Revisiting Lepanto: The political mobilization against Islam in contemporary Western Europe

Patterns of Prejudice

Volumn 43, Issue 3-4, 2009, Pages 313-334

  Betz, Hans Georg ^a   Meret, Susi ^a  

^a AALBORG UNIVERSITY   (Denmark)

Author keywords

Anti Islam movements; Anti Muslim prejudice; European identity; Far right; Islam; Islamophobia; Nativism; Populist right; Radical right parties

Indexed keywords

EID: 70350542767     PISSN: 0031322X     EISSN: 14617331     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00313220903109235     Document Type: Article

References (120)

1. Peter Lattas, "'Patrioten aller Lánder, vereinigt euch!" EU-Rechte: Europáische Freiheitspartei und Stádtebúndnis gegen Islamisierung', Junge Freiheit, 1 February 2008.
2. 'Nationalist leaders to form new European "patriotic" party by November', EUbusiness.com, 25 January 2008, at www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1201274222.43 (viewed 26 March 2009). Translations, unless otherwise stated, are by the authors.
3. See Hans-Georg Betz, 'Culture, identity, and the question of Islam: the nativist agenda of the radical right', in Peter Davies with Paul Jackson (eds), The Far Right in Europe: An Encyclopedia (Oxford: Greenwood World Press 2008), 114-15.
4. Bruno Mégret, 'Cinquant propositions', Présent, 22 November 1991, 7.
5. Jean-Yves Le Gallou and Philippe Olivier, Immigration: le Front national fait le point (Paris: Éditions nationals 1992), 20-3.
6. See Jens Rydgren, 'Is extreme right-wing populism contagious? Explaining the emergence of a new party family', European Journal of Political Research, vol. 44, no. 3, 2005, 413/37.
7. Interview with Filip Dewinter, 'Belgium's far right resurgence,' 11 October 2000, formerly available online at http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/belgiums_farright_resurgence_129821 (viewed 20 January 2009).
8. For an excellent overview of the literature on nativism, see Tyler Anbinder, 'Nativism and prejudice against immigrants: a historiographic essay', in Reed Ueda (ed.), A Companion to American Immigration (Oxford and Malden, MA: Blackwell 2006), 177/201.
9. Walter Benn Michaels, Our America: Nativism, Modernism, and Pluralism (Durham, NC: Duke University Press 1995), 8.
10. Ibid., 80.
11. Ibid., 129.
12. US Supreme Court, United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind 261 U.S. 204 (1923), available online at http://vlex.us/vid/20020912 (viewed 26 March 2009).
13. The quotations are from the opinion of Justice Stephen Field in the Chinese Exclusion Case (Chae Chan Ping v. United States 130 U.S. 581 (1889),
14. quoted in Hoang Gia Phan, "A race so different": Chinese exclusion, the slaughterhouse cases, and Plessy v. Ferguson', Labor History, vol. 45, no. 2, 2004, 133/63 (155).
15. See also Michael W. Hughey, 'Americanism and its discontents: Protestantism, nativism, and political heresy in America', International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, vol. 5, no. 4, 1992, 533-52 (542).
16. Ray Allen Billington, The Protestant Crusade 1800-1860: A Study of the Origins of American Nativism (Chicago: Quadrangle Books 1964), 322.
17. See Tariq Modood, Multicultural Politics: Racism, Ethnicity, and Muslims in Britain (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 2005).
18. Charles Taylor, 'Religious mobilizations', Public Culture, vol. 18, no. 2, 2006, 281/300 (286).
19. Ibid., 293.
20. At the same time, nativism in the United States was "the expression of an identity-anxiety, which was the fear that the "American" identity-however this might be conceptualized-was in jeopardy': Martin E. Spencer, "Multiculturalism, "political correctness," and the politics of identity', Sociological Forum, vol. 9, no. 4, 1994, 547-67 (550).
