Just over a week after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden, pundits seem keen to tout the end of “Bin Ladenism,” too. The mastermind of the 9/11 attacks “lived long enough to see so many young Arabs repudiate his ideology,” observed the Times‘ Thomas Friedman. Although he and others are right to celebrate the ‘Arab Spring,’ it seems …
Islam
France: Hate Crimes on the Decline, Xenophobia on the Rise
The good news, according to France’s official National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH), was the number of racist and anti-Semitic acts in France dropped significantly in 2010—down 13.6% from 2009. But the bad news, the CNCDH’s annual report adds, is that in contrast to that decline in the number of reported racist …
France’s Burqa Ban Comes Into Force With Much Noise, Little Impact
It sparked the protest, denunciation, and even arrests many had feared, yet as France’s legal ban of the burqa took effect April 11, it had many viewing the interdiction of facial coverings in public as one of the strangest and least enforceable laws in the long and cluttered French history of trying to legislate every aspect of …
Should France’s Moderate Conservatives Dump Sarkozy Before It’s Too Late?
The U.S. Republican party isn’t the only big conservative force in Western politics experiencing divisions between its traditionally moderate majority and a defiantly rightward-leaning wing. France’s ruling Union for a Popular Majority (UMP) is similarly witnessing public clashes between internal factions generated by efforts to …
Global Briefing, Mar. 21, 2011: Palin Goes to India, America Goes to War
America At War — Don’t count on a short or limited conflict in Libya cautions Tony Karon on Global Spin; Obama hopes Libya will rehabilitate the doctrine of humanitarian intervention, reports Massimo Calabresi on Swampland.
Tibetan Transition — Pico Iyer writes about Tibet’s ‘quiet revolution’ for the New York Review of Books. In …
Global Briefing, Mar. 10, 2011: Broadcasters, Bordeaux and Big Change Afoot
Tibetan Transition — The Dalai Lama announced today that he will relinquish his political role. TIME’s Hannah Beech explains what’s next for the leader and his people.
Libya’s Long Haul — As Gaddafi settles in, rebel forces realize they need help from overseas, writes Andrew Lee Butters in a dispatch from Benghazi; in Tripoli, …
And The Winner Is…Marine Le Pen
French politicians and pundits were in an tizzy Monday following the publication Sunday of a new poll showing extreme-right leader Marine Le Pen winning the first round of presidential voting were it held now. In it, Le Pen—who took over the presidency of the National Front (FN) party in January from her father, Jean-Marie Le …
New Info Campaign Tells French Citizens How To Be Burqa Vigilantes
It’s not exactly “wear a burqa, go to jail”, but the French state has begun a sloganeering information campaign aimed at dissuading a crime that has fueled growing public concern. As part of that effort, the government is reminding Muslim women who wear the full-body veil that they’ll soon be legally prohibited of being seen in …
How Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws Are Tearing The Country Apart
In a sign of Pakistan’s increasing instability gunmen attacked and killed Pakistan’s minister for religious minorities earlier this morning. Shahbaz Bhatti, a member of Pakistan’s minority Christian community, had been vocal about Pakistan’s draconian anti-blasphemy laws. And he is not the first: in January, Salmaan Taseer, the …
France’s Iconic “Moderate Muslim” Becomes Target of Islamophobe Aggression
In the decade since 9/11 forced the world to update its views of Islam and look for ways to dissuade its practitioners from drifting towards extremism, Western societies have placed a high premium on the moderate Muslim: those modern, sensible examples of how Islam can be practiced and honored harmoniously within predominately non-Muslim …
Why European Conservatives Are Bashing Multiculturalism
As Ronald Reagan might have said with a disapproving shake of the head, “There they go again”. Faced with souring domestic political prospects, Europe’s top three leaders have sought to stoke flagging support by telling their societies to beware of nefarious foreign influences—especially from fellow citizens from minority groups. …