During the past year, radical right-wing populist parties have made impressive electoral gains in a growing number of West European countries; similarly, social intolerance and racism has gradually increased in Central Europe, according to a recently published Eurobarometer survey. In Austria, for example, the Freedom Party – an extreme right-wing party – won, in 2008, 17.5% of the total votes, up 6.5% from the previous elections in 2006. It is against this background that a discussion of While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West From Within by Bruce Bawer – in spite of the fact that the book at first sight may strike one as an exercise in pseudo-analysis and as a gross exaggeration of the Islamist threat in Europe along with the radicalization that accompanies it – may still serve to kickstart a vital yet hitherto largely avoided debate. I will first introduce the author and his arguments, and then proceed to a criticism of his ideas.

Bruce Bawer is an American cultural critic and self-avowed gay New-Yorker of Roman Catholic parents, who relocated with his Norwegian partner first to the Netherlands (Amsterdam, in 1998) and then to Norway (Oslo, in 1999) where he still resides. Having published Stealing Jesus, a denunciation of Christian fundamentalist intolerance in the US, just before his move to Europe, Bawer was eager to find in Europe societies in which tolerance and civility were the norm rather than the exception. What he found in Europe, he claims, was indeed a greater degree of open-mindedness than in his country of origin, but also an open-mindedness that is extremely vulnerable to what he sees as an even more dangerous strain of religious and cultural prejudice infesting Western Europe than he had earlier experienced in the US. In his book, Bawer vents his frustrations with the European elites (politicians, media personnel and academics) and their acceptance of what he sees as Islamic bigotry.

Bawer idealistically posits that an immigrant ought to love his new country, not for how much social welfare he or she may squeeze from it, or for the visa facilities it furnishes, but for the values it offers, especially respect for the individual, which allows him/her to be a fully functioning citizen. Although Bawer loves America, and his father cautioned him about ‘old Europe’, he still insisted on going to Europe. There, Bawer believed, he would be able to combine the American virtues of democracy and freedom that he cherishes with the history, culture and environmental concern that Europe is known for. Consequently, he packed his bags and moved to the old continent. But Bawer’s enthusiasm for his new home soon wore off. He writes that within a year he grew tired of Europe’s stagnating bureaucracy, its decadent immigration policies, and the ability of its elites to look the other way in the face of crisis. This sounds rather opinionated, and will certainly raise the eyebrows of many European readers. In fact, Bawer to Europeans may well seem to be leaning towards neo-conservatism, and to be suffering from xenophobia. In light of the recent political developments in Europe sketched in my first paragraph, though, his views are still worth exploring.

Bawer divides his book into three sections: before 9/11, after 9/11, and the wake of the terrorist attacks within Europe. In the first section, covering the period immediately after his arrival in Europe, Bawer sketches how he started to discover the shackles of political correctness that keep the European elites from decisive action. In Bawer’s view, although many Muslim immigrants in European countries such as France, the Netherlands, and Belgium are the recipients of generous social services from cradle to grave, they openly despise their host countries. However, as long as they claim minority status they are allowed to keep sponging off the welfare system while biting the hand that feeds them, and all of this under the nose of the European elites. Particularly alarming, Bawer finds, is that Muslims are never criticized, and that misconduct by Muslims (especially those listed under family law such as honour killings, wife beating, female genital mutilation, polygamy, and so on) is studiously overlooked. Indeed, when brought to trial, Muslims are often acquitted on the grounds of cultural relativism. This was the case in Germany, in 2007, when a Frankfurt judge saw no wrong-doing in a Moroccan man beating his wife. The judge referred to a verse in the Quran that permits men to castigate their disobedient wives, thus turning Germany into a country operating under a dual law system, either Sharia – Islamic law derived from the Quran – or civil law, depending on the religious background of the contestants.

