Europe's
Rising Islam-Based Political Parties
by Abigail R. Esman
Special to IPT News
April 21, 2017
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These past several
months, eyes across the world have been trained on a growing
far-right movement sweeping Europe and America – from the neo-Nazi groups
in Germany and the United States to the increasing popularity of France's
National Front. But another, far less noticed but sometimes equally-radical
movement is also emerging across Europe: the rise of pro-Islam political
parties, some with foreign support from the Muslim world. And the
trend shows no sign of stopping.
Holland's Denk ("Think") party, established and led by two
Turkish immigrants, is among the most significant Denk won three seats in
the Dutch parliament last month, becoming the country's
"fastest-growing" new party, according to Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad. Its platform: replace ideas of integration with
"mutual acceptance" – a charming but antiquated idea in a culture
where one group accepts gay marriage and the other is taught that homosexuals should be shoved off of tall
buildings; an "acceptance monitor" to measure the extent to which
such "mutual acceptance" has succeeded; and the establishment of
a dedicated "anti-racism" police force
While not the first of such Islamic parties in European politics, Denk's
March 15 win makes it an inspiration to others. Existing parties now see a
new chance for success, while political aspirants across Europe are making
plans to start similar parties of their own.
Hence, while the focus in next week's French elections will be on Marine
le Pen's National Front, many European Muslims will also be watching the Equality and Justice Party (PEJ), led by
French-Turk Sacir Çolak. Like Denk, the party claims to be a voice for the
downtrodden, aimed at fighting "inequalities and injustices,"
according to a report by the Turkish Anadolu news agency. But also like
Denk, it has been accused of representing not the political interests of
French citizens, but those of Turkey's president – a man who has spoken out against assimilation and integration and
called on European Turks to reject Western values.
The PEJ is not alone in France: The French Union of Muslim Democrats
(UDMF), founded in 2012, made headlines when it entered the 2015 electoral race. Its platform seems
more moderate than many of its fellow Muslim parties across Europe: founder
Nagib Azergui has insisted in interviews that he respects the secular
foundation of the French republic, and advocates philosophy and civic
education classes that would help mitigate against the recruitment efforts
of Muslim extremists
The party does, however, seek to establish sharia-compliant banks and
calls for Turkey to become a member of the European Union. Further, it
seeks to re-install the right of Muslim girls to wear headscarves in public
schools, a move that could be seen as a gesture towards re-introducing
religion into the secular sphere.
Austria, too, has seen a rise in Islamic political parties, such as the
New Movement for the Future (NBZ), founded, like Denk and the PEJ, by
Turkish immigrants. Unlike the others, however, NBZ has made little effort
to hide its loyalty to Turkey. Following the failed 2016 Turkish coup, for
instance, its leader, Adnan Dinçer, called on Austria to respect Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan's clampdown on the country and the mass arrests that
followed. It is worth noting, however, that Austria's far right has been
particularly virulent in its anti-Islam activity, calling for Islam itself to be banned from the country. Such motions inevitably
bring forth counter-movements from the targeted groups, and it was, just
those actions which mobilized Dinçer to form the NBZ.
But it was Denk's success, above all, that inspired Lebanese-Belgian
activist Dyab Abou Jahjah to establish his newest political effort: a party
(to date, unnamed) aimed at "Making Brussels Great Again, a la Bernie
Sanders," according to an interview in Belgian newspaper de Morgen.
This would be a third attempt for Jahjah, who first came into the public
eye in 2002 as the founder of the Brussels-based Arab-European League, a
pan-European political group that aimed to create what he called a
Europe-wide "sharocracy" – a sharia-based democracy. In 2003, the
AEL further organized a political party, RESIST, to run in the Brussels
elections: it received a mere 10,000 votes. Now, Jahjah, who also runs an
activist group called Movement X, hopes to run again in Brussels' 2018
elections. While his party has yet to declare a platform, his
anti-American, anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian and anti-European rants on
Facebook and elsewhere give an indication of his plans. So, too, did a
recent blog post in which he wrote: "we must defeat the forces of supremacy,
the forces of sustained privileges, and the forces of the status-quo. We
must defeat them in every possible arena."
But he, too, is not alone: days after Denk's win, fellow Belgian Ahmet
Koç announced his own initiative, the details of which have
also still to be determined. However, some things are easy enough to
predict on the basis of his past: the Turkish-Belgian politician was thrown
out of Belgium's socialist party in 2016 for supporting Erdogan's efforts
to censor Europeans who insult him publicly, and calling for Belgian Turks
to rise up against the "traitors" of the 2016 coup.
Both Koç and Jahjah will have to reckon with the ISLAM party, which has
already established itself in the Brussels area. Founded in 2012, ISLAM –
which poses as an acronym for "Integrité, Solidarité, Liberté, Authenticité, Moralité"
is unapologetically religious. Leaders pride
themselves on following the Quran, not party politics. With divisions
already in place in the Brussels districts of Anderlecht, Molenbeek (the
center of Belgian radicalism) and Luik, the party now plans to expand
throughout the Brussels region.
So far, none of the existing parties has had a great deal of success –
and the emerging parties have yet to make their platforms known, let alone
acquire active supporters. But as Denk founder Tunahan Kuzu proudly announced after the March elections, a new
voice has now gained power in a European government. But what that voice
ultimately will be, and the strength of its commitment to secular and
democratic values, remains yet to be seen.
Abigail R. Esman, the author, most recently, of Radical State: How Jihad Is Winning Over Democracy in
the West (Praeger, 2010), is a freelance writer based in New
York and the Netherlands. Follow her at @radicalstates.
Related Topics: Elections
/ Campaigns, Ibrahim
Hooper | Abigail
R Esman, Denk
party, Islam
and politics, Equality
and Justice Party, Sacir
Çolak, Union
of Muslim Democrats, Nagib
Azergui, Adnan
Dincer, New
Movement for the Future, Dyab
Abou Jahjah, Ahmet
Koc, Tunahan
Kunzu, Elections
/ Campaigns, Ibrahim
Hooper
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