I am appalled by the current state of world affairs, and if you are a Westerner or a Muslim you should be too.

It is striking how ignorant the West is of the Muslim world, and the worst critics of it come from people who have never (or hardly) visited a Muslim country.

(Now I’m just going to copy and paste the last sentence and change two words around. Simple).

It is striking how ignorant the Muslim world is of the West, and the worst critics of it come from people who have never (or hardly) visited a Western country.

This is the first of several articles from the West, designed to explain the West and it’s attitude to Islam from an ordinary Westerner’s point of view.

(Health Warning : If you are a Western hate monger who sees nothing but evil in the in the East, or a Muslim hate monger who sees nothing but evil in the West, you will NOT like what follows).

————————————————————————

This is the world of world-wide internet, TV, radio, press, global travel, cultural exchange and global solutions, but, incredible as it may seem, there is just as much mutual defiance and hate and ignorance and hate as there was 500 years ago!!

Yep, it’s like living in the middle-ages. All over again.

The responsibility for this lies with western imperialists, religious terrorists, protestant purists and the global jihad against the West. These people all have something in common, which is their self-serving goals of world power and domination. These people are hijacking what should be mechanisms of peace and human (as opposed to ideological) federation, and they are using them towards their own ends. If they succeed, be they Western fascists or Islamofascists, the world will return to obscurantism.

But, not all Westerners are imperialists, and not all Muslims are terrorists...

Here is what’s happening in France, and how the French perceive Muslims.

Overview
France is a country of around sixty million inhabitants, roughly seven million of which are Muslims of Northern African origin (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia). The French have two terms to describe them. They are called “Arabs” by the French who don’t like them (they are French rascists) and they are called “Muslims” by those who either appreciate them or who have no animosity towards them. Yes, you read right. The word “Muslim”, here in France, has a positive connotation, and most people here have respect for Muslims. The Muslims here are majoritarily peaceful and they respect France.

There is however a small minority, (mostly younger Muslims) who are hostile to the West and the French (they are Muslim rascists). The Muslim population is, by and large, well accepted, although there is, like in any country, racism to be found in the areas of employment, housing, bars and nightclubs. Anti-Muslim jokes or humour are not appreciated at all, unless you happen to be a racist.

Fear of the Muslim world.
Since 9/11 attention has naturally been focused upon Islamic terrorism, and Muslims can be expected to be searched more often at airports and at borders. Anti-terrorist measures have been adopted here (see para violence and Terrorism). All this means that there is more talk about the Muslim world, the image of which has suffered here.

The French are ferocious opponents of all Muslim practices involving the unequal treatment of women, cultural limitations, public executions and honour killings. They are particularly, and unanimously, against the spread of Integrism. All of this though has in no way had a negative effect on French opinion of Muslims themselves, and the French in their majority have an enormous amount of sympathy for moderate Muslims and Muslim countries.

The Muslim faith in France
Relations between France and the Muslim faith have, despite world events, actually improved over the last ten years. This is witnessed by the state-sponsored (in the political sense) creation of “The Muslim Council”. This body is the link between the moderate Muslim community and French institutions and is uniquely composed of Muslims, who elect their representatives. It helps in the building of Mosques, of which there are more and more, although certainly not enough. It also dialogs with the government on such issues as incorporating Muslim practices into French law.

Successes include the creation of state-sponsored Muslim schools, in which the Muslim faith is taught, and the softening of certain employment conditions during Ramadan. Failures include the interdiction of Muslim women only swimming pools, the demand that Muslim women be examined only by Muslim women doctors in state-hospitals and the killing of animals at home. The Muslim Council also dialogues with other religious organisations (mainly Jewish and Catholic).

The Press
It is forbidden in France to publish or express material which incites hatred of, or violence towards, Muslims (or anyone else for that matter) or their faith. Criticism is, of course, permitted, although quite frankly there is not much of it. It is also forbidden to mention the religion, or even the names, of criminals (in order to avoid racial/religious identification) with the exception of cases of national interest or where publishing the religion of someone is relevant, as in terrorism cases. There are no hard and fast guidelines and there are polemics surrounding certain cases, but in general this works well. There are also, of course, a small number of right-wing press organisations who often find themselves in trouble with the law, but they are very much a minority.

On the sensitive subject of negative depictions of Allah, the press, and French people in general, do not accept this as being wrong. The satirisation of religions is considered as being synonymous with free speech, and this is not going to change. Almost all religions are targeted, and not just the Muslim faith. France will not accept that religious law, or religious practices, control what is, or is not, diffused by the press. It has to be said though that this kind of satire is rare. The proof? When it DOES happen, it becomes worldwide news. Satire does not however include the right to the incitation of hatred or violence.

