This discussion covered some differences between American and Europe. It basically went along the lines I thought: American Muslims tend to be better integrated and more prosperous than European Muslims. This can drive radicalism. One difference a questioner pointed out is that Americans might think more of integration in a more pluralistic sense while Europeans may think of it more in a complete assimilation sense.
That said, this can't entirely be credited to the American model, as Matt Yglesias (not finding the post) has noted the Mexican-American population is more comparable to the Muslim European population in terms of often being brought in on menial labor. For perhaps a better analogy, one questioner, Michael Werz from Georgetown, made an between second generation radicalization in Europe to African Americans and Islam in 1968 with the Nation of Islam and such. Where the issue was really one of civil rights and affirmative action and not interfaith dialog. Similarly, the bombers in the UK were from secular families and while radicalized in Europe had little association with local mosques.
Enough context. Here's some interesting raw data from Ceri Peach, the specifics are often hard to get as governments often don't track religion or even ethnicity. The Muslim population is about 21 million with a third being 'old Muslim' groups that date back to the Ottoman Empire. The other 14 million are more tied in to the guest worker phenomenon. The Muslim population is also younger than Europeans in general. Not surprisingly, the population is also heterogeneous: by size there's the most Turks (mostly in Germany), secondly North Africans (mostly into France), finally South Asians into the U.K.
After the break, more from Ceri Peach and some highlights from the other speakers:
Dr. Peach went on to say that the situation for Muslims were particularly bad in the U.K., largely untrained labor, less educated, and half the national rate of female labor participation, and highly intermarried with 55% of Pakistani Muslims in the UK marrying firs cousins (which seems way high to me; p. 23 of the report). That said, there's exceptions in other Muslim ethnic groups and the idea of a takeover is crazy talk the Muslim population in the U.K. is only 2.7% of the population at 1.6 million. While it is growing rapidly it is only likely to get to 4 million by 2050 and so even if the overall population of the U.K. stays at 58 million or shrinks a bit we're still talking well less than 10% of the population.
Paul Barnett was a speaker I've read before that covered the fact that in America the situation is reversed with a fairly integrated population that on the whole is better educated and more wealthy than the average American. Worth noting: the average American Muslim is not Arabic (South Asians are the most common) and the average American Arab isn't Muslim (they're Christian). [Find the Pew foundation survey for stats]. That said, there are small more radical pockets which are primarily driven by American foreign policy who often feel that any criticism of Israel will get them branded as antisemites
Julianne Smith: America: Europe you need to integrate; Europe: America, you need to stop warmongering. However, Europeans aren't asleep at the wheel. Multi-ring approach:
- Inner ring, hard core radicals- Law enforcements.
- Middle ring, reduce recruitment- How do you cope with radical Imans. There's a range of responses including addressing recruiting in prison. Efforts in France to de-license radical television networks. Internet, not much you can do about probably.
- Outer ring, integration- Muslim Councils, teach the pillars of Islam; affirmative action; changes to citizenship test; strengthening of anti-discrimination laws.
Ozcan Mutlu, a German Member of Parliament. There's debates on head scarves, forced marriages, honor killings. However, Germany managed to avoid violent protests or vandalism against Danish cartoons. That peace might be a result of the Turkish population and status of Turkey. Also, integration isn't a one way street. Perhaps offering teaching on Islam rather than leaving a gap that groups like Muslim Brotherhood is filling through mosque building. Both positive and negative steps, restrictions on new immigration but also conference to openly discuss issues.
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