La livraison de Tarek Herzi et la responsabilité du nouveau gouvernement américain
Decrease of industrial production
Submitted by sihem on Saturday, July 25 2009 The industrial production index went down by 8.2 percent during the first five months of this year compared with the same period of 2008, showed official figures published last Tuesday. The largest percentage decline was in the sectors of textile and clothes by 21%, mechanical and electric industries by 16.7%, and chemical industries by 14%. The sector of energy and mines maintained its increase with about 11%. (Source: Le site de « Radio Kalima » le 25 juillet 2009)
Jandouba : L.M.D system’s graduates did not receive their diploma
Submitted by sihem on Saturday, July 25 2009 The first class of L.M.D’s graduates in the faculty of management, legal and economic sciences of Jandouba complain about not receiving their certificates. A number of these graduates said that the fact of not receiving their diplomas prevented them from registering in local or abroad faculties. They feared that the year will elapse without being able to register in other institutions as they received informations that Jandouba’s faculty lacks the programme that allow them to pursue their studies in second cycle under L.M.D system. 60 students of the mentioned speciality petitioned the minister of higher education over this problems but until this moment they do not receive any response, said some of them interviewed by RadioKalima. (Source: Le site de « Radio Kalima » le 25 juillet 2009)
Kassrine: punishment of unionists does not protect a director from relocation
Submitted by sihem on Saturday, July 25 2009 The education and training regional director, Mr Najib Karari,was transferred to Tatawin in a context of a punishment relocation, said unionist sources. This official was relocated for power abuse after an investigation carried out by a financial and administrative commission. He committed injustices against some workers and educational and administrative cadres on the basis of their political and unionist activities. The same sources pointed out that the commission’s investigations proved the invalidity of the charges against these cadres. Unionists in Kassrine said that the transfer of regional director to Tatawin cannot be regarded as punishment given his disciplinary file. (Source: Le site de « Radio Kalima » le 25 juillet 2009)
Independent NGOs: what is happening in the Journalists’s Union is a planned coup
Submitted by sihem on Friday, July 24 2009 The Independent NGOs’ network considered the new development in the Journalists’s Union a coup against a legitimate and democratically elected board planned for non-professional purposes. The Network asserted in a communiqué that this coup was confirmed by the unjustified urgency by the pro-government members to hold an extraordinary congress. These NGOs called for the respect of the Union’s internal regulations and for preparing fairly the upcoming congress and to preserve the Union credibility, the legitimacy of its activities and its representativeness of all journalists. The associations expressed their support to the Executive board in its adherence to the legitimacy of its resolutions and its defence of the Union’s independence and freedom of press and expression. This communiqué was signed by the following associations : the Tunisian League for the Human Rights Defence (LTDH) , the Tunisian Association of Democrat Women (ATFD), the Tunisian Women Association for Research on development(AFTURD), and the National Council for Freedoms in Tunisia (CNLT). (Source: Le site de « Radio Kalima » le 24 juillet 2009)
Mémoire d’un détenu 4/2
Djerba, paradis en détresse
21/07/2009 | Jeune Afrique | Par : Kérim Maamer |
Consultant, Bruxelles
Réputée pour la douceur de son climat, l’île de Djerba est moins connue pour son patrimoine humain. C’est un morceau de désert avec de maigres ressources et peu d’eau, où les hommes ont dû adapter leurs forces à leur environnement, pour faire de Meninx (l’île « sans eau ») une terre de vergers où triomphent beauté, harmonie sociale et paix civile. Du moins jusqu’à présent. Mais avant d’évoquer les problèmes de Djerba, il faut raconter ce qui fait son authenticité.
Dans cette île du Sud tunisien, le pouvoir ne s’est pas érigé dans une ville centrale. Il est traditionnellement dévolu aux grandes familles. Essentiellement ruraux, les Djerbiens vivaient autrefois dans des groupes d’habitations fortifiées très éloignés les uns des autres. Si les institutions publiques semblaient faiblement représentées, les intérêts collectifs étaient préservés grâce à un maillage communautaire serré et à l’homogénéité des modes de vie et des comportements.
