Muslim Minorities in Europe—Questions of Culture, Ethnicity, and Religion

OSI's Middle East and North Africa Initiative hosted a briefing, "Muslim Minorities in Europe: Questions of Culture, Ethnicity, and Religion," with Olivier Roy, Research Director, French National Center for Scientific Research. Anthony Richter, director of Middle East Initiatives and associate director of OSI, introduced the event.

Most Muslims in contemporary Europe arrived as part of a wave of labor immigration, Roy noted. Since they didn't intend to stay, they "had no vision of themselves as Western or European Muslims." But the second and third generations "are here to stay." To integrate them France has used an "integrationist" or "assimilationist" model, meaning French citizens are assumed to have no religious, linguistic, or cultural specificity.

This model has failed, Roy said, because it conflates religion and culture. The problem, however, is a disconnect between the two; religious "revivalism" in Europe is the attempt to reconstruct religion outside of cultural bonds. Fundamentalism is not a backlash of traditional culture against Westernization and globalization; it is an anti-cultural product of those forces.

The riots in France in November 2005 have been described as the "intifada of the suburbs," Roy said, yet the unrest "had absolutely nothing to do with Islam." Instead factors such as high unemployment, especially among the youth, are to blame. Islamic militants were "sidelined"; the riots had no meaning for them, nor were they able to provide a viable alternative.

The media focuses on Islamic radicals, but this hides what else is going on. There is no "Muslim community," Roy said, only a diverse "Muslim population." For instance the notion that the "Muslim community" was upset by the recent Danish cartoon controversy is false, he said. The actual number of protesters was a small fraction of the Muslim population.