Following on from the debate in the european Parliament a few weeks ago, some footage from GEO TV based in Pakistan (be warned, it’s in Urdu):
more about “A Debate in European Parliament on Eu…“, posted with vodpod
Posts Tagged ‘Islamophobia
23
Nov
09
Do we have a ’shared Europe’…?
Having been invited to be a panelist at the British Council sponsored debate, Europe & Islam: whose identity crisis? at the European Parliament last Thursday (19th November 2009), I was asked to open the discussion by responding to the following question: do we actually have a ’shared Europe’?
My answer is posted below:
Do we have a ’shared Europe’? Well yes we do, but we ’share’ Europe in different ways.
We share some values, we share some of our culture, and we share some aspects of our identities for instance. But it is important to stress that this does not mean that we are homogenous: sharing does not mean that we are all the same.
So while we can – and do – share aspects of our values, culture and identities amongst others, still there remains a great difference and disparity between and within what we traditionally see or perceive to be Europe. So the British remain quite different and distinct from the Greeks, the Swedish from the Spanish and so on.
Following my participation in the ‘Europe & Islam; whose identity crisis?’ debate at the European Parliament in Brussels last Thursday (19th November 2009), I’m pasting below the report from the British Council’s website. To view the original page, please click here:
Europe has, according to the Pew Forum, about 38 million Muslims – about five percent of its population and that proportion will continue to increase. Yet, we are facing a growing mutual mistrust that leaves Europe on the verge of a dangerous rift.
One of the major cultural challenges that we face today is whether we can overcome the fear that difference and diversity will weaken national and social cohesion and succeed in building a Europe that is enriched by its different cultural identities.
Continue reading ‘Report: Europe & Islam – whose identity crisis?’
All readers of this blog are invited to the event, “Islamophobia & Religious Discrimination: new perspectives, policies and practices”. Details as follows. If you are intending coming along to the event, please ensure that you register beforehand – scroll down for details:
Wednesday, 09 December 2009
14:00 – 17:00
Location:
G15 (Main Lecture Theatre), Muirhead Tower, Main Campus, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT
More than a decade ago, the Runnymede Trust report Islamophobia: a challenge for us all noted that Islamophobia had reached previously unprecedented levels. Shortly after, a Home Office report suggested that other forms of religiously-based discrimination was also on the increase. Since then, a whole raft of legislation has been introduced in an attempt to address this issue. Most recently, the Equality Act 2006 introduced a ‘religion or belief’ strand of equalities protection that has regularly made the headlines through a number of high profile cases, for example where a Christian registrar asked to be excluded from performing same-sex civil registrations.
As part of the British Council’s ‘Our Shared Europe’ project, I have been invited to participate in a debate at the European Parliament on the 19th November 2009 entitled, ‘Europe & Islam: whose identity crisis?’.
If anybody would like to attend the debate, then please contact osedebate@britishcouncil.be before the 11th November.
Full details of the event are set out below:
Europe & Islam: Whose Identity Crisis?
Hosted by Sajjad Karim MEP
Thursday 19th November 2009 – 10:30 to 13:00
European Parliament, Brussels
In a continent of diverse cultures how people choose to identify themselves is becoming increasingly important; whether through nationality, religion, language or political outlook. Can these identities mix, are they changing, and which are most important?
And is identity in Europe becoming a more complex issue for its citizens? How are European Muslims reconciling their multiple identities? And what is the basis for a European identity? Does an increase in extremism, euroscepticism, islamaphobia and a move back towards nationalism indicate that people are unhappy with those who identify themselves in different ways?
In a continent progressively challenged by mixed identities, who is it with the identity crisis? Europe, or Islam, or both?
Participants
Pal Schmitt
Vice-President of the European Parliament
Douglas Murray
Director, The Centre for Social Cohesion
Malika Hamidi
Vice-President, European Muslim Network
Dr Chris Allen
Academic, writer and broadcaster on Islamophobia in Europe
Bashy Quraishy
Chair Advisory Council, European Network Against Racism
Daniel Hannan
Member of the European Parliament
Debate moderated by Shada Islam, Senior Policy Executive, European Policy Centre.
Further information can be found at http://www.oursharedeurope.org/activities.
