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‘Isabella’ of Germany And Neo-Inquisition

October 20, 2010

Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has wittingly or not, poured more fuel on the already raging xenophobic flames of debates, about Muslim immigration into Europe. The condemnable  outburst, which ostensibly came as a critique of  the European giant's attempt to create a multi-cultural society, is precariously  ominous as it can further put, not only the chunk of Muslim population in her country under spot light, but other minority races –across the entire continent -as well.

Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has wittingly or not, poured more fuel on the already raging xenophobic flames of debates, about Muslim immigration into Europe. The condemnable  outburst, which ostensibly came as a critique of  the European giant's attempt to create a multi-cultural society, is precariously  ominous as it can further put, not only the chunk of Muslim population in her country under spot light, but other minority races –across the entire continent -as well.

The debate was earlier sparked by xenophobic   central bank board member, Thilo Sarrazin, who audaciously averred that the country was being made "more stupid by poorly educated and unproductive Muslim migrants”.
 
If from grace -to- grass Sarrazin, (who has since resigned from his post following the outburst),  is never taken seriously by right thinking people, it is shocking , however, to see that he has a  staunch backer  in no other person, than the whole exalted Chancellor of the country.   Markel as a leader, was at least, expected to be a bastion of protection to this already vulnerable community.

Yet, rubbing salt to the wound was what the chancellor chose as her path of honour.    She followed suit by outrageously declaring that the approach of living side by side with the immigrants has failed, totally.
 To her, the immigrants should integrate and adopt Germany's culture and values or find another land."We feel tied to Christian values. Those who don't accept them don't have a place here," said the chancellor. This smacks of compulsion in Christian belief.

"Subsidizing immigrants" isn't sufficient, Germany has the right to "make demands" on them, she added, such as mastering the language of Goethe and abandoning practices such as forced marriages.

For the student of history, there’s huge sense of déjà vu in the whole entanglement. 

The world has seen an Angella Markell in the past, and coincidently in the same Europe.

But what is only baffling is that: the contemporary repeat is happening at the time when the West is priding itself as the cradle of civilization, -epitomizing freedom of expression and association as well as other essentials of humanism. The West has been in the vanguard of promoting the concept of globalization. It’s, however, now safe to say that the idea was just aimed at lording the Western values, or as she put it herself Christian values, over the rest of us.

Thus one can easily draw some parallel between what is happening currently in Germany and what the world witnessed in Spain under the tyrant leadership of  Isabella I of Castile  (Spain), who forced Muslims and Jewish communities to convert to Catholic or flee the country.

The point of comparison here is: Isabella was a female ruler like Markel and she was very intolerant of other people’s values and faith on European soil. Those who were not ready to convert had no place in her land. Markel is echoing the same word and is likely to pursue the same policy albeit in a different form.

Another point of ‘convergence’ is that, like Isabella, Markel intolerant Islamaphobic policy was against the immigrant Muslims who once colonized the country, but never forced the citizens to accept their faith under duress.  The same Muslims are now loathed and feared because of their burgeoning population which paradoxically refused to succumb to the values of the West, without raising questions.

Indeed Isabella and her husband Ferdinand II, have under the policy of inquisition  - with the Dominican friar Tomás de Torquemada as the first Inquisitor General- pursued the plan to the latter under the guise of religious unification. A policy which nonetheless stalled midway in Venice, Italy when aristocratic hypocrisy made mockery of it by exposing its lack of objectivity in its frenzy to belittle other than its advocates. 

But not before no fewer than 200,000 Jews had left Spain under this barbaric policy after the declaration of Alhambra Decree. Others converted, but often came under scrutiny by the Inquisition investigating relapsed converses Marranos (Marranos) and the Judaizers who had been abetting them.

Specifically, in the case of Muslim in the emirate of Granada held by  Nasrid dynasty, which withstood the long process of the ‘reconquista’ but yielded in 1492 a policy of forced expulsion or conversion was also instituted in 1502
 
No doubt, there has been increasing plethora of propaganda in Europe- perhaps aimed at stirring revolt by the citizens- against what the proponents called “Islamic migration”.

For instance, I have watched an online documentary on changing demographics of the world.  According to it, in order for a culture to maintain itself for more than 25 years it requires fertility rate of 2.11 children per family. With anything  less the culture will decline.

Thus, no culture in history has ever reversed 1.9 fertility rate, while the rate of 1.3 is impossible to reverse as it will take 80 to 100 years of self correction to attain that. Interestingly, there’s no economic model anywhere to sustain the culture during that period.

So as fertility rate shrinks so does the culture. As at 2007, France has fertility rate of 1.8, England 1.6, Greece 1.3 Germany 1.3 Italy 1.2, and Spain is the worst with 1.1. Historical research according them reveals that the numbers are impossible to reverse.

It’s richly ironic, therefore despite that poor average fertility rate across the 31 nations of the continent put at 1.38 yet the population is not in decline. The answer lies in Muslim immigration.

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Since 1990 the immigrants have been the ones adding to the population of the continent. In Southern France which used to have the largest concentration of churches, there are now more mosques than the churches. Mohammad is taking over in England as the most popular name giving to new male children.

These are basically, the reason why Markel may want to introduce neo-inquisition policy in Europe. Isn’t it curious that her censure of the multicultural policy was immediately followed with bloodcurdling stories of plan by Al-Qaida to bomb the continent?  The scaremongers have always found a way of justifying any barbaric decision they want to take in this modern age. Even with the new media, they are still ahead of everyone else when it comes to the game of swaying the global opinion to their side.
 
It may wishfully appeal to the senses of Markel and the rest of Europe, now exponentially drifting to paranoia in their attitude towards the Muslims that, the world is home to all and sundry on relatively equal basis. Civilization should consistently mean, ‘the state of inducing trust in others’. Every community or race is a composition of good and bad people, and each class should be treated accordingly. But, to make blanket condemnation or segregation against a whole race or community should be for medieval period.
 
As Imam al-Ghazali  says, “For one to be truly just, he must have the element to put himself in the position of the person he sits in on judgment of”.
But, is Markel lacking in appreciation of the fact that, there are Germans in the Middle East, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, The Sudan and many Muslim countries and communities alike, whose citizens equally feel tied to Islamic values but don’t  say to the Germans, “Those who don't accept our values don't have a place here," as the chancellor said about Christianity?

 

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