The [European] Left and Islamic Resistance

A follow up to this post, albeit from a different point of view.

Excerpts below from a speech by Nadine Rosa-Rosso, a Brussels-based independent Marxist, at The Beirut International Forum for Resistance, Anti-Imperialism, Solidarity between Peoples and Alternatives, held from January 16 to 18, 2009 ( full text also here):

The massive demonstrations in European capitals and major cities in support of the people of Gaza highlighted once again the core problem: the vast majority of the Left, including communists, agrees in supporting the people of Gaza against Israeli aggression, but refuses to support its political expressions such as Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Left not only refuses to support them, but also denounces them and fights against them. Support for the people of Gaza exists only at a humanitarian level but not at the political level.

...

At all the demonstrations I participated in Brussels, I asked some demonstrators to translate the slogans that were chanted in Arabic, and they did so with pleasure every time. I heard a lot of support for the Palestinian resistance and denunciation of Arab governments (in particular the Egyptian President Mubarak), Israel's crimes, and the deafening silence of the international community or the complicity of the European Union. In my opinion, these were all political slogans quite appropriate to the situation. But surely some people only hear Allah-u-akbar and form their opinion on this basis. The very fact that slogans are shouted in Arabic is sometimes enough to irritate the Left. For example, the organizing committee of the meeting of 11 January was concerned about which languages would be used. But could we not have simply distributed the translations of these slogans? This might be the first step towards mutual understanding. When we demonstrated in 1973 against the pro-American military takeover by Pinochet in Chile, no one would have dared to tell the Latin American demonstrators "Please, chant in French!” In order to lead this fight, we all learnt slogans in Spanish and no one was offended.

...
If we would agree to stop staring blindly and with prejudice at the religious beliefs of people, we would perhaps "learn to understand" why the Arab and Muslim masses, who today demonstrate for Palestine, are screaming ‘Down with Mubarak’, an Arab and Muslim leader, and why they jubilantly shout the name of Chavez, a Christian-Latin American leader. Doesn’t this make it obvious that the Arab and Muslim masses frame their references not primarily through religion but by the relation of leaders to US and Zionist Imperialism?

And if the Left would formulate the issue in these terms, would they not partly regain the support of the people that formerly gave the Left its strength?

Another cause of paralysis of the Left in the anti-imperialist struggle is the fear of being associated with terrorism.

On the 11th of January 2009, the president of the German Chamber of Representatives, Walter Momper, the head of the parliamentarian group of ‘Die Grüne’ (the German Greens), Franziska Eichstädt-Bohlig, a leader of ‘Die Linke’, Klaus Lederer, and others held a demonstration in Berlin with 3000 participants to support Israel under the slogan ‘stop the terror of Hamas’. One must keep in mind that Die Linke are considered by many in Europe as the new and credible alternative Left, and an example to follow.

The entire history of colonisation and decolonisation is the history of land that has been stolen by military force and has been reclaimed by force. From Algeria to Vietnam, from Cuba to South-Africa, from Congo to Palestine: no colonial power ever renounced to its domination by means of negotiation or political dialogue alone.

Nadine's criticism is powerful because it comes from an athiest, European, leftist who is able to take a step back and point out the racist, islamophobic, and imperialist glasses through which the European 'left' views the world, wether they realize it or not.

This is important to take into consideration when discussing not only global protests and resistance to Zionism/neocolonialism but also the status and 'integration' of Muslims in Europe.

Finally, comments below from a I.K. (thanks for forwarding speech and comments!), in relation to US 'Left':

One additional comment I would add, is that it is important to note that the author is characterizing major trends of the "European Left" specifically "traditional" Marxist/Communist political organizing which has a long history there. There are, however, some elements of "Third Worldist" leftists that view Islamists in a more positive way.

In the USA, this could be seen reflected in the differences between UFPJ (which has its organizing base in the much older Communist Party of the United States (CP USA) and ANSWER (which currently has its organizing base in the Party for Socialism and Liberation; but before the 2004 split, in the Workers World Party).

Traditional Marxists (like many in Europe) do not see beyond "class" as an organizing unit, neglecting the national aspirations of Third World nations that may very well organize beyond "class" including the use of religion.

What's in a name?

Bishop Martinus "Tiny" Muskens told Dutch television reporters this week that God did not care what he was called and suggested that people of all faiths refer to God as Allah to generate greater understanding and acceptance of Muslims.

He said Christians use the Arabic word for God in Muslim countries just as Spanish speakers call God "Dios" and German speakers pray to "Gott." While serving as a priest in Indonesia, where the primary language is Arabic, Muskens said he used the word "Allah" when celebrating mass.

"Allah is a very beautiful word for God," he said. "Shouldn't we all say that from now on we will name God Allah? ...What does God care what we call him? It is our problem."

Read on at ChicagoTribune.com

Upon arriving to the US, I was amazed at the number of people who did not know what the word "Allah" meant. Even worse, so many people had a completely wrong understanding of the term.

Although I do prefer the word "Allah" to "God", partly because the the first unlike the latter cannot be made plural nor can it be given a gender, and is thus more befitting of His Majesty, I still usually use the word "God" when communicating with non-Muslims in English because I think it really helps break down walls and stereotypes.

Thank you Bishop Muskens for taking the initiative to clarify. I hope your message is heard.

