Cologne, beneath the surface
The appalling sexual assaults in Cologne
followed by exposures of similar attacks in Hamburg , Stuttgart ,
Kalmar , and Stockholm
has turned into a critical point in the politics of the Europe, the outcome of which might be a breakthrough for either the extreme right or the socialist left. There is no room for aF middle of the road politics.
The Establishment
The mere fact that most of the perpetrators are refugees and immigrants created an initial false polarization, e.g. asylum vs. women’s rights, the reactions to which ranged from hysteria to
deception. It appeared that all of a sudden the German establishment which
was known for its recent advocacy for refugees and hosted over a million of
them along with the recent pro-refugee movement and many others on the Left including feminists have found themselves between a rock and a hard place:
Should they side with women or refugees?
The German
establishment including its police and media covered up the incident for a few days
before they released the news. Even after the news was widely circulated the government continued to cover up for the perpetrators in fear of ultra right's propaganda.
Merkel’s government is modifying the law to ease the deportation of refugees and immigrants for criminal activities. This measure is in and by itself a surrender to the rightists.Germany
and Sweden are Germany has in average returned 200 refugees per
day to Austria
Merkel’s government is modifying the law to ease the deportation of refugees and immigrants for criminal activities. This measure is in and by itself a surrender to the rightists.
Most of those on the Left deemed racism as the main threat hence they underminded the assualts. This Left, which I often refer to as pro-Islamic Left, got busy with making up some conspiracy theories for which the German establishment provided the best fodder, e.g. its initial cover up.
The Left blamed imperialism and German government for plotting the incedent in order
to deport the very refugees that the German government had voluntarily admitted! This Left fell
short of claiming racists disguised in ‘tanned skin’ on New Year’s Eve to appear as refugees in order to conspire a plot against refugees!
Feminists initially took a more reasonable stand. They came out with 'anti-sexism, anti-racism' banner, however, they
ended up with misandry (sugar-coded as ‘patriarchy’) as the root cause of the
attacks. The feminists claim that violence against women is the outcome of
universal patriarchy; that it has to do with the gender of perpetrators rather than their place of birth or their religion. While patriarchy might be universal, feminism falls short to explain why violence against women is more common in
Islamic stricken societies. After all patriarchy is not genetic but
it is a social relation. Patriarchy is the outcome of an oppressive social relation in which women are subordinate.
Whatever its history, patriarchy is currently reproduced by the inequality inherited in capitalism. Thanks to Equal Rights movement, emerged from within the socialist movement, patriarchy has been tamed in some countries. Sweden
The above justifications hardly make any sense
to any right minded person. We can sum up the above justifications as evaders,
conspiracy theories and irrelevant or deceptive. These reactions clearly
indicate that claimers are in shock. The shock is real. Germany's Justice Minister Heiko
Maas (SPD) was in such a state of shock that he said "No one can tell me
that it wasn't coordinated and prepared".
The shock originated form the collapse of an
underlying ground on which all the above stood on for the past two and half
decades. That ground is multiculturalism. Although the above entities
–ie rulers, pro-Islamic Left and feminists- who supported multiculturalism had
different motivations for their support, they all shared this practiced
concept. The multiculturalism ground - which was already shaken by the fact the
IS recruited from within Europe- collapsed as soon as the news from New Year’s
Eve in Cologne started to circulate. One of the pillars of multiculturalism is
identity politics. The assignment of a religious identity to Middle Eastern and
North African population is probably the most significant practice within the
framework of multiculturalism. This practice dominated the West in the past two
and a half decades. What at first appeared to be a false polarization of rights,
turned out to be an unsolvable conflict within multiculturalism. In response
to journalists Maas said "cultural background justifies or excuses nothing.
There is no acceptable explanation [for the assaults]. For us, men and women
have equal rights in all matters. Everyone who lives here must accept
that." Nothing could depict the bankruptcy of multicultural policy as the
above statement. All of a sudden, the advocate of multiculturalism has no choice but to approach the sexual assaults within the context of universal rights, not 'culture relativism'.
