– fordi tiden kræver et MODSPIL

26. Oct 2006

'Targeting Muslims - the new Inquisition'

 
Den israelske journalist Bradley Burston havde forleden et indlæg i Ha'aretz, hvor han funderer over, hvordan det mon ville være at være muslim i dagens Europa:
Were I a Muslim living in the West, I'd be mad as hell. Not to mention terrified.

Were I a Muslim living in the West, I'd begin to believe that a new Inquisition had begun. An inquisition aimed at no one but Muslims.

Were I a Muslim living in the West, my wife, or my sister, or my daughter might well decide to wear a headscarf or a veil when she went out in public.

Perhaps it would be because she was tired of men and boys ogling her, objectifying her. Perhaps it would be because she felt she was entitled to her dignity. Perhaps she simply might prefer modesty and privacy to fashion slavery.

Perhaps she just thought it was a free country.

And perhaps, on that last point, she would have been mistaken ...
Burston citerer blandt andet et eksempel fra Bayern, hvor man taler om at forbyde tørklædet - mens kristne kors og jødiske symboler fortsat skal være tilladt, "to the understandable ire of Muslims", som han skriver.

Til påstanden om, at vi jo må forsvare de vestlige værdier (underforstået: mod invasionen), svarer Burston:
And what Western values might these be? Are they the time-honored Western values of intolerance for people of color, suspicion and marginalization of non-Christians, fear and loathing of non-Whites? Exploitation of and contempt for the residents of former imperial possessions and colonies?

At this point, there will be a pause for the springloaded Islamophobes among us to suggest that it is any society's right and duty to protect itself against elements that may foment terrorism. There will be those who will argue that the veil may both mask and encourage extremism.

Perhaps it is time for us in the Western world to declare that Islam has a right to exist.

Perhaps it is time for us to recognize that non-violent, non-Judeo-Christian religious observance is a right, not an act of war.
Ja, måske det ligefrem var på høje tid.

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