The town of Roubaix, located in northern France, has a problem. The problem is turkey bacon. Turkey bacon, it seems, is grounds for discrimination in France. The town council has filed a formal complaint against a chain of fast food restaurants known as Quick that serves only meat conforming with Islamic dietary laws at their local branch. Roubaix’s Mayor declared, “This is discrimination against non-Muslims.”

Witch hunts and Islamophobia are alive and well in the land of Pepe Le Pew. Vive la France!

As it turns out, the Roubaix Quick location is one of many branches that took pork off the menu and made all meat products halal /  kosher.  The chain made the decision to take a bacon hamburger off the menu at several of its more than 300 branches, replacing it with a halal version that comes with smoked turkey. Their target: to test the “commercial interest and technical feasibility” of introducing halal menus in France, home to the largest Muslim community in all of Europe, some five million strong.

Roubaix’s Quick branch has assured council there hasn’t been so much as a single complaint and there has even been a slight increase in business since making the changes.

Regardless, several deputies of French President Nicolas Sarkozy have condemned the decision. Vice-president of the National Front, Marine Le Pen, went so far as to warn France of “Islamisation”.

In Roubaix, Mayor Rene Vandierendonck, called for a total boycott of the Quick branch, and the town council has filed a discrimination complaint with a regional court. Wow… Who knew Turkey Bacon was so dangerous?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Vive Le France!

From David Anthony Hohol…

Throughout human history, race has been our most defining characteristic. By extension, race has consistently produced powerful forms of judgment and continues to do so today. Although the concept of race scientifically does not exist and is purely a social phenomenon, the social reality of race permeates every part of human life. More than anything, visible immediacy perpetuates its superiority as a master status and the lines of racial division are systemically ingrained within our thought patterns from the moment we join the empirical rabble of humankind. RELATIVITY OnLine’s Indonesian correspondent Rezwan, starkly recounts his past’s perspective of being a Bangladeshi living in Germany – a country with dark past of xenophobia and fear. His words remind us all that although we have come so very far in terms of race relations, we are still a long way from home.  

I wrote earlier about how Roland Koch, the governor of the western state of Hesse in Germany stirred an uproar with his anti-immigrant rhetorics possibly as an election strategy (from 2008).

The Spiegel Online International recently did a soul searching on “Germany’s homegrown intolerance“. Spiegel Online editor David Crossland, who was born in Bonn to English parents argued, “rather than rail against ‘criminal young foreigners,’ the country ought to be doing more to welcome its minorities“.

He cited the racial discriminationshe faced for speaking in English in U-Bahn (underground) although being a white person and opines:

“Maybe it’s the Germans’ romantic yearning for purity and cleanliness, for a “Heile Welt,” a “Perfect World,” that renders them prone to a collective xenophobia. This nation of dog lovers goes for pure breeds.”
….
“So instead of telling its immigrants not to slaughter sheep in their kitchens, Germany would be well advised to be nicer to its immigrants. Like it or not, they’re here to stay.”

It sparked a lot of reactions. In the same article the Spiegel Online International announced that they are collecting the experiences of foreigners living in Germany — both good and bad. And here a Pandora’s box was opened. More and more readers talk of Germany’s invisible Xenophobia and it ain’t pretty.

Spiegel’s first batch of readers opinions revealed horrid portrayals of silent xenophobia and some questions which the Germans probably have never thought of this way. We also look at some examples of foreigners living without such discrimination and how Germans view it.

“I was exposed to a subtle yet stubborn kind of racism on a daily basis. This mostly takes the form of social exclusion — I always felt that I am not and will never be allowed to become a normal member of society, despite holding a promising academic record and decent linguistic skills.” – A Chinese scholar from Munich.

“I have a German name, I have a German passport, but I look Asian, and therefore am a foreigner.” – Veronica

“One more issue that I feel is a barrier to any kind of integration is the fact that almost no Germans that I knew had friends of a different culture or skin color — the exception being North Americans, North Europeans and Australians, etc. Even so-called liberal, ‘tolerant’ people simply did not have foreigners in their circles of acquaintance. Friendships and relationships are essential to any type of integration, and as long as the Germans keep immigrants at arm’s length, the immigrants will never feel like they belong.” Yvonne Jacoby from Ireland

“I have come across some of the finest individuals in Germany, and the opposite too. It’s extremely hard for a foreigner to find out whether a German likes him/her or not. I hope most of the foreigners would agree if I say life for a foreigner is like that of Satan in heaven — you have been admitted into the country but not actually into the society.” – Madhu Balan from India

“I do have German friends and a German wife and a lot of Germans are kind and nice people. But I never feel like I belong to this place because of my skin color. And even the nicest Germans will often ask, when I say I am American: “But what are you really?” – Mike Silva from USA

“In some parts of Germany I would not like to have dark skin — sad, don’t you think?” – An ex-British soldier.

