http://www.freep.com/news/nw/islam8_20040308.htmFrance – Manuel Valls, a leader of France’s Socialist Party, is an arch-liberal and a human rights activist. But not when he talks about Islam and the move to ban Muslim head scarves from public schools. “I came to understand that this law wasn’t about the head scarf — it was about funneling Islam toward being a more acceptable religion for France,” said Valls, mayor of Evry, a city north of Paris, and a deputy in the National Assembly. “There are good Muslims and bad Muslims. In France, we want good Muslims.” In Germany, Corrina Werwick-Hertneck also considers herself a liberal and a human rights advocate. But Werwick-Hertneck, a rising leader in the Liberal Party, favors banning the hijab — the Muslim head covering — among Germany’s teachers. “I’m a liberal,” she said. “I know my position has no ideological foundation. But it is my position. Preserving our Christian heritage is very important.” With immigration from Muslim countries rising throughout Europe, politicians across the continent are pushing for laws reining in the Muslim community. Often the legislation is being introduced by politicians who represent centrist and leftist parties that traditionally champion human rights. The movement has little opposition. When France’s 577-member National Assembly approved the head-scarf ban last month, only 36 legislators voted against it. The margin was just as one-sided when the Senate gave it final approval Wednesday, 276-20. Top French officials, including President Jacques Chirac, have said the ban will help preserve France’s secular national character. Even Germany’s Green Party, for 20 years the best line of defense for immigrant communities there, is backing a head-scarf ban. Muslims have become fair game for a number of European political factions. Feminists say the head scarf is a sign of the oppression of women. On the right, politicians say Muslims will tear apart the fabric of all that’s European. The movement worries human rights monitors. “It not only has legs, it has very strong legs,” said Julia Hall, counsel for Human Rights Watch for Europe. “The center is shifting to the right in Europe, and there is almost no one left willing to stand against this trend.” That’s especially alarming given history, they say. “We have seen this kind of thing before — policy against a single religion — in our history, and not so long ago,” said Barbara John, Germany’s recently retired commissioner for foreigners. “Many different people — from the left, from the right — are agreeing that we must draw a line somewhere regarding these Muslims. I would never say that this is the beginning of a new Holocaust. But this is how it starts.” World Jewish leaders and European Union officials also say anti-Semitism is increasing in Europe. At a conference in February sponsored by the EU, more than 30 speakers acknowledged that anti-Semitism is a serious problem that must be confronted by European governments. While numerous Jewish leaders say there is rising anti-Semitism and express concern about violence directed at Europe’s Jews, Muslim activists say violence against them is rising, too. And Muslims say that beyond threats of attacks by individuals, Muslims now face government-level restrictions. “Islam is under attack in Europe, and Islam is innocent,” said Merroun Khalil, the leader of the Evry mosque, among France’s largest. France’s decision to ban head scarves in public schools has drawn the most attention. Officials want the law in place by September. But other nations also are looking at laws that would curtail aspects of Islamic life: Germany, Belgium: Germany is considering a ban on teachers wearing head scarves. In Belgium, a similar proposal appears to have broad support. The Netherlands: Some 26,000 mostly Muslim asylum-seekers are being sent home to places such as Afghanistan and Iran. Denmark: A new law will keep religious missionaries out of the country, stopping Muslim clerics from serving a customary 4-year stints in Danish mosques. The laws in Europe often appear evenhanded. The bans on head-scarves are couched, for example, in legislation that also prohibits the wearing of Jewish skullcaps and large crosses. But politicians have openly said that Islam is the target. Denmark’s missionary ban affects all religions. But only Muslims, who make up 3 percent of the population, need the visiting missionaries as clerics. “In theory, these rules concern all clerics from all religions,” said Danish People’s Party spokesman Peter Skaarp, whose traditionally nationalist party backed the rules. “But in practice, they target Muslims.” As recently as the late 1990s, the National Front in France was proposing — and making headway with — anti-immigration legislation largely aimed at African Muslims, though that movement was subdued when an Algerian immigrant, Zinedine Zidane, led the French national soccer team to a World Cup championship in 1998. In metro Detroit, the head-scarf issue is being noticed. “All eyes are watching France,” said Ismael Ahmed, director of ACCESS, the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services in Dearborn. He said metro Detroit’s Arab Americans — Muslim and not — see the head-scarf ban in France as symbolic of the increasing diversity — and intolerance — in other European countries. “I believe everything is in movement and either you’re moving toward acceptance and diversity or away from it,” he said. The ban is a form of ethnic profiling, he added — which parallels the intolerance he sees in America. “I think a lot of communities look at people with head scarves with suspicion,” said Ahmed, who is of Egyptian-Lebanese ancestry and grew up Muslim.
Image and hope
In Europe, Muslims are openly dismayed over the direction of debate there , but they aren’t very surprised. They say there’s long been a history of discrimination against them in housing and jobs. They say Turkey hasn’t been allowed into the European Union because it’s a Muslim country. And they worry about the future. Burhan Kesici, who heads the Islamic Federation in Berlin, is multilingual and wears a conservative business suit. Time and again, he said, he’s been turned away from apartments and mocked at schools because of his religion. “In university, professors would say, ‘We had such hope for him. We didn’t know he was a religious Muslim,’ as if that made me medieval,” he said. Kesici said the German efforts to ban head scarves were demeaning. “The women targeted by the German law are professionals, university educated, leaders in our community,” he said. “To say they are controlled by a head scarf is insulting.” His arguments resonate little outside Muslim communities. To many in non-Muslim Europe, the head scarf is a symbol of Muslim radicalism. German politician Edmund Stoiber called it “not compatible with an enlightened democracy.” On Fridays in Evry, Khalil lectures to thousands of Muslims at Evry’s grand mosque — two gymnasium-sized rooms filled with men and two large chambers behind thick wooden screens for women. He said his mosque showed the future of Europe. Evry is 30 percent Muslim. The first wave arrived from Morocco and Algeria to work in an airplane-engine factory. The children of those immigrants now mix in high-rise housing projects with young, recent immigrants. These are Muslims who came for economic reasons; not to destroy France, but to find a better life in it, Khalil said. “This is the topic of conversation for all people of color in Europe,” he said. “What is our future here?” Mayor Valls said there once was a future, that Europe and Islam could compromise and learn to live together. But despite his attempt to be conciliatory, he also indicates that the effort must come from the Muslims. He cites the example of a local grocery store. It opened to sell only halal foods acceptable to Muslims. Valls said he was horrified to learn that meant no ham or wine, forbidden in Islam but which Valls considers staples for a French diet. “So I went to them and
insisted they sell wine and ham,” he said. Did they agree? “No,” he said sadly, before brightening. “But there is hope that they will go out of business within the year, and perhaps then a new store will open in their place. And perhaps they will sell foods for everyone.”