Belgium: Belgium's integration problem

Belgium: Belgium's integration problem


Via New Europe:

In Europe, and especially in Belgium, most Muslims are part of the underclass. As immigrants, most have come from underdeveloped nations, many as economic and political refugees. As such, they have often lacked the skills necessary for success in the labour market. That reality, combined with discrimination by the native population, has led to sub-average economic conditions for Europe’s Muslims.

The social and civil status of religion is another key factor in the integration process of Muslims in Belgium. European secularism has traditionally meant that political power interacts in a neutral manner with religious institutions.

Three scenarios for the future of Muslims in Belgium are possible: acceptance, avoidance, or resistance. Professor Jocelyne Cesari of Harvard University says that these three possible Muslim attitudes subtend the multiplicity of discourses and actions in the name of Islam, whether they are oriented towards Muslims or non-Muslims.

Cesari explains that acceptance means that the dominant Western discourse is accepted by Muslims, and is accompanied by cultural amnesia and a definite will to assimilate. This trend is marginal among immigrant Muslims.

Lastly, avoidance refers to behaviours or discourses that attempt to separate Muslim communities from the non-Muslim environment by developing, for example, a sectarian usage of Islamic religious beliefs. Resistance means refusing the status given to Islam within dominant discourses and politics.

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Austria: Integration secretary plans home visit initiative

Austria: Integration secretary plans home visit initiative

Via the Austrian Times:

Social workers will visit badly integrated foreigners at home to help them learning German, People’s Party (ÖVP) Integration Secretary Sebastian Kurz announced yesterday (Tues).

Kurz said his office planned to expand a successful Viennese pilot project concept based on programmes in Switzerland and Australia to several other Austrian towns and cities in the coming months. The project has a budget of 300,000 Euros, according to Austria’s first state secretary for integration who was sworn in around one year ago.

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Baden-Württemberg: More self-criticism needed, says integration minister

Baden-Württemberg: More self-criticism needed, says integration minister

Via DW:

In May 2012, Bilkay Öney will have been in office as Integration Minister in the German state of Baden-Württemberg for one year. The Turkish-born politician says she is privileged and told DW about her work.

If you look at integration policies in Germany: what seems to work?

I wish I could answer that question with a lot of positive aspects. But in general, the integration debate is often difficult. We often talk at cross purposes. The migrants don't know what the majority wants and what it regards as integration and vice versa. In that respect, I believe we have to articulate much more clearly what it is we want - so do the migrants. Accusations from the one side are followed by explanations from the other. Somehow, we can't see eye to eye and I get the impression that the battle lines are drawn. It would be good if we could break that up - which can only work if we open up to an honest debate and dare address issues that might be uncomfortable or might be viewed in a critical light. More self-criticism on the part of the migrants as well as the majority society is called for.

What else can migrants do to contribute to integration?

They could more often take up offers to integrate. What good is the best concept for integration if migrants don't take advantage of it. We have to pitch integration; it has to be clear that efforts toward integration are worthwhile. Otherwise, migrants will feel offended and withdraw into their corner.

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Switzerland: Muslims advise fellow believers how to integrate

Switzerland: Muslims advise fellow believers how to integrate

Via swissinfo:

A group of Swiss Muslims has published recommendations for integration in response to a nationwide vote which banned the construction of minarets in Switzerland.

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The Grouping of Swiss Muslims said its recommendations were not only for the attention of federal, cantonal and communal authorities, political parties, the media and business, but “in a large part, for Muslims”.

“Muslims must make more of an effort, but society also needs to open their arms,” one of the group members, Khaldoun Dia-Eddine, told reporters. The group was set up a day after the vote as an informal think tank, but does not claim to be representative of all Muslims in Switzerland.

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France: 'every day we are attacked, insulted and treated like terrorists or extraterrestrials'

France: 'every day we are attacked, insulted and treated like terrorists or extraterrestrials'

Via the Guardian:

President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to make the labelling of halal meat pivotal to his re-election campaign has infuriated, alienated and dismayed France's Muslim community, which may number as many as six million, and the backlash is growing. Members of the booming educated and entrepreneurial Muslim middle class say they are tired of being cast as scapegoats in Sarkozy's wooing of the extreme right and have accused him of dangerous and divisive election tactics.

Fateh Kimouche, a high-profile Muslim blogger, said the new class of second- and third-generation Muslims in France was not prepared to lie down and let the French republic roll over it as their parents had done.

"My parents came from Algeria and, like many others, they didn't make a fuss because they felt like invited guests who had to be on their best behaviour. But I was born here. We are Muslims and we are French, but every day we are attacked, insulted and treated like terrorists or extraterrestrials," he said. "France educated us; we have energy and enthusiasm and we have brains, businesses and money. The old generation of politicians don't seem to realise this."

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Germany: Integration study author criticizes interior minister

Germany: Integration study author criticizes interior minister

Via the Local:

German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich has come under attack from the key author of “The Daily Life of Muslims in Germany” study, published by the Bild newspaper on Thursday.

Some editorial writers have also questioned why Bild was able to obtain the study and release it first.

In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung published Saturday, the study’s main author Wolfgang Frindte said, “After the publication in a tabloid newspaper there was a lot of outrage and even despair in our team.”

He said the findings were published in such a way that the Muslims who were interviewed for the study “could have felt misused, and that’s sad.”

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Germany: 24% of young, non-German Muslims are religious extremists

Germany: 24% of young, non-German Muslims are religious extremists

Via the Local:

The survey showed that of Muslims living in Germany who were not German citizens, 52 percent favored integration, while 48 percent “strongly leaned toward separation” and clearly rejected German majority culture.

But when taking into account both Muslims who were German citizens and those who were not, the figure rose to 78 percent in favor of integration, versus 22 percent who favoured a more separatist approach.

The interior ministry’s study, “The Daily Life of Young Muslims in Germany” surveyed Muslims between 14 and 32 who had not become German citizens. It also interviewed several generations of Muslims living in Germany and evaluated television programmes.

There are currently around four million Muslims living in Germany, of which nearly half are German citizens.

The survey also showed that among the 14 to 32-year-olds there exists a "subgroup" of religious extremists who hold anti-western views and are reportedly prepared to use violence.

This group amounts to about 15 percent of Muslims with German citizenship and about 24 percent for Muslims who are not German.

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Germany: Minister Concerned About Muslim Integration

Germany: Minister Concerned About Muslim Integration

Via Bloomberg (h/t DW):

German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich is concerned about the results of a study by his ministry showing that every fourth non-German Muslim living in Germany rejects integration, is open to the use of violence, and denounces “western values,” Bild-Zeitung reported.

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