Tag: europe

OLIVIER ROY ON EUROPEAN JIHADIS

December 10, 2015 by Kenan Malik

There are few academics who possess a more nuanced and cogent understanding of contemporary Islamism, jihadism and radicalization than the French sociologist Olivier Roy. Here are extracts from a lecture he gave last month at a conference organised by the Bundeskriminalamt (German federal police) on ‘International terrorism: How can prevention and repression keep pace?’ Roy’s lecture – which can be downloaded in full, together with all the other presentations, from the conference website – was entitled ‘What is the driving […]

Categories: Atheism & Religion, War on terror • Tags: europe, islam, islamic state, islamism, jihadism, olivier roy

RADICALIZATION IS NOT SO SIMPLE

October 7, 2015 by Kenan Malik

This is a transcript of my talk entitled ‘The Making of European Jihadis’ that I gave to the International Institute at the University of Michigan this week. (I have not had time to put in the links and references; I will do so soon.) Ifthekar Jaman was born in Portsmouth, on the south coast of England, one of four children. His parents, Enu Miah and Hena Choudhury, were first generation immigrants from Bangladesh, who had come to Portsmouth in 1981, opened […]

Categories: Atheism & Religion, War on terror • Tags: europe, france, identity politics, islam, islamic state, islamism, jihadism, left, multiculturalism, racism, radicalization, working class

A REFUGEE CRISIS – AND A CRISIS OF RESPONSE

September 15, 2015 by Kenan Malik

In October 2013, a ship carrying migrants sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean. Some 300 people drowned. European leaders expressed anger and outrage. The Italian government declared a national day of mourning. ‘I hope that this will be the last time we see a tragedy of this kind’, said Jean-Claude Mignon, head of the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly, ‘and I make a fervent appeal for specific, urgent action by member states to end this shame’. […]

Categories: International, Race & Immigration • Tags: europe, european union, fortress europe, germany, immigration, refugees

DISAFFECTION IN A FRAGMENTED WORLD

June 14, 2015 by Kenan Malik

This essay was published in the Observer, 14 June 2015, under the headline ‘As old orders crumble, progressive alternatives struggle to emerge’. The ambitions of the Islamists have been checked, those of the left revived. That is how most commentators viewed the results of last week’s Turkish general election. The ruling AKP, whose roots lie in the Islamist tradition, lost its parliamentary majority, in part because of the rise of HDP, a leftwing, secular Kurdish party. However, to view developments in […]

Categories: International, Politics • Tags: arab spring, bjp, egypt, europe, identity politics, india, indian national congress, islamism, kemalism, sectarianism, turkey

EAST, WEST AND THE RENAISSANCE

May 24, 2015 by Kenan Malik

Last week I published a talk that I had given at the Palais de Beaux-Arts in Brussels. The talk, ‘The many roots of Christian Europe, the many sources of to Islamic world’ was one in a series given to accompany an exhibition, ‘The Sultan’s World: The Ottoman Orient in Renaissance Art’, organized by Bozar, the Centre for Fine Arts. It is a groundbreaking exhibition that focuses on the period from the late fifteenth century to the early seventeenth, the period […]

Categories: Culture & Books, History • Tags: art, christianity, europe, ottoman empire, renaissance, titian

A CATHEDRAL, A MOSQUE, A CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS

May 11, 2015 by Kenan Malik

This is a transcript of a talk I gave at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels on 10 May 2015 on ‘The many roots of Christian Europe, the many sources of the Islamic world’. It was part of a series of talks to accompany an exhibition of ‘The Ottoman Orient in Renaissance Art’ entitled ‘L’Empire du Sultan’. I want to begin this talk in two cities at opposite ends of Europe – Córdoba and Istanbul. Córdoba’s Mosque-Cathedral is one of […]

Categories: Atheism & Religion, History • Tags: christianity, clash of civilizations, cordoba, enlightenment, europe, greek philosophy, hagia sophia, ibn rushd, islam, istanbul, jonathan israel, monotheism, muslim philosophy, muslim rationalism, ottoman empire, radical enlightenment, religion, socrates

LIVING IN DIVERSITY

May 4, 2015 by Kenan Malik

This is a transcript of a talk I gave at a conference last month in Oslo on diversity, faith and extremism. How should we live in a diverse society? It is a question that has been asked with increasing urgency in recent years as the question of immigration, and in particular of Islamic immigration, has taken centre stage in public debate. At the heart of this question lies the dilemma of how Western societies should respond to the influx of […]

Categories: Multiculturalism, Race & Immigration • Tags: assimilation, britain, civil society, cultural diversity, europe, france, free speech, immigration, integration, islam, islamism, jihadism, karim miske, multiculturalism, racism

THE FAILURE OF MULTICULTURALISM

February 17, 2015 by Kenan Malik

This is an essay about multiculturalism in Europe that I wrote for the latest issue of the journal Foreign Affairs, which has a series of features on ‘The Trouble with Race’. 1 Thirty years ago, many Europeans saw multiculturalism – the embrace of an inclusive, diverse society – as an answer to Europe’s social problems. Today, a growing number consider it to be a cause of them. That perception has led some mainstream politicians, including British Prime Minister David Cameron […]