The strength of the first section of Bawer’s book rests on the overwhelming amount of statistics and examples that he bolsters his argument with. He argues that radical Islam tolls Europe’s danger bells in Muslim ghettos and ubiquitous government-subsidized mosques, while the ringing is falling on the deaf ears of Europe’s elites. Growing Muslim fundamentalist communities in Europe, Bawer stresses, despise West European values, and challenge Western democratic institutions from the Judiciary system to freedom of speech. And how do Europe’s politicians act to remedy the growth of a backward immigrant population resistant to integration? They take them under their protective wings, and call for more ‘understanding’ or ‘dialogue’. Brandishing colonial guilt like a medal, and cherishing their dear political seats, politicians want to appease their radical Muslim voters at any cost. Similarly, Bawer claims, the media and academe, not used to independent thinking North American style, and well trained to swim with the currents of their politicians, simply echo the voices of their decision makers.

Bawer shifts gears in the second section of his book, where he describes the attitude prevailing in Western Europe after 9/11 and until shortly before the terrorist attacks in Madrid and later in London. During this Trans-Atlantic inter-terrorism period, the author argues, anti-Americanism loomed large in Europe and anti-Semitism remained just as high if not slightly higher. Instead of seeking viable solutions to European terrorism, and reforming immigration policies, politicians in Europe diverted their citizens’ attention to events occurring across the ocean. This is not to claim that the American government’s actions in Iraq are void of self-interest, or that there is no such thing as a US bias towards Israel. Nevertheless, Bawer thinks that blaming America does not offer the magic solution to Europe’s problem with radical Islam. European elites continued to be unwilling to offend Muslim sensitivities. This paradoxical response is also highlighted by Roy, a French senior researcher at the National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris, who writes:

Bawer dedicates many pages to analysing anti-Semitism, and its roots, in Europe. He gives many instances of what he sees as the depth of this problem, which he sees as pervading Europe from the European Union level down to the primary education level. Surprisingly, he finds the European elites, in their unshaken belief in ‘political correctness’, to be biased in favour of their Muslim constituencies, while the radical elements of the latter are only out to undermine Europe’s way of life. While Europe Slept links Europe’s ‘naive treatment of its radical Muslims’ with its widespread anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism to illustrate the continent’s cultural blindness. If one wonders why the European establishment, in the name of multiculturalism, insisted on downplaying the threat of Muslim fundamentalism, Bawer offers two explanations. The first is rooted in the notion of ‘never again’, which Europeans hold so dear after having gone through two devastating World Wars. The second reason is that European politicians cater for the electoral support of the large Muslim communities in their countries via their multicultural rhetoric.

Today’s European elites, Bawer feels, do not understand the motivation of deeply held Muslim religious views. Having collectively and consciously dissociated themselves from endorsing stark faiths or ideologies that once brought about the destruction of Europe, they are not able to imagine how a group of people would believe so deeply in an idea that they would be willing to die for it. Thus, European elites have kept silent about the unequal treatment of Muslim women by Islamic fundamentalists, and their lack of respect for people of other faiths (including Christians). By tolerating intolerance for any length of time they hoped that Muslim attitudes would change eventually, and they believed that how Muslims behaved among themselves could not affect others.

Bawer fears that without drastic measures Europe will never be able fully to integrate its Muslims. He offers some basic solutions for the next generation, such as educating Muslim women and supporting moderate European Muslims in voicing their discontent with radicalism within their own communities. He posits that women must be compelled by law to enrol in integrative governmental programs (linguistic and ethical), while moderates must be encouraged to discover liberal ways to practice their faith without being intimidated or bullied by radicals that claim the higher moral ground.

Indeed, for Bawer, Europe’s enemy now is not only Islam, but Europe itself. At a crossroads, the continent faces some tough decisions, but its elites seem to lack the vision and courage to steer Europe in the right direction. It is this procrastination in taking decisive action that could lead either to a surrender to radical Islam, which will only result in the further annihilation of European values, or give rise to another round of dangerous fascism that we already see the shadows, in the rise of racist populist parties all over Europe.