La rareté de l’eau, la pauvreté des ressources et l’absence d’un pouvoir centralisateur ont déterminé un mode de vie soucieux d’autarcie. Le houch est un manoir fortifié qui constitue l’archétype de l’habitation djerbienne dont on fait l’éloge tout en appelant à sa préservation. Quant au menzel, c’était le domaine de production, avec son système d’irrigation et de récupération des eaux, ses aires de battage et de stockage, ses espaces arboricoles et maraîchers qui rendaient luxuriantes les terres arides de l’île. Les tabias, ces puissantes haies de cactus constituées au cours des générations, longeaient tous les sentiers et donnaient un cachet particulier au paysage végétal de Djerba.
Même s’il ne vit plus sur l’île, le Djerbien lui reste attaché par de forts liens identitaires et communautaires. C’est pourquoi la terre n’est pas à vendre. Si la vente devait s’imposer, le cousin ou le voisin seraient privilégiés, autant pour les relations de proximité chères aux Djerbiens que pour éviter le morcellement des parcelles. Mais toutes ces valeurs sont désormais mises à mal par la spéculation foncière.
L’exode, les modes de vie modernes, le coût des restaurations, le désintérêt pour l’ancien… Tous ces facteurs conjugués aboutissent à la ruine des houchs et des menzels laissés à l’abandon. Il y va pourtant tout à la fois du cachet de l’île et de son identité socio-culturelle. Face aux risques de dégradation irréversible, le soutien d’organisations mondiales de préservation du patrimoine humain s’impose.
Il est paradoxal d’observer combien le « développement » favorise la spéculation au détriment de l’économie productive de biens. Là où les règles ancestrales avaient permis de protéger l’harmonie entre les hommes et la nature, l’appât du gain menace désormais l’équilibre fragile de l’île. Une autorité chargée de préserver l’identité de Djerba doit voir le jour au plus vite. Les infractions aux us et coutumes se multiplient. Des « affairistes » manipulent les lois pour morceler les menzels, piller les houchs, détruire les tabias. Ils construisent souvent à leur guise, sans autorisation, sur des terres arables, selon un style architectural totalement étranger à l’île…
La tolérance publique envers cette situation s’apparente presque à un « laisser-faire » qui dénature l’île dans sa beauté et dans son identité. Mais Djerba est aussi mise en danger par la disparition de ses dunes et l’érosion de ses côtes, la destruction de ses ressources hydriques et végétales… Quant à la perte de son héritage humain, elle ne fait qu’anticiper la fin de l’harmonie sociale et de la paix civile. Il est urgent de dresser un état des lieux pour sauvegarder ce joyau de l’humanité.
(Source: « Jeune Afrique » (Hebdomadaire- France) consulté le 26 juil. 09)
Lien:http://www.jeuneafrique.com/Article_ARTJAJA2532p103.xml0_-architecture-eau-patrimoine–-Djerba-paradis-en-detresse.html
Obsèques de Mohamed Salah Ayari
À cause de leur prosélytisme
Les terroristes séparés des détenus de droit commun
Dimanche 26 Juillet 2009
Par : L. N.
Un vaste mouvement dans les établissements pénitentiaires d’El-Harrach, Serkadji et Chlef a été opéré au courant de la semaine écoulée, ont révélé, hier, des sources bien informées. En effet, des détenus ont été transférés aux prisons de Berouaghia, dans la wilaya de Médéa, et Tazoult, dans la wilaya de Batna. Ce mouvement intervient, selon nos sources, après que les services de sécurité eurent découvert, à l’issue d’une enquête intra-muros, l’existence de cellules de recrutement pour le compte du GSPC d’Al-Qaïda au pays du Maghreb. Cette information, bien qu’avérée depuis 2006, a poussé les services de sécurité à agir en conséquence, d’autant que ces cellules ciblent, en plus des terroristes, des prisonniers de droit commun, notamment les dealers et les consommateurs de drogue en leur promettant de l’argent. Notre source ira plus loin en révélant l’existence carrément de “imarate”, à l’intérieur même des établissements sus-cités. Autrement dit, des terroristes arrêtés puis emprisonnés se sont autoproclamés “émirs” et procédaient au recrutement de nouveaux éléments qui, une fois à l’extérieur, rejoindront les rangs du GSPC. Rappelons que durant la période allant de 2006 à 2008, plus de 300 détenus de la prison de Boussouf à Constantine, incarcérés suite à leur implication, directe ou indirecte, dans des activités terroristes, ont rejoint les maquis de l’Est, notamment ceux de Jijel sous la “imara” de Lemloum.