“If my friend, who is white, crosses a street when the light is red, she is in a hurry. And if I do the same, someone is waiting to say “schwarze Schlampe” (“black slut”) or something similar.” – An Indian Student in Berlin

On the other hand some foreigners said that Germans were helpful to them and the extent of racism and xenophobia in Germany is often exaggerated. Some opined that Germany is not perfect and there are more hate crimes reported in many countries whereas only few Germany.

A German man with a Polish wife shared the treatment his wife and a South African friend faced and opined:

“The only chance I see for success is the integration of our society into a European society as a whole where immigration, cross-border movements and ‘foreignness’ are considered to be assets for a functioning society.“

An Indian scholar defends Germans and suggests:

“They just expect that people should at least speak and understand their language and culture. Germany needs to do more to have the best brains from around the world. This is where the future lies.“

Read the Spiegel Online article for details.

In the second batch of reader opinionsin Spiegel a discovery comes from a German who is living outside of Germany for five years:

“The kind of discrimination that immigrants in Germany face is already deeply rooted in the system and accepted as the norm to such an extent that most people will not notice it. This discrimination may not be apparent to someone who is living in Germany and surrounded by it every day, yet not affected by it.“

In my town there are a lot of immigrant children of my age, from Turkey, Russia, Italy and many other countries. Yet how many of them went to a “Gymnasium” (university-track high school — Ed.) like I did? The sad answer is not a single one. My entire high school class consisted of German, white, middle-class kids who were, like me, oblivious to the diversity of people living around them.

It happens all around us — it is just a matter of opening your eyes to it.

Here are some examples confirming it:

“I discovered, while procuring my residency papers, a higher benchmark was set for my documents than those of my white American friends who were kind enough to compare their experience with mine.” – A Haitian American

“My wife, in spite of being a European citizen, was given a permit as if she was an Indian wife and she was not allowed to work any more. When we inquired to the Ausländerbehörde (foreigners’ office) about her getting a Freizügigkeitsbescheinigung (‘freedom of movement’ permit, issued to EU citizens living in Germany) we were told that she had lost all rights as an EU citizen by marrying a third-country national and she would now be considered as an alien’s wife, not as an EU citizen.” – An Indian scholar married to a Lithuanian girl (working in Germany).

“When I first got pregnant, I couldn’t believe the look on one of the nurses’ face when she looked at my insurance card and saw that we were not Germans. She immediately started hinting to my face that we were here making a great living and stealing their jobs away, while they were struggling with recession.” -Andreaa Sepi from Romania

And some reality the Germans perhaps do not consider:

“Even the most cosmopolitan of my German friends could not conceive that I might plan to stay in the country after graduation. For them, it was unthinkable that a foreigner would come to study in Germany and legally stay on to work. (After graduation I moved to the United States and use my German education to make money from an American company. Too bad for the German tax-payer.)” – A Brazilian

“Germans probably travel more than any other nationalities, and yet in their own country they act as if they’ve never seen people of color.” – name withheld

My suggestion to Germans who really want to see integration work, is simple: Talk to a foreigner! Wherever you are, on the bus, walking down the street, don’t hesitate to talk to a foreigner. Make us feel welcome, just a little nod and a short hello would suffice.

“Immigration has always been part of Germany’s history, in one way or another — be it the Huguenots in the 17th century or Russian Jews after the pogroms in Russia in the 19th century — only that a lot of Germans aren’t aware of it. I blame the politicians and the media in Germany for doing so little to promote immigration and integration, to show how society can benefit from immigration — where are, for instance, the Turkish TV presenters?” – Martin Sauter, a German

While we also see some counterpoints:

“Germans have the right to model their own country and culture. The same is true for Saudi Arabia with its non-tolerance of Christians, and India with its discriminatory caste system or Japan with its homogeneous ethnicity.” – An American

“There is always one option for those who do not like it: Go home. No one is keeping them here or in any country where they do not feel wanted.” – Paul Sanders

“Maybe Germany, including the SPIEGEL, should realize that Germany is not a special country but average, and that the phenomena you discuss here are not specifically German but human. It’s called in-group-preference and out-group-avoidance. I’m afraid we’re not going to get totally rid of that anywhere in the world.” – A German living in Canada.

“The emphasis (in the debate on “foreign” criminals (more…)) should not be on the word “foreign”; rather, it should be on the word “criminal.” If the criminal element — regardless of age — chooses not to respect the laws of their country of adoption, then they should be deported, pure and simple. The tax payer should not support this ilk.” – Vera Gottlieb.

My view to this debate is that any criminal foreign or local should be tried under law. So why the fuss about deporting foreigners? What do you do with the local criminals? I think Ms. Vera do not know the asylum laws in Germany which grants political asylums to people from other countries. Some of those granted are fugitives from the rule of law of their own countries. Perhaps the issue of human rights come into question then. What an oxymoron!