Assigning of a religious identity, Islam in this
case, to the M.E and North African immigrants and refugees was not only diminutive, it benefited both organized Islamic forces and racists. The Islamic
organizations would use the religious id assigned by the states to claim they
represent the ‘Muslims’. They would then demand Islamic schools, Islamic
‘cultural’ centers, misogynist sharia law, financial support, etc. A policy
that has thus far segregated a section of the population in the West. As far as
the German state was concerned, the segregation was supposed to safeguard Germany from
‘radical Islam’. However, the segregation only encouraged a backward society
within Western societies. It created isolated communities where misogyny is
highest against the female residents of the segregated communities. This policy
has been partially responsible for recruitment of Islamists from the Western
born and raised population. Racists too would benefit from the identity policy.
They would now scapegoat ‘muslims’ for the apparent backward actions of
Islamists.
In a nutshell, if we consider multiculturalism
policy as a middle of the road resolution, the thuggish, mass sexual assaults
in Cologne has
proven its failure. Multiculturalism is therefore the problem, not a solution.
The January 9 demonstrations in Cologne
were indicative that a middle of the road policy is doomed to fail. According
to police, about 1,700 PEGIDA demonstrators gathered in Cologne while anti-PEGIDA demonstrators were
roughly 1,300. A recent poll indicated 60 percent of Germans were skeptical
towards taking more refugees.
The ultra right and racists
The right did not need to sweat in order to take
a stand. On the contrary, the racists
found themselves awarded with a gift from heaven. They received a blank cheque
from ‘nowhere’, the payee of which was their favorite: refugees and immigrants.
In recent years, the ultra right parties in Europe
were able to move from the margin of politics to mainstream[1]. They managed to
get considerable seats in the European Parliament and also in Finland, Sweden,
and Denmark.
In France, UK, and now Germany they are moving in that
direction, that is, to be established parliamentary parties. The recent mass
sexual assaults would only serve the right to secure its position within
Western establishment, if the radical left is kept out of the picture. The
establishment's failure in multicultural policy coupled with the blackout of
radical Left from the conversation would only let racism to grow into
mainstream establishment. That's the main reason behind the German as well as
Swedish governments to cover up for the mass sexual assaults, that is, the fear
of a change in the fabric of establishment political parties whose losers might
as well be SDP (Social Democratic Party) and CDU (Christian Democratic Union).
The radical left
A small few on the radical Left initially -and
for good reasons- suspected a political motivation behind the attacks in Cologne, that is, an
organized attempt from Islamists to discredit refugees. While this is a
plausible scenario but despite some evidence and witnesses that suggested it to
be true, it has not yet been proven. This Left has consistently criticized
political Islam and the West for flirting with Islamists. However, both the West and pro-Islamic Left
have been hostile towards the socialist Left while they have no problem
endorsing mosques and Islamic schools. The radical Left often suffers from
media blackout whenever the conversation pertains to Islamists.
I too consider myself a member of this Left. The
following is an outline of what I believe to be the root cause of the events in
Cologne and elsewhere in Europe:
First, the bitter truth is that the attacks in Cologne and other cities
were committed mainly by young, single male immigrants and refugees. This bunch
of thugs makes up a small part of the total immigrants and refugees.
Second, refugees are victims of injustice,
inequality and wars imposed upon them; however, the ‘refugee’ title is not
synonymous with justice and equality, nor this label means Equal Rights. As a
general rule, human is a product of his social conditions within a historical
context. Political power, the means of controlling society, is the key element
in human society and the structure of its social relation. It subsequently
determines the level of violence against women. There is a difference between
Swedish power structure and that of Iran. The former is a social
democracy and the latter is a brutal theocracy. Swedish state lawfully
maintains a great degree of women's rights policies while the theocracy in Iran lawfully
maintains gender apartheid. It perfectly makes sense to conclude that a state run,
systematic misogyny would create an extreme patriarchal society and encourages
violence against women. However, state is not the only factor in how society
treats women. Depending on the presence and strength of equality seeking
movement, the treatment of oppressed, including women, can be significantly
minimized.
Third, violence against women, especially sexual
abuse, is not specific to Islamic stricken countries. It exists everywhere.
However, misogyny and patriarchy has reached maximum capacity in the Islamic
stricken countries where gender apartheid is imposed by state. The ordinary
people have nothing to do with the imposed misogyny although they would be
affected by it. Women in Islam-stricken countries, such as refugee women in Europe are immediate victims of Islamic misogyny.
