Alex Massie: “Oh No, the Muslims are Co…
Alex Massie: “Oh No, the Muslims are Coming!” puts paid to myths of an Islamic takeover of Europe http://www.spectator.co.uk/alexmassie/5268851/oh-no-the-muslims-are-coming.thtml
Alex Massie: “Oh No, the Muslims are Coming!” puts paid to myths of an Islamic takeover of Europe http://www.spectator.co.uk/alexmassie/5268851/oh-no-the-muslims-are-coming.thtml
Brilliant dissection of Christopher Caldwell’s book, ‘Reflections on the Revolution in Europe’ by Matt Carr on the Institute of Race Relations website: http://www.irr.org.uk/2009/july/ha000011.html.
Carr shows that while Caldwell’s book mirrors much of the Islamophobic hysteria of previous commentators in the ilk of Melanie Phillips and Bat Ye’Or, Caldwell’s “authorial persona is that of a puzzled and concerned observer of the European predicament, driven only by a willingness to consider all angles of a serious debate that others are ignoring. He is cultured and knowledgeable.” He has therefore been interviewed and reviewed on ‘serious’ radio shows and newspapers, making it incumbent upon us to dissect and understand this highly pernicious work. Start with Matt Carr.
by Gavan Titley
It is a pity that so much of the attention generated by David Černý’s Entropa sculpture in the European Commission has been generated by the depiction of Bulgaria as a ‘Turkish toilet’. What is far more interesting is how the ‘crisis of multiculturalism’ has been ambiguously incorporated into the installation.
This is what the text describing the Netherlands section of Entropa says:
“If only the Netherlands were in hell! At least it is warm and generally dry there. I would like to survive; I’d like at least something from this country to survive. Salt water will noiselessly
inundate fields, towns and villages. Fish will swim through our squares and seaweed will cling to our towers. Perhaps a few lucky individuals will be
rescued in small boats.”
On the one hand it could be a comment on global warming, on the other it could be a plea for a return to some pre-immigration status, especially in the comment “I’d like at least something from this country to survive.” The use of the first-person here is interesting. Who is speaking? And who/what is s/he representing? The Dutch culture, environment…?
“Culture and community are caught in a circular, tautological reasoning… culture is being invoked to solve problems that previously were the province of economics and politics.”
George Yúdice, The Expediency of Culture (2003: 25)
The idea that multiculturalism is in crisis is a predominant feature of the post-9/11 world and has become a pronounced aspect of public debate across Western Europe. (More …)
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