Tariq Ramadan on Islam in the US

[Rex Brynen]

Before people get all giddy over this guy. A very different take on Tariq Ramadan can be found in
The Flight of the Intellectuals
Paul Berman

Needless to say this small book has raised quite a to do in some circles.

I think that Ramadan's position on Islam, modernity, and the West stand on their own--unless someone finds anything particularly obnoxious in the WashPo piece I posted.

On the debate over Ramadan, and over Berman on Ramadan, Foreign Affairs (July/August 2010) had an excellent piece by Marc Lynch, and follow-ups by Berman and Lynch. You'll find them here and here.

[Fuchs]

The polls seem to vary a lot about the Burqa issue.

http://www.rp-online.de/panorama/deu...id_826954.html

Die Hälfte der Deutschen ist einer Umfrage zufolge für ein Burkaverbot.

Das berichtete die "Financial Times" am Dienstag. Nach der von ihr in Auftrag gegebenen Umfrage plädierten 70 Prozent der Franzosen für ein Burkaverbot, 65 Prozent waren in Spanien und 63 Prozent in Italien dafür. Auch in Großbritannien plädierten 57 Prozent der Befragten für ein Verbot.

this poll (apparently financed by Financial Times Deutschland) says
for a Burqa ban:
70% Frenchmen
65% Spanish
63% Italians
57% British
"half " of Germans


Besides; A Burqa ban is not anti-Islamic, but rather anti-certain Islamic interpretations.
Turkey - an Islamic secularised country - has (or had) such a ban, for example. It was there - just as in France - part of a fight not against Islam, but against a very patriarchal family model that subjugates women.
The veil is not really religious, but a social and cultural issue.
Many Muslim societies don't know veils for females, some (Touareg, for example) even ban females from using veils because it's associated with masculinity instead.


The ban in Belgium and France looks to me like symptom-oriented politics; they attempt to make the existence of a non-integrated subculture less visible, that's all.

[Fuchs]

The polls seem to vary a lot about the Burqa issue.

http://www.rp-online.de/panorama/deu...id_826954.html

Die Hälfte der Deutschen ist einer Umfrage zufolge für ein Burkaverbot.

Das berichtete die "Financial Times" am Dienstag. Nach der von ihr in Auftrag gegebenen Umfrage plädierten 70 Prozent der Franzosen für ein Burkaverbot, 65 Prozent waren in Spanien und 63 Prozent in Italien dafür. Auch in Großbritannien plädierten 57 Prozent der Befragten für ein Verbot.

this poll (apparently financed by Financial Times Deutschland) says
for a Burqa ban:
70% Frenchmen
65% Spanish
63% Italians
57% British
"half " of Germans


Besides; A Burqa ban is not anti-Islamic, but rather anti-certain Islamic interpretations.
Turkey - an Islamic secularised country - has (or had) such a ban, for example. It was there - just as in France - part of a fight not against Islam, but against a very patriarchal family model that subjugates women.
The veil is not really religious, but a social and cultural issue.
Many Muslim societies don't know veils for females, some (Touareg, for example) even ban females from using veils because it's associated with masculinity instead.


The ban in Belgium and France looks to me like symptom-oriented politics; they attempt to make the existence of a non-integrated subculture less visible, that's all.

[Valin]

I think that Ramadan's position on Islam, modernity, and the West stand on their own--unless someone finds anything particularly obnoxious in the WashPo piece I posted.

On the debate over Ramadan, and over Berman on Ramadan, Foreign Affairs (July/August 2010) had an excellent piece by Marc Lynch, and follow-ups by Berman and Lynch. You'll find them here and here.

Thanks guy!