,但迅速向...