20 January 2006 Blog Home : January 2006 : Permalink
Instead of the Danish government surrendering to Muslim radicals, moderate Danish Muslims are now speaking out against the extremists. A group of Muslims in the Danish city of Århus intend to organize a network of Muslims who do not want to be represented by fundamentalist Danish imams or others who preach the Sharia laws and oppression of women. “There is a large group of Muslims in this city who want to live in a secular society and adhere to the principle that religion is an issue between them and God and not something that should involve society,” said Bünyamin Simsek, a city councillor and one of the organizers. Århus witnessed severe riots after the publication of the cartoons in the newspaper Jyllands-Posten last Autumn.
What may be key here is that the moderates are apparently predominantly Turks. I could be over generalizing but it seems to me that the Turks are more tolerant than the North Africans, hence there are fewer problems with Turkish immigrants in Europe than with N African ones. In England, Pakistanis likewise seem to be less tolerant than Bangladeshis - although I think that Pakistanis are less militant than N Africans in some respects, for example in Denmark the OPSA (Organization of Pakistani Students in Denmark) spokesperson is apparently less than impressed with the imams at the local mosque.