Europe’s Muslims Face Rising ‘Islamophobia’
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Courtesy Of: TheChronicleHerald.ca
By WILLIAM KOLE
The Associated Press
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA
Sunday January 7, 2007
VIENNA, Austria — A German Muslim says his neighbours suspect he is making weapons inside his mosque. An Austrian believer complains that some dog owners set their pets on her when they pass her on the sidewalk.
Such acts of "Islamophobia" are on the rise across Europe, where many Muslims are menaced and misunderstood — some on a daily basis — the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia warned earlier this month in a new report. The Vienna-based centre, which tracks ethnic and religious bias across the 25-country EU, said Muslims routinely suffer acts ranging from physical attacks to discrimination in the job and housing markets.
It called on leaders to strengthen policies on integration, and on Muslims to "engage more actively in public life" to counter negative perceptions driven by terrorism or violence, such as this year’s backlash to cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
"The key word is "respect,’ " said Beate Winkler, the group’s director. "People need to feel respected and included. We need to highlight the common ground that we have."
Since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, many of Europe’s nearly 13 million Muslims feel "they have been put under a general suspicion of terrorism," Winkler said.
The 117-page report reinforces the growing urgency of tackling religious tensions in Europe.
In Turkey earlier this month, Roman Catholic Pope Benedict appealed for greater understanding between Christianity and Islam and sought to ease Muslim outrage over his remarks in September that cited a medieval emperor speaking about violence and Muhammad’s teachings. Although the centre conceded it is hampered by spotty data that makes Islamophobic acts "underreported and underrecorded," it listed hundreds of cases of violence or threats against Muslims in the EU since 2004.
The incidents include vandalism against mosques and Islamic centres and abuse against women wearing Islamic head scarves, and attacks.
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