March 16, 2018
Inside Europe
Travel broadens one’s scope. Any time you do any travel, your scope will be broadened. So said Malcolm X after his transformational Hajj journey to Mecca in 1964.
Muslims venturing to the West seeking greener pastures had no idea they would be caught in the gathering storm of post-9/11 Islamophobia. This has been amply explored in the new book, “Journey into Europe,” written by noted anthropologist, Dr Akbar Ahmed of American University, that was launched first in the Embassy of Pakistan, Washington DC, where I was invited by the author to present remarks before roundtable discussants, including diplomats and representatives from the BBC, National Public Radio, Los Angeles Times, Guardian, and Brookings. The book is based on first-hand observations and interactions gleaned from travels across Europe of Akbar and his dedicated team.
My comments centered on those salient aspects that stood out.
Xenophobia, often associated with far-right white nationalist groups in Europe, is now being mainstreamed. 600 years ago, Ibn Khaldun –the father of sociology – said ordinary folks copy the ruling classes.
The provocative pattern of insults and humiliation on prominent display in Europe has widened the space for militant retaliatory rage. The latest step being Iceland’s foolish attempt to bar circumcision.
The second point posited was on mobilizing derogatory language. Cited was the WashingtonPost of February 27 – the book launch date – where its regular columnist, Richard Cohen, had this to say about Pakistan: “…just for lying it [Pakistan] deserves to be slapped…Pakistan has its challenges, but it’s a moral sewer.”
Exemption is another sticking point. How carefully and methodically Israel is exempted from nuclear-centric debates and discussions, leaving the takeaway message that nuclear proliferation is more about politics than about principles.
On Kashmir, too, there is a constant pivot to the 26/11 Bombay rampage, while meticulously excluding Modi’s murderous role as CM of Gujarat during the Muslim massacres of 2002. The widow Zakia Jafri is still seeking justice for the mob butchery of her parliamentarian husband, Ehsan Jafri. For 10 years, the US State Department barred Modi from entering the US. Why Pakistani policymakers didn’t visibly unveil the basis of this State Department exclusion is inexplicable. This omission helps India forge a one-sided false narrative about Kashmir, while shielding its own atrocities there.
Finally, I took on the issue of compliance. Muslim elites have been indoctrinated that, with submission, rewards will swiftly flow. Here, Turkey did virtually everything the West asked it to do but, having done so, it still couldn’t get its foot inside the doorway to the European Union. Now, its pro-Palestinian stance is drawing ire.
On page 431 of the book, Akbar quotes Jim Dowson, head of Britain First, saying the only way to deal with Muslims is “with a bigger stick. That’s it. There’s no other way.” Danda, in other words.
I told the round table book discussants that this is reminiscent of the ‘shock and awe’ tactics deployed to bowdlerize Baghdad in 2003. Weighed against the results, it didn’t work in Iraq and it isn’t working elsewhere in the Muslim world. My conclusion: being subjugated is not in the DNA of Muslims.
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