In the years since 9/11 no further terrorist attacks have occurred, and the American war on terror was partly predicated upon the idea that fighting terrorism abroad will prevent fighting it at home. But a recent string of terrorism arrests is challenging the idea that American soil is immune to homegrown radicalism. The Obama Administration…
Around 700 Muslims on Saturday held a peaceful demonstration in Switzerland’s capital to protest the result of a vote banning the construction of new minarets. Speakers at the afternoon rally outside the parliament in Bern denounced the ban, approved in a referendum two weeks ago, as a “smear campaign”. The protest was not supported by…
The Italian right wing Press attacks Islam after the kidnap of two Italian citizens in Mauritania. For the Laga Nord newspaper “La Padania”, the Christian West must react with a Holy League, as when Pope Pio V promoted an alliance of the Christian Princes against the Turks. La Padania accuses the Church to be yielding…
Franck Frégosi, director of research at the CNRS and author of Penser a l’islam dans la laïcité (Fayard, 2008) (“Considering Islam Within French Secularism”) claims that the French have “lost their habit of being confronted with religions which are not relegated to the private sphere”. Frégosi explains that there are old fears in Western Europe…
The Swiss authorities have barred a controversial Islamic preacher from Germany from attending a planned demonstration against the minaret ban in Bern on Saturday. Pierre Vogel was not allowed to enter Switzerland because his presence is considered a danger for public law and order, according to the Federal Migration Office. He was scheduled to give…
