Ian Buruma on the ‘Muslim Scare’ in Europe
September 29th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Award-winning author and academic Ian Buruma provides an interesting analysis of the increasing demonization of Muslim immigrants in European societies. He argues that little can be understood about the type of terrorism that has been linked to Islam from studying the Koran. Rather, the causes (and solutions) to reactionary movements which use religion as a rallying call exist in the social, economic and political realms that created them.
Buruma also discusses the case of fellow Dutch citizen Ayaan Hirsi Ali who many have criticized for riding the wave of anti-Islam sentiment in the West to fame. To those who have compared Ali to Voltaire Buruma has this to say:
…Ayaan Hirsi Ali was no Voltaire. For Voltaire had flung his insults at the Catholic Church, one of the two most powerful institutions of eighteen-century France, while Ayaan risked offending only a minority that was already feeling vulnerable in the heart of Europe.
