First, I was impressed by her comments about Israel. She acknowledged that racism exists in Israel, as it does everywhere. But in contrast to Israel's most vituperative European detractors, many of whom now routinely and absurdly denounce Israel as an "apartheid state," Amara noted that Israel's ethnic and racial diversity made her feel more at home here, in certain respects, than in Europe. Her comments also challenged the tendency, also common among Israel's detractors, to class Israeli Jews as "white" and "European" in contrast to the Arab population. (In fact, roughly half of Israel's Jewish population is constituted of Jewish refugees from Arab countries and their descendants.)
Amara says that when she was in Israel, she actually felt quite at home. She was invited here in June 2004 as part of a delegation of leftist women that met with Israeli and Palestinian women....
"I felt very comfortable [in Israel]. I wasn't the object of special stares, as often happens toward foreigners. I didn't feel any racism, though I'm certain it exists. You have all the colors there so it's become almost natural to see white, yellow, brown."
By your appearance, you could certainly pass for Israeli. Maybe that's the reason?
"Maybe, but I'm not used to that. Here in France, I get looks. To the French, I'm not very 'French.' We're living here under a dominant culture. When your name is Francois and you're white with blue eyes, it's one thing. But when your name is Fatima and you've got a little color, the look you get is different. In Israel - because of the variety of people, I didn't feel that. In fact, I met a lot of young people there and it happened more than once that I was talking with a Palestinian and thinking he was an Israeli or vice-versa. Luckily, some of them were wearing a Star of David, otherwise I would have been confused all the time."
Second, I was impressed by Amara's comments about the resurgence of anti-semitism in Western Europe. Anti-semitic acts in France have mainly been perpetrated by Muslim youths from the country's impoverished quartiers de banlieue ("suburbs"), which were swept by riots in 2005. Ironically, the Muslim youths who commit such acts are themselves frequently the victims of prejudice and xenophobia. Given Amara's background and her social activism on behalf of this marginalized Muslim population, one might expect her to deny the presence of anti-semitism, dismiss it as unimportant or insignificant, or make excuses for it ("an inevitable response to Israeli policies"). Instead, Amara criticized it squarely and forthrightly.
Did your visit [to Israel] change your views in any way?
"The point of view of the residents of the suburbs in France regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is very narrow: The young Palestinians whom I met asked me to explain to the youths of the suburbs that their anti-Semitic acts are not helping them. That it creates a boomerang that hurts them in world public opinion. I was very impressed by this talk from the Palestinians I met, which was so different than that of the youths of the suburbs - some of whom, by the way, were put up to what they did by Islamic activists."
Is France anti-Semitic? Is it Islamophobic?
"No on both counts. We're good students. We've managed to reduce the number of anti-Semitic acts, but it's not enough, we have to continually keep at it. As for Islamophobia - there's no such thing. It's an invention of the Islamists that shouldn't be taken up."
But racism against Muslims - doesn't that exist in France?
"You have to be careful with the terminology. Anti-Semitism is a fact and we know exactly what it has led to in our history. It can't be compared to anything else. I'm not prepared to accept moral preachings from some Muslim intellectuals who use the term 'Islamophobia' as a parallel to anti-Semitism. When it comes to acts against Muslims, their religion doesn't play any part. These are racists acts, period. You can't liken the Holocaust and the memory of it to my personal-family memory, which is of the colonization in Algeria. It's true that my father, who was born in the colonial period, was deprived of his rights. He was not allowed to attend school, and I can only regret these 'sad intervals' of French history. But that has nothing whatsoever in common with the Final Solution. The terrible Holocaust was the most barbaric act the world ever came up with. It's not like anything else at all. Not even the genocide in Rwanda."
In Rwanda, it was an organized genocide, though.
"But it wasn't set out or carried out in the same mechanical and sick fashion. In my opinion, the trap that some intellectuals try to use by putting everything on an equal footing in the name of some sort of competition among memories is the ultimate anti-Semitic act. A deluxe act of anti-Semitism.
"Unfortunately, the problem of anti-Semitism isn't fully resolved in my country. It's returning in a new formula in the suburbs, where the Islamists have rotted our children's brains. If we had properly fulfilled our roles and if we had radically reduced anti-Semitism in France, including in administration, we wouldn't be witnessing its renewal today in the suburbs, in its Islamic form, together with its discourse, which has fascist overtones. It's all because of our cowardice and because we didn't want to admit and we didn't want to know.
