debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
Cultural conflicts are merely symptoms or reflections of deep-rooted socio-economic problems or injustices: this has been, and continues to be, the traditional view espoused by many European social democrats. The logic which flows from this is pretty simple: if we get the socio-economic questions right, the answers to our cultural problems will fall into place. [...]
And finally it came to Germany, the all-disrupting debate about the Three I’s-Complex – Immigration, Integration and Islam -, a debate which threatens to turn all established politics, as we know it upside down. Germany has been contaminated by moral panic, because of Deutschland schafft sich ab, a book by Thilo Sarrazin, a former SPD-politician [...]
The Pew Global Attitudes Project has recently published a very interesting piece of research investigating attitudes towards the full Islamic veil. The results show a remarkable difference between Europeans and US citizens. Even though Damian Green, the UK immigration minister, says a ban of the Burka would be “un-British” the vast majority of Brits seem [...]
The Swiss vote to ban the building of minarets shows that Europe’s view of Islam is still plagued by fear and ignorance. The Swiss vote to ban the building of minarets has led to a global outbreak of irritation and indignation. On the surface this may have concerned a building ban, but the core issue [...]
All Content