(Source: « Liberté-algerie.com » le 26 juil. 09)
Mauritania arrests alleged member of Al-Qaeda offshoot
(AFP) – 26 Jul. 09 NOUAKCHOTT — Mauritanian authorities on Saturday detained an alleged member of an Al-Qaeda offshoot, a security source said, the fourth such recent arrest after the group claimed the murder of an American. Police arrested Mohamed Abdallahi Ould Hmeimed outside Nouakchott, making him the fourth alleged member of the Islamist group arrested since July 17. A police source said after the arrest of the first two suspected Islamist militants following a shoot-out that they were « very probably » the same men who murdered the American last month. Another suspect was arrested on Friday. Christopher Leggett, 48, was shot dead on June 23 outside the language and computer school he ran, with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claiming responsibility for the murder. The Al-Qaeda offshoot has carried out a number of attacks in the region, including in Mauritania. 2009 AFP.
Britain urged to engage with Hamas moderates
Pour Israël, la «nakba» n’existe pas
Proche-Orient . La droite réécrit les manuels scolaires arabes.
Pour les Palestiniens, il ne s’est rien passé en 1948, en tout cas, rien de mal. C’est ce que veut faire croire le ministère israélien de l’Education, qui a décidé d’exclure le motnakba des manuels scolaires en arabe destinés aux Palestiniens d’Israël.
La nakba, au sens littéral, c’est la catastrophe. Pour tous les Palestiniens, ce mot résume l’expulsion de leurs villages et de leurs villes lors de la guerre qui a immédiatement suivi la déclaration d’indépendance unilatérale d’Israël, en mai 1948. Ironiquement, «catastrophe» est aussi le mot utilisé par les Juifs pour désigner la Shoah, le génocide de six millions d’entre eux durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale.
Ultranationaliste.Cette décision sur les manuels scolaires, soutenue par le Premier ministre, Benyamin Nétanyahou, fait partie d’une loi en cours d’examen à la Knesset, le Parlement israélien. L’initiative en revient à Avigdor Lieberman, leader du parti ultranationaliste Israël Beitenou (Israël notre maison) et ministre des Affaires étrangères. Sa formation, qui recrute essentiellement dans les milieux laïcs russophones, est un pilier de la coalition de droite dure au pouvoir. A l’origine, le projet de loi visait à interdire toute commémoration de la nakba, le jour de la fête nationale d’Israël ; il prévoyait même une peine allant jusqu’à trois ans de prison. Lieberman, qui est obsédé par le péril démographique posé par les Arabes israéliens et milite pour leur «transfert», en clair, leur expulsion. Il a aussi l’intention de leur demander de prêter un serment de loyauté à l’Etat hébreu.
Ces mesures ne peuvent qu’être vécues comme une provocation et une incitation à la discrimination par les 1,7 million de Palestiniens citoyens d’Israël qui forment 20 % de la population du pays. Ils jouissent théoriquement des mêmes droits – dont celui de vote et d’être élus – que les citoyens juifs d’Israël, mais font l’objet de tout un ensemble de mesures discriminatoires non écrites. Dispensés du service militaire, ils ne peuvent souvent pas accéder aux emplois publics, ni obtenir des permis de construire aussi facilement que les Juifs.
Suspects. Souvent soupçonnés d’être une cinquième colonne par les Juifs, ils sont suspects aux yeux des Palestiniens des territoires et des réfugiés en raison de leur niveau de vie supérieur et de leur nationalité israélienne. Comment, en effet, expliquer qu’ils soient restés, malgré la guerre et l’occupation ?