"I have Jewish friends who tell me - Fadela, we don't want to talk about memory. That's a choice that I respect, but if these things aren't said, then no one will be protected."
...
"People talk about so many memories - colonization, slavery, etc. - but the emphasis has to be on the Holocaust, because we haven't sufficiently internalized the memory of it: Just two years ago, a young man from one of the suburbs was tortured for a month. And why? Because his name was Ilan [Halimi - A.P.] and he was a Jew. For a whole month. Can you imagine? A whole month. Thirty days. Do you understand what that means? Everyone knew about it. Or a lot of people, at least. And afterward they threw him out like a dog, and all because of his Jewish origin. It's intolerable. Just intolerable."
Finally, I was impressed by Amara's careful and crucial distinction between "Islam, as a religion and a faith," and "the Islamic activists who make use of it to promote their political program." This distinction allows her to avoid Samuel Huntington's flawed clash-of-civilizations thesis while recognizing (in a way some leftists have not - Britain's Respect Party comes to mind) the reactionary nature of the Islamist political project. Indeed, Amara's own activism furnishes clear evidence that the struggle against Islamist politics is as much a clash within civilizations as a clash between civilizations. As Amara put it, "I'm a Muslim who is fighting the Islamists, but not Islam.... The problem occurs when the religion [here I would add any religion - W.Y.] becomes a political project with fascist tendencies."
Based on this interview, I'd say Europe needs more leftists like Fadela Amara.
2 comments:
Her comments and sentiments are admirable and to be encourged (assuming she lives that long), but she overlooks the fact that Islam, unlike modern Judaism and Christianity, recognizes no primacy of the secular. Islam has neve been just a religion and convined to the mosque. It is a way of life. Sharia is -- or should be -- all. Personal piety is secondary. Hatred of "the Jews" goes back to the beginnings of the faith. The Qur'an -- not just "inspired," but the actual words of Allah dictated to Mohammed -- warns Muslims not even to be MERE FRIENDS with Christians or Jews (so how can there ever be "peace" in Israel?). Jews are described as "apes and pigs" in a famous Hadith of Mohammed. Why did Bin Laden attack New York? In his writings, he describes it as the world center of "Jewish finance." Jews and Christians, in the Qur'an. jave only two choices: dhimmitude or death. The idea of a "two-state solution" in Israel is a chimera. She just chooses to ignore this part of her faith. What is a pious young Muslim to do when told by an Islamist that she is a "bad Muslim" for ignoring the commands of the Qur'an and the Hadith? Islam has had its Martin Luther. Unfortunately, his name was Sayyid Qtub, the ideological predecessor of bin Laden and Zawahiri. These are not "evil men"; they are just doing what Allah clearly commands. Huntington is right. No "peace conference" or "split-the-differences" agreement is possible with dedicated Islamists.
Dear JFMcNULTY, thanks for your comment. I'm by no means a specialist on Islam; in fact, I'm not even a specialist in the sociology of religion. However, I'm afraid I must disagree with such a sweeping rejection of the Islamic faith, which surely cannot be as monolithic and static as you suggest. I must also disagree with the implication that more than one billion human beings do not have and cannot develop (by virtue of their religion) the "habits of the heart" (Tocqueville's expression) that are necessary for democratic liberty. Before we write off such a vast portion of humanity as unfit for democratic self-government, it's worth remembering that similar doubts were raised about Jews (during debates about their emancipation in nineteenth-century Europe) and Catholics (by many Protestants in nineteenth-century America), not to mention blacks and women. As my fellow sociologist Jeffrey Alexander has argued in his recent book The Civil Sphere, this history should give us pause about conflating civil competence with the "primordial qualities" (including religion) of a society’s founders or "core group." I hasten to add that in my view it makes no more sense to judge Islam by the actions of "dedicated Islamists" like Bin Laden than to judge Judaism by the actions of Baruch Goldstein. It seems to me that one can only equate "Islam, as a religion and a faith," with "the Islamic activists who make use of it to promote their political program" at the cost of disregarding or dismissing courageous and principled Muslims like Fadela Amara. Don't she and others like her deserve better? Our disagreements notwithstanding, I appreciate your comment and I hope you will continue to find my weblog of interest.
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