ANY goodwill Muslims received from non-Muslims following the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack earlier this year in France is quickly evaporating as it has become evident that Europeans, and particularly the French, are viewing Muslims with more suspicion than ever.
Memorials for the 129 victims of the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris have been the scenes of several outbursts directed at Muslims for allegedly condoning the massacre. Even before the Paris attacks, hate crimes against Muslims have escalated as Daesh continues to gain strength and administers its special brand of slaughter, including the apparent bombing of a Russian airliner en route to Moscow from Sharm El-Sheikh.
The FBI reported that in the US anti-Muslim crimes have risen by about 14 percent between 2011 and 2013. In 2014, California mosques in San Diego and Santa Cruz were vandalized and a Coachella mosque was shot at. In the United Kingdom, a Teesside University study found that there were 548 attacks against Muslims between March 2014 and February of this year. Attacks include extreme violence, assaults on streets, online abuse and threats against individuals.
On the weekend following the Paris attacks, a Peterborough, Canada, mosque was set on fire, causing extensive damage. Neighbors, passersby and Christian church members came to the aid of the mosque with cash donations for repairs and to offer support.
The generosity of the Canadian neighbors demonstrates just how vital community cooperation is to ensure that all religions are protected from hate crimes. However, the climate has changed dramatically worldwide, but especially in Europe, with the flood of millions of Syrian refugees into the European Union. Xenophobia had played a large part of the protests against refugees entering Eastern Europe, but now blatant bigotry has taken root with calls among some lawmakers to prevent immigrants from entering their countries.
In the United States, some Republican presidential candidates have called for denying Muslim refugees to enter the country. Many governors said they would keep Muslim immigrants out of their states although they have no legal authority to do so.
Daesh wants to create fear among non-Muslims and it’s accomplishing its mission. It wants total war with the West that will result in annihilation of tens of thousands of people. They may very well accomplish that goal if the West succumbs to fear and xenophobia. By giving into our more baser instincts of fear of the unknown, fear of strangers, and well, fear of brown people, we will play into the hands of Daesh.
People will believe what they want to believe. If they fear, or hate, Muslims for whatever reasons they choose, no amount of feel-good and brotherhood of man stories on broadcast and cable news programs and in newspapers will change that. The reasons why young men and women become terrorists are myriad and complicated. There is no one answer, but its obvious to me that their extremism has little to do with “hating freedom” or “hating the West’s lifestyle,” but something rooted deep in their disaffected and marginal lives.
Bigots can provide all the explanations they want for hating people not like them, but there is no rational excuse. It’s up to governments to stand against the pressure of hate and use the rule of law, their constitutions and their humanity to ensure that all minorities are protected, whether they are war refugees or simply a family wanting to attend religious services in their community.