21. Hughey, 'Americanism and its discontents', 535.
22. Mark Lilla, 'Europe and the legend of secularization', International Herald Tribune, 31 March 2006.
23. Islam and the West: Annual Report on the State of Dialogue (Geneva: World Economic Forum 2008), 139. According to a German survey from 2006, 56 per cent of German respondents thought that there was a "cultural war' etween Christendom and Islam; 61 per cent thought peaceful coexistence between the West and the Muslim world was impossible; 56 per cent thought the construction of mosques should be forbidden as long as there were Muslim countries that banned the construction of churches: see Elisabeth Noelle and Thomas Petersen, "Eine fremde, bedrohliche Welt', Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 17 May 2006.
24. Editorial, 'Vaskeægte værdifast', Dansk Folkeblad, no. 4, 2007, 2.
25. Jean-Marie Le Pen, 'Discours á l'occasion du meeting du Cercle National des Combattants', 26 October 2007, available on the FN website at www.frontnational.com/doc_interventions_detail.php?id_inter=91 (viewed 26 March 2009).
26. The 1997 party manifesto ('Dansk Folkepartis Principprogram') explicitly referred to 'our warm and strong national soul' as the basis for the party's nationalist principles: 'The Danish People's Party is proud of Denmark: we love our fatherland and we feel a historical obligation to protect the Danish heritage.'
27. Pia Kjærsgaard at the party's fourth annual congress in Vissenbjerg, Fyn: see 'Vi i DK satte vort folk og aedreland over alt andet', Dansk Folkeblad, no. 5, November 1999, 4-5.
28. In 2002 criminal charges were brought against three leading members of the party's youth organization for distributing the flyer. They were later sentenced to seven days in prison.
29. Speech by Mogens Camre, delivered at the sixth annual congress of the Dansk Folkeparti, Vejle, 15/16 September 2001.
30. Adalberto Signore, 'Lega all' attacco: "L'Islam moderato é il paravento del fondamentalismo"', Il Giornale, 28 July 2005.
31. 'Contro l'Islam guerra culturale', Qui Lega Parlamento, 30 July 2005;
32. interview with Mario Borghezio (Lega Nord MEP), "Nous sommes des soldats politiques dans la tradition européenne'", Le Choc du Mois, no. 6, November 2006, 20/1.
33. On the evolution of Islamophobia in the Lega Nord, see Giuseppe Scaliati, Dove va la Lega Nord: radici ed evoluzione politica di un movimento populista (Milan: Zero in Condotta 2006).
34. Filip Dewinter, 'Het groene totalitarisme: De kolonisatie van Europa!', speech delivered at a conference in Antwerp, 20 November 2002, available online at http://forum.politics.be/showpost.php?s=2b1282399c53719aeb977df9a2c7e8a8&p=19766&postcount=77 (viewed 1 April 2009);
35. Filip Dewinter, 'Stop Islamterreur', speech at a demonstration outside the British embassy in Brussels following the 7/7 bombings in London, 14 July 2005.
36. See also his interview with Bas Paternotte, "Multicultureel betekent multicrimineel"', Metro, 15 June 2005, 18.
37. Geert Wilders, 'Genoeg is genoeg: verbied de Koran', de Volkskrant, 8 August 2007;
38. Gregory Crouch, 'A Dutch antagonist of Islam waits for his premiere', New York Times, 22 March 2008;
39. see also Wilders's interview with Arian Faal, "Koran ist ein faschistisches Buch" Geert Wilders erläutert Hintergründe seines umstrittenen Islam-Films', Wiener Zeitung, 20 February 2008, in which he reiterates his position that Islam is a "dangerous ideology' and the Qur'an a "fascist book' promoting violence.