Terrorism and Violence
There are almost no (with the exception of the fascists of the National Front) instances of violence towards Muslims perpetrated by the French. Violence in public does sometimes occur between bands of French teenagers and what they call “Arabs”. But this is based on the fact that they are of Maghrebin origin, not Muslim origin, and has more to do with immigration than anything else. On the other hand, violence towards, and the gang-raping of, Muslim women by Muslim men is on the rise, and this is unanimously condemned here. There has also been a rise in the murder of Muslim women by Muslim men in the form of “Honour Killing”. This has shocked public opinion. Examples include the burning alive of a young woman in a rubbish bin near Paris and the stoning to death of another young Muslim girl in Marseille.

The perpetrators went to prison for an incompressible life sentence. This was a move to satisfy French public opinion which, a couple of years ago, was beginning to turn against Muslim culture in general because of these events. This was a dangerous moment, but things seem to have calmed down recently. In fact the only religious violence in France is between young Muslims and Jews. It’s a regular occurence, but it does not involve the French of Western origin. Sometimes this leads to the degradation of synagogues and mosques and graveyards. The French are trying to stop this, and penalties are severe. It is widely seen however as an extention of the Intifada and traditional Jewish/Muslim animosity and is not considered to be of Franco/French origin. A more recent phenomena is the notable upsurge in violence perpetrated by bands of young Muslims at the end of Ramadan. The press does not talk about it much (maybe in the hope that it will die down).

Islamic terrorism is rare here, largely due to the efficiency of the French Intelligence Services, with the aid of infiltrators of arab origin. There have been allegations of mosques being bugged in order to listen to the sermons of the Imams. This is almost certainly true. Some Imams have been expelled from France, with their families, for incitation to violent combat against France and/or the West. The same goes for any foreigner, Muslim or not, caught advocating violence. Many terrorist attacks have been thwarted during the planning stage, and those involved are often young Muslims from the suburbs of big towns who have espoused the ideas of Jihad. The vast majority of Muslims have no sympathy for them.

In 1995 however, a group of muslim terrorists carried out a string of attacks in Paris and elsewhere, killing nine people and injuring dozens. One of the terrorists, an Algerian called Khaled Kelkal, had already professed his hatred of the West and this led to his downfall. He was well known to the police, and his habits were known. This led to him being located and killed by anti-terrorist police near Lyon. He was apparently surrounded and armed, and was shot while trying to give himself up with his hands in the air and his gun on the ground. This is a common policy in the West except for “valuable” suspects, and is designed to stop more terrorism to put pressure on governments to free prisoners. This event led to some rioting in predominantly Muslim suburbs, which, again, did nothing to harm French respect for Muslims in general. There have been no notable incidents since then.

French Foreign Policy
France is committed to the global war on terrorism. Its attitude is that the West should attack terrorism before it reaches Western countries. However there is no evidence that this policy is designed to combat Muslims because they are Muslims.

Conclusion
I have tried to relate a few facts as objectively as possible. There is no official anti-Muslim propaganda here in France, and almost no criticism of the Muslim faith in public debate. The French don’t care if you’re Muslim or not as long as you respect their (Western) way of life. On the other hand they see no justification for terrorist violence on religious or any other grounds, and they do not see eye-to-eye with certain Muslim practices, particularly those thought to be barbaric or cruel. They will not accept that these practices happen in France. All religions are welcome here, but the French do not like religion to be overtly expressed in public, whatever the faith.

I can give you two examples of this. I was talking to a French friend a while ago. She had been to the airport to pick up a friend on a flight from Algeria after Ramadan and, while the passengers were coming out into the airport, she was shocked to see several Algerian women pushing trolleys full of luggage whilst their husbands (I suppose) walked ostentatiously behind them. “This is degrading for women, they are being treated like slaves” she said “and it should be banned”. That’s a typical French reaction...

I saw a very poor-looking beggar last year. He was kneeling upright on the ground, in christian fashion, in the middle of the street, head bent forward, hands clasped together in an attitude of prayer, with a bowl in front of him. I had never seen anything like it, and he looked so poor and sad that I gave him some money and asked him if he was ok.

He was Albanian and he told me that hardly anyone gave him money, so I explained that the French probably didn’t appreciate his way of doing things and that maybe he should change his tactics. I saw him a few months later, opening the door to the Post Office for clients. We chatted a while and he told me that from the day he stopped praying for money, he got much more.....

This, ladies and gentlemen, is France. Be who you are, but be peaceful...

Next article in a while. The subject? Oh, either Britain, or Europe, or...the dreaded United States!!

Michael C