Riots in Paris
As rioting continues in the suburbs of Paris, many commentators have pointed to the lack of integration and assimilation that plagues many Muslim youths in France and throughout Western Europe.
This commentary seems to be largely right.
Basic economic factors that make the French economy and welfare state unsustainable also seem to be showing themselves.
I hate to sound like a social scientist aiming to look for "root causes" but the explanations I've read that have attempted to explain the alienation of European Muslim youths are largely off base.
Being Muslim does not in and of itself cause alienation. Many Muslim youths throughout Europe are simply uneducated. The public school system seems to have failed. The school system is the best and often only chance to integrate children into the dominant culture.
Being born and raised in Canada, I could confidently say that it would take a lot for a Muslim youth who attended all of grade school in the public system here to be hostile to western society. It's possible, but it just isn't possible for it to happen often or for it to be widespread.
I say this with some confidence because after the July bombings in London, and even after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, polls of British Muslims showed that almost a half of all respondents were sympathetic to the cause of the Jihadists. Those numbers would never exist among Muslims in North America.
I'm pointing to the school system even though I went to a private SIKH school (Khalsa School), where we had a prayer session and a religious class every single day (added onto the regular curriculum). I still remember having to memorize O Canada in the second or third grade. I still remember having a special assembly with veterans every Remembrance Day. We all still wore poppies this time of year. We still did a lot of the same stuff that was done in public school, meaning that it's even possible to integrate youths into the dominant culture through private, even religious schools, as long as there's proper guidelines and regulations.
European Muslims don't seem to get schooling that enforces any kind of nationalism or even any kind of attachment to western society. That really confuses me. How hard is it to use the public school system in order to integrate the children of Muslim immigrants?
It shouldn't be so easy for Jihadist recruiters to enlist misinformed, uneducated and paranoid Muslim youths.
The riots in Paris aren't really an Islamist issue right now, but they definitely seem to be a product of alienation and a lack of integration.
This commentary seems to be largely right.
Basic economic factors that make the French economy and welfare state unsustainable also seem to be showing themselves.
I hate to sound like a social scientist aiming to look for "root causes" but the explanations I've read that have attempted to explain the alienation of European Muslim youths are largely off base.
Being Muslim does not in and of itself cause alienation. Many Muslim youths throughout Europe are simply uneducated. The public school system seems to have failed. The school system is the best and often only chance to integrate children into the dominant culture.
Being born and raised in Canada, I could confidently say that it would take a lot for a Muslim youth who attended all of grade school in the public system here to be hostile to western society. It's possible, but it just isn't possible for it to happen often or for it to be widespread.
I say this with some confidence because after the July bombings in London, and even after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, polls of British Muslims showed that almost a half of all respondents were sympathetic to the cause of the Jihadists. Those numbers would never exist among Muslims in North America.
I'm pointing to the school system even though I went to a private SIKH school (Khalsa School), where we had a prayer session and a religious class every single day (added onto the regular curriculum). I still remember having to memorize O Canada in the second or third grade. I still remember having a special assembly with veterans every Remembrance Day. We all still wore poppies this time of year. We still did a lot of the same stuff that was done in public school, meaning that it's even possible to integrate youths into the dominant culture through private, even religious schools, as long as there's proper guidelines and regulations.
European Muslims don't seem to get schooling that enforces any kind of nationalism or even any kind of attachment to western society. That really confuses me. How hard is it to use the public school system in order to integrate the children of Muslim immigrants?
It shouldn't be so easy for Jihadist recruiters to enlist misinformed, uneducated and paranoid Muslim youths.
The riots in Paris aren't really an Islamist issue right now, but they definitely seem to be a product of alienation and a lack of integration.
posted by Japnaam Singh at
11:20 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home