Forth, the link between the misogyny in the M.E.
and that in the West lies in the fact that the West provides organized
Islamists with resources through which they practice their misogynist policies.
This is accomplished through multiculturalism.
Fifth, a long-term solution to counter misogyny
includes integration of refugees. We can now see the impact of applying
religious identity to refugee. Islamists construct religious institutions on
top of an Islamic id, that is, mosques, Islamic schools, Islamic cultural
centers and similar. These institutions would then lead a portion of society
into isolation. It creates Islamic run communities that often are hotbeds for
Islamic misogyny. These communities pass on misogynist behavior, spanning to
the second and the consequent generations of immigrants. Cultural relativism is
responsible for the considerably higher rate of misogyny among immigrants
isolated from the rest of society. We can only blame the Western establishment
for it.
Sixth, the vast majority of asylum seekers are
forward looking, equality seeking people. They fled from the rule of political
Islam and its wars, Islamic laws, Islamic schools and mosques. The long term
problem is not geared towards refugees at all. As discussed above, the second
and the third generations of immigrants in the West are currently recruited by
the Islamic State. The problem is highly rooted in society and needs to be
treated as such without finger pointing at refugees.
Dealing with mobs and hooligans of any sort -be
it Islamic or racist- is not that difficult. They have to lawfully pay for the
consequences of their actions. What additional measures do we have to take in
defense and expansion of both women and refugee rights without encouraging
racism or Islamism? Whatever we might consider as the best approach, we need to
first define a political framework because the issue is political at its heart.
I think it is reasonable to claim that an effective, democratic framework to
deal with sexism and racism in long run would have the following
characteristics: secular, pro universal
rights and equality seeking.
What could be done?
I believe that any serious attempt to tackle
sexism and racism needs to be political and practical. It requires participation
of a) refugees and immigrants, b) workers as well as the Left and progressive
organizations and/or individuals, c) the Western states. Furthermore, it needs
to be addressed in different levels: immediate, mid and long terms.
On a mid and long term level, the refugee’s best
option is to get organized. They need to rely on themselves and align with
workers and progressive organizations. Their organization could best serve them
in dealing with the complex issues of daily life and help them to integrate in
the host societies. An ideal refugee organization would rely on equal rights of
its member – irrespective of gender, skin color, belief, thoughts, etc of the
refugees - while advocates for universal rights (as opposed to ‘cultural
relativity’). This form of organization would be immune from Islamists who
claim to represent them while it is one of the best tools against racism. The
long term solution would include the West ending its assigning of a religious
identity to the immigrants. This measure eases the integration of refugees
without being segregated and isolated based on a religious criteria.
The immediate response to the horrible
misogynist, sexual assaults can only be an all-out condemnation of misogyny and
racism relied on universal human rights, secularism and equality of all. The
one and a half million asylum seekers in Europe need to join the workers
organizations, the socialist Left, and Equal Rights organizations to defeat the
mutual interests of racists, Islamists, and the pro-Islamic establishment. The
anti-Islamic, socialist, radical Left -- which unfortunately constitute an
absolute minority of the Left in the West -- plays a key role; it is the link
between the workers, women's Equal Rights movement and refugees.
---------------
[1] Austria’s
FPO party, Belgium’s Vlaams Belang, Italy’s Lega Nord, the (French)
National Front and the Dutch PVV made a colaition in European Parliament
Ultra right nationalists in Parliaments in EU,
percentage of votes :
Swiss People's Party (26%),
Danish People's Party (21%),
Freedom Party of Austria (20%),
New Flemish Alliance, Belgium (20%),
Finns Party,
Finland (~18%),
Progress Party,
Norway (16%),
National Front, France (13%),
Sweden Democrats (~13%),
United Kingdom Independence Party (13%>
Law and Justice,
Poland (37%)
Attack, Bulgaria (7%)
Golden Dawn, Greece (~ 7%)
Jobbik, Hungary (20%)
Macedonia is not a EU member but
here is the reason behind the hostility towards refugees:
VMRO-DPMNE, Macedonia (43%)
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