Categories: Britain, International, Multiculturalism, Race & Immigration • Tags: assimilationism, britain, british asians, europe, france, germany, handsworth riots, identity politics, immigration, islam, multiculturalism, muslims, racism, turkish migrants, working class

THE WRONG KIND OF PANIC

November 10, 2014 by Kenan Malik

As a coda to my preface to the book on European Populism and Winning the Immigration Debate, here is the talk I gave to the discussion about populism at the European Parliament last week, organised by the European Liberal Forum and Fores. The context of this discussion is not just the rise of groups such UKIP in Britain, the Front National in France, the Sweden Democrats, but also the panic about it within mainstream circles. And if there is one […]

Categories: Politics, Race & Immigration • Tags: anti-racism, europe, immigration, left, populism, racism, ukip, working class

POPULISM: WHAT, WHY, HOW?

November 5, 2014 by Kenan Malik

This is my preface to a new book on European Populism and Winning the Immigration Debate. Edited by Clara Sandelind, and published by the European Liberal Forum and Fores, the book brings together many contributors including Matthew Goodwin, Mikael Hjerm, Andrea Bohman, Jamie Bartlet, Meindert Fennema, Sjoerdje van Heerden and Sarah de Lange. It is launched today at a roundtable discussion at the European Parliament and available free online from the ELF or Fores. Preface to European Populism and Winning the Immigration […]

Categories: Politics, Race & Immigration • Tags: europe, front national, identity politics, immigration, left, populism, racism, ukip, working class

POPULISM IN EUROPE: THE BOOK, THE DEBATE

October 30, 2014 by Kenan Malik

I have written the preface for a new book on European populism and winning the immigration debate. Published by the European Liberal Forum and Fores, other contributors include Clara Sandelind, Matthew Goodwin, Mikael Hjerm, Andrea Bohman, Jamie Bartlet, Meindert Fennema, Sjoerdje van Heerden, Sarah de Lange and many others. The book will be launched next week at a roundtable discussion at the European Parliament. It will be available free online from the ELF or Fores. I will publish my essay […]

Categories: Politics, Race & Immigration • Tags: europe, europe union, immigration, populism

HATREDS, OLD AND NEW

October 9, 2014 by Kenan Malik

This is the full version of my essay on anti-Semitism in Europe published in the New York Times in August under the headline ‘Enough Hate for Everyone’. (I cannot post the full versions of my New York Times articles on Pandaemonium until a month after the original publication.) A few years ago, I was a guest on Start the Week, a BBC radio discussion show. Among the other guests was the novelist Eva Figes, a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany and a […]

Categories: Justice & Liberties, Race & Immigration • Tags: anti-muslim hatred, anti-politics, anti-semitism, dieudonne, europe, eva figes, identity politics, israel, muslims

MULTICULTURALISM – THE BROADCAST

June 24, 2012 by Kenan Malik

My Milton K Wong lecture, ‘What’s wrong with multiculturalism?’, that I gave in Vancouver earlier this month, was broadcast on CBC on Friday. I have already posted the transcript of the talk, in two parts, here and here. (The broadcast has been slightly edited to fit the CBC schedule; the transcript is in full.) There is a Milton K Wong website dedicated to discussion and debate around the themes of the talk.

Categories: Multiculturalism • Tags: anders breivik, british asians, british politics, broadcasts, clash of civilizations, cultural diversity, danish cartoons, europe, far right, french politics, germany, guest workers, immigration, islam, multiculturalism, muslims, racism, riots, rushdie affair, turkish migrants

WHAT IS WRONG WITH MULTICULTURALISM? [PART 2]

June 7, 2012 by Kenan Malik

This is the second part of the transcript of my Milton K Wong lecture that I delivered in Vancouver last week. I posted the first part earlier this week. The talk will be broadcast in full on 22 June on the CBC’s Ideas strand. The story I have told so far is of a Europe that is not as plural as many imagine it to be, and of immigrants less assertive of their cultural identities than they are claimed to be. Multicultural policies emerged not because […]

Categories: Free Speech, Multiculturalism • Tags: anders breivik, behzti, british politics, clash of civilizations, cultural diversity, danish cartoons, diversity, europe, far right, handsworth riots, isaiah berlin, islam, multiculturalism, muslims, racism, riots, rushdie affair, will kymlicka

WHAT IS WRONG WITH MULTICULTURALISM? [PART 1]

June 4, 2012 by Kenan Malik

I gave the Milton K Wong lecture in Vancouver on Sunday. I very much enjoyed the event- it was a stunning venue, a superb audience and a good discussion of the issues. My thanks to the Laurier Institution, University of British Columbia and CBC for inviting me. Entitled ‘What is Wrong with Multiculturalism? A European Perpective’, the lecture pulled together many of the themes about immigration, identity, diversity and multiculturalism of which I have been talking and writing recently. It was […]

Categories: Multiculturalism, Race & Immigration • Tags: british asians, british politics, britishness, christopher caldwell, europe, french politics, germany, guest workers, immigration, islam, multiculturalism, muslims, parekh report, racism, turkish migrants