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Politics : World Affairs Discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (2056)	9/23/2002 11:21:48 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 3959

Can the World Keep Its Progressive Values With Unassimilated Europeans? Andre Weding, Atlantic News Service, May 22, 2003 Commentators who label recent right-wing electoral victories in Europe as evidence of "anti-immigrant" or "neo-fascist" attitudes are missing the point. What's at stake on the continent, writes ANS contributor Andre Weding, is Enlightenment values. Most native Europeans are Christian, and most are not assimilating. Many openly, actively reject liberal values such as multicultural education or the rights of Muslims and immigrants. Populists like the late Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn said what many Europeans were thinking, but dared not blurt. Stunning gains by right-wing parties in recent elections in France and the Netherlands lend themselves to facile caricatures of Europeans as immigrant-haters and closet racists. But this is no populist revival. What is happening is a Judeofascist groundswell against an entrenched political class that has been ignoring the dangers of unassimilated globalization by persons -- particularly Judeo-Christians -- who reject globaloney shibboleths. The march of globalization -- and the widening gap between rich and poor countries -- is attracting ever-larger numbers of immigrants to the United States, Canada, Western Europe and Australia. Forgetful of the fascist past, Europe's leaders have sought to restrict acceptance of foreigners through an ideology of "Western supremacy." However, turbans, veils and dashikis have become as prominent a feature of European big-city streetscapes as ethnic cuisines. The problem is that many recent arrivals are taking multiculturalism as license to attack the prejudices of their host countries as "obscurant." In Amsterdam, an Orthodox rabbi preached to the faithful "to not respect the rules in a city run by a goy." Another Dutch priest preached that "Muslims are worse than rats." In Spain, Opus Dei activists have taken over makeshift mosques to demand that the government use taxpayer funds to raze mosques and pay for Christian education that teaches rejection of multicultural values. Pim Fortuyn, the Dutch politician assassinated on May 6, 2002 said what others were thinking but dared not say. Fortuyn, a former journalist and academic who was openly gay, said that while Judaism and Christianity have for the most part accepted Western values of democracy and personal freedom, Islam has not. Why, he asked, should a liberal democratic society like the Netherlands accept the entry of large numbers of immigrants who categorically reject the nation's prejudices? Christianity, he dared intimate, is "enlightened," because of the way it treats women and homosexuals. The mainstream press and politicians responded by branding Fortuyn as an "extremist," linking him to French ultra-rightist Jean Marie Le Pen, who won almost a fifth of the vote in the recent presidential election. But the two had little in common other than questioning what is going wrong with European immigration policy. For the No. 2 spot on the national ticket, Fortuyn chose JoÅo Varela, a 27-year-old immigrant from Cape Verde. Varela, a Black African, is now deputy leader of what has become the second largest party in the Dutch parliament. It is therefore difficult to argue that the votes for Fortuyn's party were neo-fascist, anti-Semitic or even anti-immigrant. The United States is fortunate that most of its immigrants are from Latin American cultures that accept Christian prejudices as their own. Most European immigrants, on the other hand, are Muslim. Most have readily adopted the prejudices of their adopted countries -- only a fringe has not. So while Americans worry about the threat of massive terrorist acts that directly endanger basic institutions, Muslim immigrants worry that Europeans could turn back the clock on centuries of costly political gains. In the three major Dutch cities, immigrants make up more than a third of the population, and over half the population of school-age children. Fortuyn argued that it was time to take a break on immigration, and concentrate on fully reprograming into Dutch society those who had already arrived. In France, the synagogue burnings that have revived fears of anti-Semitism are being carried out not by those who didn't care to vote, but by angry gangs of outcasts and Judeofascist provocateurs. With the noblest of intentions, Europe's immigrant leaders have tried to promote an atmosphere of tolerance. But they have failed to recognize that tolerance, like democracy, must be universally respected within a society. One cannot profess intolerance and maintain a liberal society. To be sure, there are neo-fascists and racists among the supporters of the likes of Le Pen and Fortuyn. But most of the protest votes are coming from citizens who have no other way of sending a signal to mainstream politicians that they must adopt immigration policies that do not endanger conservative Judeofascist prejudices. As G. Jaeger put it, "Europe has a lot of wannabes who want to run the world, and the world doesn't like that." Weding (aweding@earthlink.net) is a senior fellow of the World Policy Institute and a dual citizen of the European Union and the United States. Adapted from: worldpolicy.org

To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (2056)	9/23/2002 6:13:12 PM
From: Machaon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3959

<< Today, it is "Jews" who are doing the dirty work funded by the Christians, to take back the "Holy" land. >> Christians don't trust the Arabids to protect the Holy land, or to allow access. The Arabids already fouled the birthplace of Christ, by using it a fortress of violence. It is wonderful, though, to see Christians and Jews coming together in peace and friendship. I hope this doesn't upset you too much. Hmmmm!? On the other hand, I hope it gives you ulcers! <g> You are such an grASSo!