The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Georgetown University, has launched the Islam and the West: Annual Report on the State of Dialogue. This first of its kind report is a systematic and thorough overview of how Muslim and Western societies perceive and relate to each other at the political, social, economic and cultural levels.
Deja vu in Holland: A Dutch politician plans to release a film that rips the Koran for promoting violence and intolerance. Politicians and Muslim leaders alike are afraid of a repeat of 2004, when filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered on the streets of Amsterdam. A Dutch politician’s plan to release a film that charges…
On Monday January 21st, French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid an unexpected visit to Paris’ suburb of Sartrouville, marking his first visit to one of the country’s poor towns that is home to many immigrants and French citizens of immigrant origin. Speaking in front of the town’s train station, Sarkozy said that he would soon address…
Most people in Muslim and Western countries believe divisions between them are worsening and each side believes the other disrespects their culture, according to a poll released. The Gallup poll, published in a report on Muslim-Western relations for the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this week, reflects “an alarmingly low level of optimism regarding…
Europeans are starting to question the notion of multiculturalism, which can lead to separate, parallel societies and a large Muslim underclass. Officials are now focusing on Muslim women, believing their empowerment can facilitate their communities’ integration into mainstream society. In Germany, many Muslim families are guided by the strict patriarchal traditions of rural Turkey. The…