La nakba est au cœur de l’affrontement israélo-palestinien. Pour les Juifs, les Arabes ont quitté leurs terres et leurs maisons à l’appel des pays arabes voisins qui s’apprêtaient, en 1948, à envahir le jeune Etat d’Israël. Les Palestiniens estiment, pour leur part, avoir été victimes d’un nettoyage ethnique en règle. Comme l’ont montré les nouveaux historiens israéliens (Benny Morris, Ilan Pappé, Avi Shlaïm, Tom Segev), l’exode des Palestiniens a été le plus souvent le résultat de violences et d’une savante guerre psychologique.
(Source: ”Libération” (Quotidien – France) le 24 juillet 2009)
Lien: http://www.liberation.fr/monde/0101581526-pour-israel-la-nakba-n-existe-pas
Britain ‘should approach Hamas’
26 Jul. 09
The UK government has come under rising pressure from MPs to start making contact with Palestinian group Hamas.
Foreign Affairs Committee report also said it was « regrettable » UK-supplied military items were « almost certainly » used by Israel in the Gaza conflict.
The cross-party group, which monitors foreign policy, called on the EU to make relations with Israel conditional on its peace-making efforts.
Hamas was also criticised for its use of rockets on Israeli civilian targets.
‘Ineffective strategy’
But committee chairman Michael Gapes said the committee saw « few signs that the current policy of non-engagement with Hamas » was effective.
He added that the government « should urgently consider engaging with moderate elements within Hamas » as it had with the political wing of Hezbollah in Lebanon earlier this year.
The wide-ranging report condemns Israel for the continuing growth of settlements and for its blockades around the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip.
It was unacceptable, said Mr Gapes, to deny unrestricted access for humanitarian assistance.
And the report also called for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to declare whether it considered war crimes had been committed during the December 2008 to January 2009 conflict in Gaza and southern Israel.
Hamas came into criticism for its rocket attacks, but MPs concluded that Israel’s military action in Gaza was « disproportionate ».
Mr Gapes said: « Rocket fire from Gaza by Hamas and other Palestinian groups on civilian targets in Israel is unacceptable.
« It generates the risk of a renewed escalation in violence, and constitutes a central obstacle in the way of Israeli willingness to move forward towards a two-state settlement. »
The report welcomed the endorsement by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a two-state solution to the conflict.
The committee added that the split between Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank was a central obstacle to creating a united and democratic Palestinian state, and called for elections that could be accepted by all parties.
Former prime minister Tony Blair, who is now a Middle East peace envoy, was commended for « making an important contribution to Palestinian economic and institutional development ».
But movement, access and administrative restrictions on the West Bank continued to represent a « major obstacle to further Palestinian economic development, » it added.
Hamas takes its name from the Arabic initials for the Islamic Resistance Movement.
Designated a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and the EU, it is seen by its supporters as a legitimate fighting force defending Palestinians from a brutal military occupation.
(Source: « BBC NEWS » le 26 Jul. 09)
Lien: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8169105.stm
Fears of an Islamic revolt in Europe begin to fade
Jason Burke in Paris and Ian Traynor in Brussels
The Observer, Sunday 26 July 2009
Five years ago bombings and riots fuelled anxiety that Europe’s Muslims were on the verge of mass radicalisation. Those predictions have not been borne out.
A district of derelict warehouses, red-brick terraces, and vibrant street life on the canals near the centre of Brussels, Molenbeek was once known as Belgium’s « Little Manchester ». These days it is better known as « Little Morocco » since the population is overwhelmingly Muslim and of North African origin.
By day, the scene is one of children kicking balls on busy streets, of very fast, very small cars with very large sound systems. By night, the cafes and tea houses are no strangers to drug-dealers and mafia from the Maghreb.
For the politically active extreme right, and the anti-Islamic bloggers, Molenbeek is the nightmare shape of things to come: an incubator of tension and terrorism in Europe’s capital, part of a wave of « Islamisation » supposedly sweeping Europe, from the great North Sea cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam to Marseille and the Mediterranean.