Dutch MP calls for ban on Quran

AlJazeera English:

A Dutch member of parliament has called for the Quran to be banned in the Netherlands, describing it as a "fascist book" which calls on people to kill non-believers and rape women.

In his letter, Wilders compares the Muslim holy book to Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler's autobiography, and said the Quran has "no place in our constitutional state".

"I have been saying this for years: there is no such thing as a moderate Islam," Wilders wrote.

"I am fed up with Islam in the Netherlands: no more Muslim immigrants allowed. I am fed up with the worship of Allah and Muhammad in the Netherlands: no more mosques," his letter concluded.

What was the reaction of the Dutch Muslim community?

But Ayhan Tonca, chairman of the Dutch Muslim Contact Group argues that Mr Wilders should be ignored.

”This is a ridiculous idea. There is not much news at the moment so he is trying to create some,”he said.

Thankfully, the Dutch government's response was swift and firm:

The Dutch government swiftly condemned Wilders’ remarks as damaging for community relations in the Netherlands, and said the proposal was unworthy of consideration.

“It has to be perfectly clear that banning the Holy Quran in the Netherlands is not up for discussion for this government and will not be up for dicussion in future. We have freedom of religion here,” Integration Minister Ella Vogelaar said in a statement.

Vogelaar described Wilders’ call as “an insult to the majority of Muslims in the Netherlands and abroad who reject calls to hate and violence.”

It's scary how much hate, mistrust, and fear ignorance and racism can create.

Celebrating 600 years of Islam in Europe

AP Press; SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Bosnian Muslims celebrate 600 years of Islam in their nation Saturday with a concert of spiritual music, a prayer for peace, and a gentle reminder to Europe: not all of the continent's Muslims are of immigrant origin.

"Recently we have noticed that Europe is obsessed by the immigrant Muslims from the East," said Mustafa Ceric, head of the Bosnia Islamic Community, the official institution of Bosnia's Muslims. "This is an opportunity to remind that there are indigenous Muslims in Europe."

"By celebrating 600 years of Islam here we want to naturalize Islam in Europe," he said, adding that Bosnia's Muslims have illustrated how Islam can be harmonized with a European way of life.

Read on here

Caption: Two Bosnian women on their way to Friday prayers

Muslims in Athens an Underground Thing

Moving Islam out of the basement

Immigrant Muslims in Athens now have a 1,800m2 cultural centre to call their own. It's the first formal Islamic prayer site to operate in Athens since the end of Ottoman rule nearly 200 years ago

KATHY TZILIVAKIS

The new home of the Arab Hellenic Centre for Culture and Civilisation in Moschato also serves as the city's only formal place for Islamic prayer

"IT'S light, bright and open," says Mohamed Abedlkader, enjoying the morning sunlight streaming in through the large picture windows of the new premises of the Arab Hellenic Centre for Culture and Civilisation in the southern Athens suburb of Moschato on June 26.

"We finally have a view of the sky," he adds, referring to the many makeshift mosques in Athens that are housed in underground apartments. "We finally have a place to gather and to pray that we can be proud of."

The Egyptian shopowner is the general director of the Arab Hellenic Centre for Culture and Civilisation, which was founded in 2001 by a group of Arab-born Muslims residing in Athens.

The centre's new three-storey 1,800m² building, which faces southeast (towards Mecca, a city in western Saudi Arabia and the most sacred city in Islam), was opened on June 22. It boasts three carpeted prayer halls - a main hall for men, another for women and a third in the basement to contain a spillover crowd.

Even though it has no crescent-capped minarets - the familiar beacons to Muslims everywhere - the new brown-brick Moschato building hosts the city's first formal (though not official) mosque.

"Yes, this is a place for prayer, but it is not an official mosque," says Abedlkader, who is also one of the six imams at the Moschato centre. "We have been underground for so many years that this is a good place for us. We feel happy to sit here and to meet people here. Now we have a place to hold our meetings, our celebrations, our wedding parties. We have our own place."

But the centre's 2,000-person capacity cannot serve all of the city's Muslim immigrants who reportedly number more than 100,000. "We still need an official Athens mosque," adds Abedlkader, referring the Greek government's pledge to construct a mosque in Votanikos, on the outskirts of Athens. It is unclear when construction will begin.

The city's estimated 120,000 Muslim immigrants currently pray in underground apartments, garages, basement shops and other rented spaces, which members of this growing community have converted into makeshift mosques. There are more than 20 unofficial mosques scattered around the city. All of them are inconspicuous to passers-by.

Community

The Moschato centre will also serve as a local immigrant Muslim community centre.

"We want to work on two levels," explains Abedlkader. "We want to work with Arabs because they need lessons about their religion and about the Greek language and Greek culture and because they have been living here for so many years but most of them do not know how to speak Greek. We also want to work with Greek people who want to know about the Arabic language and Arabs. This place is the perfect place for something like this because there is a lot of room."

Another future endeavour is to set up an in-house tourist agency so as to assist Muslims who wish to visit Mecca during the annual hajj. According to Abedlkader, they also want to open an Arab grocery on the ground floor so that the proceeds can be used to cover the centre's operating costs.

The purchase of the building
(a former textile factory) and much of the renovation was financed by a wealthy Saudi Arabian investor and entrepreneur.

"He had visited Athens several years ago and had prayed at one of the small, underground mosques in Athens," says Abedlkader. "He said that there should be a better place for Muslims to pray. This is why he did it."