The author sets his book’s third and final section in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Europe. He wonders, now that Islamic terrorism has hit European soil and this is no longer just an American problem, whether Europe’s elites will shift their rhetoric, or take action? Bawer examines the media releases and political declarations after the Madrid and London bombings of 2004 and 2005. He also scrutinizes public responses after the assassination of the Dutch film director Theo Van Gogh, killed in November 2004 by Muhammed Bouyeri, a Dutch Muslim of Moroccan origin, for his short movie Submission. According to Van Gogh’s killer, the movie in question, which criticizes the abuse of women at the hands of their Muslim men in Europe, ‘stigmatizes’ Islam.

While Europe Slept warns that radical Islam is every bit the threat to Western Europe that Nazism was. In the author’s opinion, uncritical open-mindedness toward Islamic radicalism in Europe is unintentionally contributing to a possible nationalist backlash reminiscent of the rise of Nazism after the First World War. Europe, according to Bawer, is passing another Weimar Republic moment, an era when Germans grew dissatisfied with the country’s socialist elites, and drifted away to Nazism. This Weimar slide is illustrated by the rise of some Dutch populist politicians, such as Pim Fortuyn, murdered by a Dutch Christian in May 2002. It is also evident for him in the 2005 populist rejection of the European Union’s constitution, highlighting widespread discontent with ineffective immigration policies and burdensome taxations that support inefficient welfare systems.

Although he draws a pessimistic picture of Europe, Bawer holds out the hope that some European countries, such as France, Denmark, and the Netherlands, have at long last begun to react through major immigration reforms. Bawer sees this as a reaction to the numerous terrorist attacks, and to the increasing Muslim violence towards non-Muslims, in Europe. For instance, Bawer documents what he thinks are the heroic actions of Europe’s few who are publicly condemning fellow radical Muslim citizens. Ayaan Hirsi-Ali, a Muslim woman of Somali origin, former Dutch Member of Parliament, author of Infidel (a New York Times best seller in 2007), and co-director of Submission, dared to criticize Muslims in the Netherlands for their so-called anti-Dutch values and for their mistreatment of women. Young Muslim men growing up in Holland, according to Hirsi-Ali, are taught from childhood that infidels (non-Muslims) are beneath respect, that Western women are whores, that Muslim women are of a lower order than men, and that the only appropriate response to the West’s secularism and growing atheism is through jihad (struggle or war in the name of Allah). Hirsi-Ali faced death threats from Muslim communities in the Netherlands. In 2006 she left the Netherlands for a position in the US, at the American Enterprise Institute.

Some of the sentiments that Bawer expresses are also noted by other cultural critics. David Barnhizer, for instance, calls what he sees happening in Europe a ‘reverse colonialism’.Reference Barnhizer² Barnhizer argues that radical Islam is overtaking the continent, and that large segments of the immigrant Muslim communities in many European countries harbour alarmingly anti-European attitudes. He notes the prevalence of arranged marriages (which also exploits family reunification policy), the low rates of intermarriage between Europeans and Muslim immigrants (a rejection often instigated from the Muslim side), the resistance of second and third generation immigrants (who were born in Europe) to speak the language of their host countries proficiently, and the importation of customs from the country of origin to Europe that are in violation of Western human rights.

Bawer stresses that there is still some persistence from the European political establishment to gloss over the problem, and to reject attempts to promote more integration, on the grounds that this would foster a racist policy. However, one can also notice certain shifts in the political rhetoric in Europe since While Europe Slept was published in 2006. For example, when Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU Commissioner for External Relations, was asked at a conference ‘where do the borders of Europe end?’, she shrewdly answered, ‘Europe’s borders end where its values converge.’Reference Ferrero-Waldner³ This emphasis on converging values, along with the fact that mosques and radical Islamist organizations are no longer so generously and unconditionally subsidized by European governments, shows that European attitudes are changing.

The debate on immigration policy reform is not totally new. For years European officials and academics have been debating the concept of ‘selective immigration’. However, the move towards doing something instead of just debating it is fresh. Many are starting to wonder when, with the high fertility rates of Muslim immigrants, compared with the low rates of their European counterparts, major European cities will have a Muslim majority? The even more pressing questions are: what would happen if we ignore the rapidly expanding minority of Muslim immigrants who refuse to integrate? Would London appropriately be called ‘Londonstan’, and would Paris become ground zero for another proverbial Lebanon, torn by civil wars as its demographic character shifts from a Christian to a Muslim majority?