The dire predictions of religious and identity-based mayhem reached their peak between 2004 and 2006, when bombs exploded in Madrid and London, a controversial film director was shot and stabbed to death in Amsterdam, and angry demonstrators marched against publication of satirical cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad.
For Bruce Bawer, author of While Europe Slept, the continent’s future was to « tamely resign itself to a gradual transition to absolute sharia law ». By the end of the century, warned Bernard Lewis, the famous American historian ofIslam, « Europe will be Islamic ». The Daily Telegraph asked: « Is France on the way to becoming an Islamic state? » The Daily Mail described the riots that shook the nation in the autumn of 2005 as a « Muslim intifada ».
Yet a few years on, though a steady drumbeat of apocalyptic forecasts continues, such fears are beginning to look misplaced. The warnings focus on three elements: the terrorist threat posed by radical Muslim European populations; a cultural « invasion » due to a failure of integration; and demographic « swamping » by Muslim communities with high fertility rates.
A new poll by Gallup, one of the most comprehensive to date, shows that the feared mass radicalisation of the EU’s 20-odd million Muslims has not taken place. Asked if violent attacks on civilians could be justified, 82% of French Muslims and 91% of German Muslims said no. The number who said violence could be used in a « noble cause » was broadly in line with the general population. Crucially, responses were not determined by religious practice – with no difference between devout worshippers and those for whom « religion [was] not important ».
« The numbers have been pretty steady over a number of years, » said Gallup’s Magali Rheault. « It is important to separate the mainstream views from the actions of the fringe groups, who often receive disproportionate attention. Mainstream Muslims do not appear to exhibit extremist behaviour. »
Polls always vary, and other surveys can be cited to point to higher degrees of extremism. There is also the point, made repeatedly by experts, that « it only takes half a dozen for a bomb attack ». There has also been a major surge in antisemitic attacks by young men from Muslim communities, especially in France. But there is nonetheless a sense, even among Europe’s counterterror strategists, that the tide of radicalisation of young Muslim men may be ebbing.
« We estimate about 10% of our Islamic population are in a dynamic of rejection of the west and Europe, 10% are more European than the Europeans, and about 80% are in the middle, just trying to get by, » said Alain Bauer, a criminologist and security adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy. « The concern is less home-grown or imported terrorists, but states such as Iran, » he said.
Last week the UK security threat was downgraded from « severe » (an attack is highly likely) to « substantial » (an attack is a strong possibility) – its lowest level since 9/11. Officials say the shift, although relative, recognises the combined effects of the efforts of security services, and a backlash against violent extremism among Muslims in the UK.
In the Netherlands, tension between the majority and the Muslim minority has redefined national politics in the past five years. The threat level last year was raised to the second highest level – in part because of the impact on Muslim communities of the success of the anti-Islamic politician Geert Wilders. Yet even here security services say they see « the activities of homegrown [militant] cells being stable or diminishing because of a lack of leadership, and internal quarrelling ». This is the view of Judith Sluiter, of the National Co-ordinator for Counterterrorism agency, who adds: « The appeal of the radicals is declining. In the Moroccan community there is growing resistance to Islamic rejection [of Dutch society]. »
The Dutch AIVD intelligence service recently reported that among the country’s other main Muslim immigrant community, from Turkey, « resistance to radical Islamic ideologies remains strong … In the short and medium term, there is no danger these [extreme] religious ideas will find many receptive ears in the Dutch Turkish community ».
In the Molenbeek district of Brussels, Sebastiano Guzzone has also seen a change. In eight years of advising locals of their rights, the Italian lawyer has come across mass murderers from Rwanda; Belgian Moroccans believed to have arrived from terrorist training camps in the Afghan-Pakistan border zone; and a North African who disappeared to Iraq to die as a suicide bomber. That was then.
