Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: l'invenzione dell'Islamofobia

http://www.signandsight.com/features/2123.html
The invention of Islamophobia
Islamophobia was invented to silence those Muslims who question the
Koran and who demand equality of the sexes. By Pascal Bruckner
At the end of the 1970s, Iranian fundamentalists invented the term
"Islamophobia" formed in analogy to "xenophobia". The aim of this word
was to declare Islam inviolate. Whoever crosses this border is deemed
a racist. This term, which is worthy of totalitarian propaganda, is
deliberately unspecific about whether it refers to a religion, a
belief system or its faithful adherents around the world.
But confession has no more in common with race than it has with
secular ideology. Muslims, like Christians, come from the Arab world,
Africa, Asia and Europe, just as Marxists, liberals and anarchists
come or came from all over. In a democracy, no one is obliged to like
religion, and until proved otherwise, they have the right to regard it
as retrograde and deceptive. Whether you find it legitimate or absurd
that some people regard Islam with suspicion – as they once did
Catholicism – and reject its aggressive proselytism and claim to total
truth – this has nothing to do with racism.
Do we talk about 'liberalophobia' or 'socialistophobia' if someone
speaks out against the distribution of wealth or market domination. Or
should we reintroduce blasphemy, abolished by the revolution in 1791,
as a statutory offence, in line with the annual demands of the
"Organisation of the Islamic Conference".  Or indeed the French
politician Jean-Marc Roubaud, who wants to see due punishment for
anyone who "disparages the religious feelings of a community or a
state". Open societies depend on the peaceful coexistence of the
principle belief systems and the right to freedom of opinion. Freedom
of religion is guaranteed, as is the freedom to criticise religions.
The French, having freed themselves from centuries of ecclesiastical
rule, prefer discretion when it comes to religion. To demand separate
rights for one community or another, imposing restrictions on the
right to question dogma is a return to the Ancien Regime.
The term "Islamophobia" serves a number of functions: it denies the
reality of an Islamic offensive in Europe all the better to justify
it; it attacks secularism by equating it with fundamentalism. Above
all, however, it wants to silence all those Muslims who question the
Koran, who demand equality of the sexes, who claim the right to
renounce religion, and who want to practice their faith freely and
without submitting to the dictates of the bearded and doctrinaire. It
follows that young girls are stigmatised for not wearing the veil, as
are French, German or English citizens of Maghribi, Turkish, African
or Algerian origin who demand the right to religious indifference, the
right not to believe in God, the right not to fast during Ramadan.
Fingers are pointed at these renegades, they are delivered up to the
wrath of their religions communities in order to quash all hope of
change among the followers of the Prophet.
On a global scale, we are abetting the construction of a new thought
crime, one which is strongly reminiscent of the way the Soviet Union
dealt with the "enemies of the people". And our media and politicians
are giving it their blessing. Did not the French president himself,
never one to miss a blunder - not compare Islamophobia with
Antisemitism? A tragic error. Racism attacks people for what they are:
black, Arab, Jewish, white. The critical mind on the other hand
undermines revealed truths and subjects the scriptures to exegesis and
transformation. To confuse the two is to shift religious questions
from an intellectual to a judicial level. Every objection, every joke
becomes a crime.
The desecration of graves or of places of worship is naturally a
matter for the courts. In France, for the most part it is Christian
graveyards or churches that are affected. Let us not forget that
today, of all the monotheist religions, Christianity is the most
persecuted – particularly in Islamic countries such Algeria, Iraq,
Pakistan, Turkey or Egypt. It is easier to be a Muslim in London, New
York or Paris than a Protestant or Catholic in the Middle East or
North Africa. But the term "Christianophobia" does not function – and
that's a good thing. There are words which taint language, which
obscure meaning. "Islamophobia" is one of the words that we urgently
need to delete from our vocabulary.
*
Pascal Bruckner, born in 1948, is one of the leading French "nouveaux
philosophes". He studied philosophy at the Sorbonne under Roland
Barthes. His works include "The Temptation of Innocence - Living in
the Age of Entitlement" (Algora Publishing, 2000), "The Tears of the
White Man: Compassion As Contempt" (The Free Press, 1986) "The Divine
Child: A Novel of Prenatal Rebellion" (Little Brown & Co, 1994) Evil
Angels (Grove Press, 1987)

Koran and who demand equality of the sexes. By Pascal Bruckner
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Namib
"Nessun lacrimogeno può disperdere manifestazioni d'affetto" (Alessandro 
Bergonzoni)