I like to end this roundup with an American’s words:

“Here in the States, the history of prejudice is different, the effects just as constant, but the origin similar: fear of that which is different. This fear breeds hatred and violence, sometimes planned and carried out over time, at other times opportunistic and random. Passively and actively, it is then passed to the next generation.“

Xenophobia, racism, and extreme nationalism or regionalism, are all so ugly because the potential for these exists in all our hearts.

From Nora Fakim…

During these past ten years, there has been a growing media campaign aimed at inciting prejudice against Muslims. Since 9/11, and especially since the London Tube bombing in July 2005, many Asians and Muslims have been harassed and racially attacked because of the negative image Islam has.  

 But the question is does Islamophobia actually exist? The trouble with the idea is that it confuses hatred of, and discrimination against, Muslims on the one hand with criticism of Islam on the other. The connotation of “Islamophobia” is all too often used not to highlight racism but to silence critics of Islam, or even Muslims fighting for reform of their communities.

With Channel 4 being the first station public-service television broadcaster in the United Kingdom to win favourable support from the British ethnic minorities, does this also mean that it is more Islam friendly compared to other media stations?

According to the  School of Journalism in Cardiff, the fact remains that the reason as to why the  media coverage on British Muslims has significantly increased, is due to 36% of stories on British Muslims is in relation to terrorism. Furthermore, in many newspapers like the Sun, they are known to use negative language when referring to Islam.

But what is extraordinary about Channel 4, is that it seems to show Islam in a different light. One in which it aims to reach out to everybody no matter what ethnicity or religion and tries to make people aware that British Muslims are suffering too. With the negative image of Islam in the U.K, many Muslims live in fear of practicing their own religion and find that the negative stigma around their religion creates a barrier between them and the rest of the British community.

According to the 2003 Communication Act, ‘Channel 4 is a broad range of high quality and diverse programming which, in particular appeals to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society.’ This is the reason as to why the channel was efficient at tackling the problems of Islamophobia by being aware that it was and still is a serious matter and so they made every effort to help decrease tensions between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities.

In 2008’s most watch interviews, Jon Snow challenges Salman Rushide about the Western and Easter conflicts. Although Salman Rushdie is talking about his new book which describes similarities between Eastern and Western cultures, Jon Snow questions him further about the modern day issues of Western and Eastern cultural conflicts.

He states to Rushdie that the ‘West needs to also be involved in building a bridge with the East.’ Mr Rushdie is unable to even answer some of Snows questions because many are questions which the British media refuses to acknowledge and which the public would never dare to bring up as they are questions which give the Western World a negative image such as; ‘Many people think of the East that we think nothing of their culture… the West has no culture… the East has culture’ (Snow). Although Salam Rushdie is trying to refer each time to his book which is set in the past, Jon Snow is trying to put this cultural conflict at forefront in our present day society, which is highly important in making people understand the Western and Eastern cultural conflicts whether it being in Britain and the rest of the world.                                                 

Channel 4’s dispatches showed the documentary which was presented by Peter Oborne; ‘It should not even happen to a Muslim’. This documentary aimed to make people aware of the difficulties many British Muslims face; whilst living and growing up in Great Britain. 

The documentary found that 61 % of hostility increased towards the Muslim community since the 2005 London bombings. Mr Oborne even managed to interview the Muslim MP Shahid Malik; about his life as a British Muslim. Malik quoted that he often receives ‘hate mail’ about being Muslim and anger towards the Muslim community.

He also said in the interview that the media play a role in misinterpreting issues dealing with people of his religion. Another programme on channel 4 which was targeted in educating the non-Muslim community about Islam was the weekly programme; ‘Make me a Muslim’. The idea was to give non-Muslims an idea of what it was like to live as a Muslim in Britain. After the series, all the contestants had a more positive image about the Islamic faith then when they first arrived at the beginning of the show. This show was another effective way of trying to build an understanding between both cultures.

 Channel 4’s website publicises several Muslim organistations such as, ‘The Muslim Association of Britain’ and ‘F.A.I.R.’ Whilst interviewing Karima Sbitri, who is a member of F.A.I.R she confessed that Channel 4 was the ‘best un-biased channel’ when it came to talking about Islam. I interviewed several Muslims from City University and I asked them what their favourite British channel was and eight out of ten replied Channel 4.

From this article we can see that there have been many showings on Channel 4 to tackle the problem of Islamophobia in Britain and this is a reason as to why it is favoured by many Muslims and ethnic minorities living here in the U.K. Its recent multicultural diversity statement was that, ‘Multicultural programmes remain at the heart of Channel 4’.

Let us hope that it carries on helping to resolve the problems of Islamophobia and other cultural issues here in Great Britain!