40. The film was removed from the site shortly thereafter. However, a 'new version' of the film is available on LiveLeak.com at www.liveleak.com/view?i=216_1207467783 (viewed 3 June 2009).
41. Jeppe Bangsgaard and Morten Henriksen, 'Krarup: Koranen svarer til Mein Kampf', Berlingske Tidende, 24 May 2007.
42. Strache's remarks were made in a speech at the 28th FPÖ party congress in Innsbruck on 2 June 2007, and at a press conference two days later; the former is quoted in '28. Bundesparteitag der FPÖ in Innsbruck', available on Wiener Nachtrichten Online at http://wienernachrichten.com/newpages/par17i.html (viewed 28 March 2009);
43. The latter in 'Strache: "Islamismus ist der Faschismus des 21. Jahrhunderts"', Die Presse, 4 June 2007.
44. FPÖ, Das Programm der Freiheitlichen Partei Österreichs (Vienna 1998), 13.
45. Tjitske Akkerman and Anniken Hagelund, "Women and children first!" Antiimmigration parties and gender in Norway and the Netherlands', Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 41, no. 2, 2007, 197-214.
46. The term "strategic subversion' is from Lukas Reimann (SVP): see his "Islam: Aufklären statt verschleiern!', Schweizerzeit, 11 May 2007.
47. Dansk Folkeparti, Danmarks fremtid: dit land, dit valg... (Copenhagen: Dansk Folkepartis Folketingsgruppe 2001), 191.
48. Pim Fortuyn interviewed by Frank Poorthuis and Hans Wansink, "De islam is een achterlijke cultuur"', de Volkskrant, 9 February 2002.
49. See also Lijst Pim Fortuyn, 'Politiek is Passie', 2003, quoted in Cas Mudde, 'A Fortuynist foreign policy', in Christina Schori Liang (ed.), Europe for the Europeans: The Foreign and Security Policy of the Populist Radical Right (Aldershot: Ashgate 2007), 216.
50. Pia Kjærsgaard, statement made during the opening debate of the Danish parliament, 4 October 2001.
51. Pia Kjærsgaard, 'Blodhævn', Pia Kjoersgaards ugebrev, 6 June 2005.
52. Pia Kjærsgaard, quoted in Troels Henriksen, 'DF: Bliv integreret eller tag hjem', Jyllands-Posten, 2 August 2007.
53. Dansk Folkeparti, Danmarks fremtid, 28.
54. 'Vi har gjort Danmark lidt mere Dansk', Dansk Folkeblad, no. 5, October 2007, 6/7.
55. Akkerman and Hagelund, "Women and children first!"', 206.
56. Tjitske Akkerman, 'Anti-immigrant parties and the defence of liberal values: the exceptional case of the List Pim Fortuyn', Journal of Political Ideologies, vol. 10, no. 3, 2005, 337-54 (346-7).
57. Ulrich Schlüer, 'Minarette gehören nicht in die Schweiz', 3 May 2007, available online at www.minarette.ch/index.php?id=75 (viewed 28 March 2009).
58. See 'Regeln gelten für alle!', SVP International Newsletter, 31 March 2006, 4;
59. Christoph Mörgeli, 'Auswüchse einer falschen Einwanderungspolitik', SVPja, no. 12, 17 December 2004, 7.
60. Statement by Judith Wolter (Bürgerbewegung pro Köln) in the Cologne city council in support of her party's demand that Cologne become a member of Städte gegen Islamisierung/ Cities against Islamization, 4 March 2008, available online in "Auseinandersetzung um "Städtebündnis gegen Islamisierung', at www.pro-koelnonline. de/artikel08/ratssitzung.htm (viewed 28 March 2009).
61. Jane Freedman, 'Women, Islam and rights in Europe: beyond a universalist/ culturalist dichotomy', Review of International Studies, vol. 33, no. 1, 2007, 29-44 (33).
62. 'Österreich: Strache will Kopftuchverbot', Die Presse, 17 July 2007;
63. Filip Dewinter, open letter to Patrick Janssens, mayor of Antwerp, 1 June 2007, available on Politics.be at www.politics.be/persmededelingen/15243 (viewed 28 March 2009).
64. Soøren Krarup, quoted in 'Toørklædet som symbol', Nyhedsavisen, 20 April 2007
65. