Weekend Roundup: Is Europe Imploding?

Europe is facing divisive challenges on all fronts. It is being torn within by hardening attitudes toward the growing presence not only of Muslim immigrants, but also of citizens. On Monday, demonstrators thronged the streets of Dresden in support of "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident." On Wednesday in Paris, 12 people were killed, including cartoonists who lampooned the Prophet Muhammad, in the horrific Charlie Hebdo attack. While the euro tumbles, northern and southern Europe are bitterly at odds over austerity policies and continuing high unemployment. And a newly aggressive Russia is challenging European values on its eastern frontier. Writing from Berlin, Alexander Görlach analyzes what is behind rising Islamophobia in Europe. From Paris, Le Huffington Post editorial director Anne Sinclair pays homage to the slain journalists. "Infidel" author Ayaan Hirsi Ali warns that we can't let political Islamists define the territory of insult. And renowned Islamic scholar Akbar Ahmed looks at the long history, and present social conditions, of Muslims in Europe. Commenting on the Paris massacre, philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo argues that fanaticism that allows no other truth than its own is the sign of barbarism. Writing from Paris, Dominique Moisi resists the impulse to "sacralize" the Charlie Hebdo satirists. Olivier Roy writes that there is no "Muslim community," only a "Muslim population" in France. Writing from Athens, Syriza leader Alexis Ts...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news