The wave of islamophobia in a post-9/11 Europe

Abstract

The few thousands of temporary Muslim workers who arrived after World War II for the reconstruction of European cities have swelled into a massive 15 million Muslims living permanently in Europe. Even though Islamic traditions clashed with European values, it was only after the attacks of 9/11 in New York that the relationship between European Muslims and non-Muslims became tense. Due to links between terrorist networks and certain European Muslim communities, European Muslims started to be portrayed as an 'enemy within', allergic to the societies, which accepted and raised them. All these events have led to the creation of generalizations and stereotypes. Islamophobia has been the result of fears of Europeans towards Muslims. The European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia has reported that there has been an increase in Islamophobic acts as of 9/11. European Muslims have been subject to discrimination at work, living conditions and violent acts. Such victims are the weakest points of Muslim communities which end up being exploited by fundamentalists. Stereotyping by certain European media has not helped to curb the confusion created by terrorist attacks which took place also in Europe. The press has also been a main player in the Danish Cartoons Crisis, since freedom of expression was brought into play to the detriment of the Islamic belief The Danish cartoons have proved that prejudice and misunderstanding can lead to a Clash of Civilisations between the Muslim World and the West. The task of the newly-founded Alliance of Civilisations is to create bridges that will assist in eliminating such perceptions.