The French connection
David Warren - Monday,12 December 2005
Western Standard
One of my American friends asked me this question a couple of weeks ago: "Do you think what is happening in France will happen in Canada?"
Now, I'm not sure the average Canadian would even know what has happened in France, but take it from me, the Islamic Revolution in Europe has begun. Not that the average Canadian (a class which, of course, excludes Western Standard readers) is without an excuse. For if he listens to CBC, he will be under the impression that the rioting has been by "underprivileged French youths." The fact that they had been chanting "Allahou Akhbar!" in each of the several hundred locations where they were torching cars each night, was quite passed over. After all, telling people what is really going on is the fundamental act of political incorrectness.
The short answer is, yes, it will happen here. But you know I prefer long answers.
For the short term, Canada is better off than France in three significant ways. One, the proportion of Muslims in the general population is far lower. Two, they are not overwhelmingly from one subcultural part of the Islamic world (as, North Africa). Three, the opportunities for integration into Canadian society are much higher. We don't have "Muslim ghettoes" anything like what they have in France.
Indeed, Canada still receives large numbers of immigrants from the Middle East who are not Muslim, but instead Christian. Many came here to escape conditions in that Islamic world--where Christians are subjugated under "dhimmi" status, and are increasingly persecuted for their beliefs. (This varies in intensity from country to country, but is nevertheless a real issue from Morocco to Indonesia.) It is hard to guess from census returns, but I would think nearly half of Canada's Arabs are in fact Christian (once it was nearly 100 per cent), and that most would take a grimmer view of the "threat of radical Islam" than any WASP Canadian has ever entertained.
But the reality is that, today, our gates are wide open to an influx of immigrant claimants from every part of the Islamic world. Most of these are economic migrants, who came here because there were no opportunities back home. Many are members of Muslim minorities--Shiites, Sufis, Alowites, Animist-synchretists and others who were themselves persecuted by Sunni Muslim authorities back home. Only a tiny number are of the terrorist disposition, but alas, only a tiny number have to be for Canada to be under a huge terrorist threat; and this number can easily enter the country as part of the refugee flow.
The real problem, as in France, is the second generation. Will they be assimilated into the mainstream of Canadian life, or will they be increasingly separated into economically dysfunctional ghettoes, where the jobless young fall under the spell of fanatical imams and delinquent peers?
The concentrations of Muslims congregating in distinct neighbourhoods of, for example, greater Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and London, Ont., should be cause for alarm. The lethal combination of Canadian state "multicultural" policies (a reprise on France), with the universal Islamic demand for separate existence under Sharia law, with the current international Muslim vogue for Salafist and Wahabbi puritanism, is almost a guarantee for serious trouble.
Like France, Canada currently lacks the intellectual and moral equipment to grasp the profound contradictions between the cultural norms of Islam, and those we have inherited through the Christian tradition. Our very inability to discuss these conflicts openly makes us defenceless against any future challenge to what we are and how we live. And our proliferating "human rights codes" were almost designed to prevent our waking up.
Example of question: "Is it possible to be both a faithful practising Muslim, and a loyal citizen of the secular Canadian state?" A lot of learned Muslims would say no.
So, yes, in short, we should expect what we are now seeing in Europe to explode, sooner or later, in Canada, too. When, is an open question, but the precedent that has now been set in all the major cities of France will probably make it sooner.
David Warren - Monday,12 December 2005
Western Standard
One of my American friends asked me this question a couple of weeks ago: "Do you think what is happening in France will happen in Canada?"
Now, I'm not sure the average Canadian would even know what has happened in France, but take it from me, the Islamic Revolution in Europe has begun. Not that the average Canadian (a class which, of course, excludes Western Standard readers) is without an excuse. For if he listens to CBC, he will be under the impression that the rioting has been by "underprivileged French youths." The fact that they had been chanting "Allahou Akhbar!" in each of the several hundred locations where they were torching cars each night, was quite passed over. After all, telling people what is really going on is the fundamental act of political incorrectness.
The short answer is, yes, it will happen here. But you know I prefer long answers.
For the short term, Canada is better off than France in three significant ways. One, the proportion of Muslims in the general population is far lower. Two, they are not overwhelmingly from one subcultural part of the Islamic world (as, North Africa). Three, the opportunities for integration into Canadian society are much higher. We don't have "Muslim ghettoes" anything like what they have in France.
Indeed, Canada still receives large numbers of immigrants from the Middle East who are not Muslim, but instead Christian. Many came here to escape conditions in that Islamic world--where Christians are subjugated under "dhimmi" status, and are increasingly persecuted for their beliefs. (This varies in intensity from country to country, but is nevertheless a real issue from Morocco to Indonesia.) It is hard to guess from census returns, but I would think nearly half of Canada's Arabs are in fact Christian (once it was nearly 100 per cent), and that most would take a grimmer view of the "threat of radical Islam" than any WASP Canadian has ever entertained.
But the reality is that, today, our gates are wide open to an influx of immigrant claimants from every part of the Islamic world. Most of these are economic migrants, who came here because there were no opportunities back home. Many are members of Muslim minorities--Shiites, Sufis, Alowites, Animist-synchretists and others who were themselves persecuted by Sunni Muslim authorities back home. Only a tiny number are of the terrorist disposition, but alas, only a tiny number have to be for Canada to be under a huge terrorist threat; and this number can easily enter the country as part of the refugee flow.
The real problem, as in France, is the second generation. Will they be assimilated into the mainstream of Canadian life, or will they be increasingly separated into economically dysfunctional ghettoes, where the jobless young fall under the spell of fanatical imams and delinquent peers?
The concentrations of Muslims congregating in distinct neighbourhoods of, for example, greater Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and London, Ont., should be cause for alarm. The lethal combination of Canadian state "multicultural" policies (a reprise on France), with the universal Islamic demand for separate existence under Sharia law, with the current international Muslim vogue for Salafist and Wahabbi puritanism, is almost a guarantee for serious trouble.
Like France, Canada currently lacks the intellectual and moral equipment to grasp the profound contradictions between the cultural norms of Islam, and those we have inherited through the Christian tradition. Our very inability to discuss these conflicts openly makes us defenceless against any future challenge to what we are and how we live. And our proliferating "human rights codes" were almost designed to prevent our waking up.
Example of question: "Is it possible to be both a faithful practising Muslim, and a loyal citizen of the secular Canadian state?" A lot of learned Muslims would say no.
So, yes, in short, we should expect what we are now seeing in Europe to explode, sooner or later, in Canada, too. When, is an open question, but the precedent that has now been set in all the major cities of France will probably make it sooner.