« I haven’t seen anyone like that for a few years now, » said Guzzone. « The last Muslim fundamentalists I dealt with was in 2006. There’s fewer and fewer of them. The problem is exaggerated. »
For Kamel Bechik, who runs a Muslim Scout organisation in France’s south-west where youngsters proudly salute the national flag every morning and evening – while fasting if they want to during the holy month of Ramadan – recent history speaks for itself. « There are six million Muslims, » said Bechik, 35. « If the community had really become radicalised, it would have been pretty obvious. » However, there are other issues that go well beyond counterterrorism.
Christopher Caldwell, columnist at a conservative American review, the Weekly Standard, and author of Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West, argues Europe is failing to face up to genuine and deep demographic and cultural change: « It is too simple to talk about the Islamisation of Europe. This is about the transformation of European society, » he told the Observer last week. Comparing immigration in Europe with the major waves of immigration in America of the late 19th and early 20th century, Caldwell said: « There is no real reflection on where this is taking us. »
In Europe, many reject the criticism. « We pose questions and we find answers, » said Bauer. « And the answer is saucisson, croissants and the French way of life. »
Others say the terms of the debate are still undefined. « Who is a European Muslim? Does a French second-generation immigrant shopkeeper of Moroccan Berber stock have much in common with an Iranian Shia female doctor living in Denmark, or a British Pakistani student or a German Turkish nightclub singer? » asked a Dutch city councillor. « We haven’t decided yet. »
Levels of religious observance also vary wildly. A government survey of German Muslims found only 10% of immigrants from south-east Europe pray every day, compared with more than half of those from North Africa.
In France, a similar disparity of views led to a row within the Muslim community when the government announced it would ban the burka.
Finally, there is a question of what integration means. The recent Gallup poll found European Muslim immigrants tend to stress social and economic questions – housing, jobs, access to education – as markers of integration, whereas the so-called « host communities » tend to stress morals and customs, such as attitudes to homosexuality, sex before marriage or pornography.
Despite frequent and heavily publicised rows, surveys have found that only a minority of European Muslim women are veiled, and the numbers are probably dropping. The German data suggests that, whereas a quarter of first-generation immigrant women wear a headscarf, only 18% of their daughters do.
Such processes are uneven. Caldwell cites figures that show « only 8% of Turkish men who grow up in Germany marry German women and only 3% of Turkish women who grow up in Germany marry German men ».
But there are also more subtle ways that integration can work. Polls, for example, have found that Muslim communities are profoundly influenced by their countries of residence. So in France, where 45% of people said in a survey that adultery is morally acceptable, so did a high proportion of local Muslims. In Germany, where 73% of the population is opposed to capital punishment, the view was shared by exactly the same percentage of local Muslims. In Britain, where there is greater popular hostility to pornography, this is mirrored in the British Muslim community.
« National differences are very evident. French Muslims have absorbed the values of France, and are more secular than their German counterparts, for example, » said Rheault. Over time, this trend deepens. The Dutch Statistics Bureau’s last report on integration reported that in terms of norms, opinions and behaviour … second-generation [Dutch migrants] are much more orientated towards Dutch society than their parents.
One of the toughest questions is demographic. Many countries do not have clear statistics on ethnicity and race: the French Muslim population is thought to be between four and seven million, the Dutch around one million, the German between four and six million. No one doubts that Muslim populations have grown rapidly in recent decades. Some recent statistics in the UK point to a 20% increase in the past five years.
But although demographers say Europe’s youthful Muslim communities will continue to grow, they predict fertility rates will decline – as they have done among almost all other populations that experience higher levels of wealth, healthcare access and literacy. Carl Haub, senior demographer at the respected Population Reference Bureau, Washington, points to fertility rates in Muslim-majority countries such as Tunisia, Turkey, Algeria and Morocco that are only slightly higher than those in the UK and France.
« There is no reason why immigrants in Europe are going to have more kids than in their countries of origin, » Haub told the Observer. One Dutch study has shown that birthrates among Turkish and Moroccan-born women in the Netherlands dropped from 3.2 children per mother to 1.9, and from 4.9 to 2.9 respectively between 1990 and 2005. More radical predictions, such as the claim there will be a Muslim majority in the EU in the next half century, are just « plain silly », said Haub, as they depend on « physically impossible » rates of natural growth or « politically impossible » levels of mass immigration.
