The invasion of Europe by Islam: Is Europe Doomed?

The Moroccan born author Laila Lalami has written an interesting article for The Nation regarding the problem of Muslim immigration to Europe, The New Inquisition. In the article, among others, Lalami takes to task Christopher Caldwell, the author of Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West for reinforcing worn-out stereotypical cliches, i.e., islamisation of the West, the spread of violence in Muslim communities which is then conveniently blamed on Islam, promoting the clash of civilisations thesis and, probably most importantly, selectively presenting (negative) facts which damage the reputation and standing of all Muslims. "Simplifying the facts is expedient for Caldwell... as it helps bolster the argument he is trying to make, which is that Islam is locked in an inevitable and perpetual civilizational conflict with the West".

At a literary festival in New York City some years ago, I was introduced to a French writer who, almost immediately after we shook hands, asked me where I was from. When the answer was "Morocco," he put down his drink and stared at me with anthropological curiosity. We spoke about literature, of course, and discovered a common love for the work of the South African writer J.M. Coetzee, but before long the conversation had turned to Moroccan writers, then to Moroccan writers in France, and then, as I expected it eventually would, to Moroccan immigrants in France--at which point the French writer declared, "If they were all like you, there wouldn't be a problem."

Continue reading