While some might agree with Bawer’s depiction of growing rampant fundamentalism within Europe (in his first section) and the slow yet changing nature of European politics and policies towards immigrants (in the third part), others might not concur with all or even most of Bawer’s second part. On the one hand, he might be right to reject the superficial distortions of American society that are so prevalent in the European media, the absurd comparisons of Bush to Saddam and of the US to the Taliban. And he could be spot on contending that this anti-Americanism is indeed what led many European elites to underestimate the danger emanating from Islamic radicals in their own societies, and to look upon Islam as providing a balance to US hegemony. However, in this second section, Bawer also makes some incongruous claims. For example, his depiction of European social democracy is a caricature, as if it is only liberal/conservative pro-market supporters that abhor religious fundamentalism. In addition, his criticisms at times are simplistic, for instance when he argues that radical Islam is overtaking the continent because Europe widely lacks religious faith – this very same American faith that Europeans attack, and that Bawer fled when he initially decided to move to Europe. The reader wonders: does Bawer mean that only by upholding another religious fundamentalism (a Christian one) can one counter Islamic fundamentalism, and is it only by renouncing secularism that Europe would be acting assertively? Certainly, a nation may act on secular grounds and still manage to avoid passivity in the face of crisis. Moreover, even those that are proud of their country’s political system will cringe at Bawer’s unabashed pro-Americanism and his inflated patriotism. His over-protectionism of the US and his swollen rhetoric, pregnant with nationalistic slogans when talking about his own country, reveal his partiality and compromise his subjectivity. For instance, he does not offer much criticism of the Iraq War, which to many sensible Europeans is simply a foolish and selfish military adventure; he also seems impervious to the ignorance of most Americans about the outside world and their own foreign policy.

One other drawback of Bawer’s work is its highly personalized tone, especially in the second part, where Bawer strays far from his main objective – to explain why there is a growing Islamic radicalization in Europe, and its consequences on European society. At times the reader gets the feeling that the book is the product of the author’s own frustration with his experiences in Europe, and hence that he is using it as a means to work out personal issues, issues of xenophobia or disillusionment with his life in Europe. Another weakness is the lack of a clear definition of what the author means by fundamentalism. He expresses that his fears and warnings do not apply to all Muslims but only to the ‘fundamentalists’/’radical’ ones. Without a definition of what precisely these terms cover, though, one may question whether the author really makes a distinction between the two? One final criticism is that, while Bawer amply gives vent to his gloomy views of Europe’s future, at the same time he fails to offer sufficient solutions, or any means to implement them, so as to remedy the problem. The reader has to guess what the author would like Europe and its elites to do to help stop the demise of Europe. Although he mentions the word ‘integration’ in passing, he neither theorizes how this should be brought about, nor talks about practical aids to integration such as civic education, the spread of peaceful religious messages in schools and mosques, compulsive attendance by new immigrants of subsidised language classes upon arrival, and/or the engagement of Muslim women in the workforce since they are the ultimate life educators.

Despite all its shortcomings though, Bawer’s book has the merit of having fuelled valuable discussion on a sensitive subject that, up to the book’s publication, had not received nearly enough attention. Overall, readers will find While Europe Slept well-documented, coherent (especially in its first and last sections) and interesting to read. Bawer worked with the European media, interviewed government officials and, in general, immersed himself in things European in order to provide a behind-the scenes view of what he sees as Islam’s assault on Europe and the continent’s cultural passivity. Hence, the book’s shortcomings should not minimize the importance of this work, which ought to be read seriously.

Although I understand and share to an extent the negative perceptions of most social science scholars of Bawer’s ‘radical’ ideas, it seems important to outline his arguments. At a time when extreme right-wing parties and radical movements across Europe are gaining momentum, it is important to highlight the two sides of the debate. Solutions to highly-sensitive – even painful – issues can only come about through open and honest debate. Bawer’s book can help us see where some of the more extreme views catching hold in Europe stem from, and upon what their advocates base their arguments. Only thus equipped are we in a position to answer these arguments adequately.