For more than 40 years, locals in the 12th arrondissement of Paris have bought fruit and vegetables from immigrant vendors at the Marché d’Aligre.
Amos was 16 when he first started working at the market, running errands for his Tunisian-born parents. « Integration? Politics? Religion? None of that here, » he said yesterday. « We’re just trying to earn a living. The only people who get involved in religion are the ones with something on their conscience. » Amos points out his two employees – one from Algeria, the other from Morocco. One is married to a French Catholic, the other to « a black girl ». At a nearby meat shop is a poster telling clients to order a ready-slaughtered sheep for Ramadan.
Anis Bouabsa, a baker who supplies the presidential palace with breakfast patisserie, said he will be fasting for Ramadan while he makes bread for his clients. « It’s my roots, my culture, that’s how I grew up, » he said. « But I’ll still be in the bakery 12 hours a day. »
However, if integration is more successful than the stereotype in matters of values and culture, it may be failing in social and economic terms. Unemployment and poverty are high for immigrant groups across the EU. Across Paris, in the poorer quarter around Ménilmontant market, there is no saucisson, no croissants and a lot of cheap cutlery, clothes and couscous. « We are always told things will get better, but they never do, » said Awadif, 33. « Life’s tough. You get by with some luck and some faith. »
What is certain is that, even if the dark predictions are proved wrong, a different Europe is emerging, « It is not about foreigners taking over. It may be good, it may be bad, but there is going to be change, » said Caldwell.
Islam and Europe
Muslim relations with and within Europe have been complex. Periods of peaceful coexistence have alternated with war, commercial and intellectual exchange with expulsion and competition. The Muslim population within what came to be known as « Europe » has grown steadily.
• In the eighth century the Umayyad empire expanded along the northern Mediterranean shore into what is now southern Spain. The Muslim kingdoms of Andalucía survived until Granada finally fell in 1492.
• Between the 11th and 13th centuries European crusaders such as Richard the Lionheart fought their way across the Holy Land. Yet trading contacts thrived despite the hostilities. The famous spice and silk routes meant a flow of words, ideas and practices from the Islamic world into Europe.
• In 1453 Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, sparking a new period of Islamic expansion. By 1529 the Turks were outside Vienna. This did not stop France’s monarch, Francis I, allying with the Muslim Ottoman ruler Suleiman the Magnificent to fight against Charles V of Spain. After many campaigns, the Ottoman Turks were beaten outside Vienna in 1683.
• By the 18th century, as European powers began carving up their empire, the Turks were no longer seen as a threat. Immigration to Europe grew steadily, especially towards the end of the 19th century as nations began to industrialise.
• After the second world war, Muslim colonies became a source of cheap labour for reconstruction. Later, restrictions were imposed on entry.
Terror and tension
11 September 2001 Hijackers who met and were radicalised in Hamburg, Germany, hijack four US jets and kill some 3,000 people in total.
February 2003 Millions of people across the world protest at the US invasion of Iraq by staging demonstrations. The anti-war march in London attracts around one million protesters.
February 2004 France provokes a storm of controversy by passing a law that prohibits wearing the Islamic hijab in state schools.
11 March 2004 Bombs by Islamist extremists are set off on trains in Madrid killing 202.
2 November 2004 Theo van Gogh who had made a film about Islamic violence towards women, is murdered in Amsterdam by a young Dutch Muslim.
7 July 2005 Four suicide bombers set off three bombs on the London underground and one on a bus killing themselves and 52 others.
October-November 2005 Riots in poor neighbourhoods in Paris and other French cities, which saw clashes with police and cars set alight, are blamed on Muslims.
October 2006 The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten publishes cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, prompting Muslim anger and global protests.
January 2009 Anger over an Israeli offensive in Gaza – in which more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed – leads to a rise in antisemitic incidents in Britain.
June 2009 Right-wing parties across Europe enjoy new support in the EU elections. In Britain, the far-right BNP wins two seats in the European Parliament.
(Source: « Guardian.co.uk & The Observer » 26 July 2009)
Lien:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/26/radicalisation-european-muslims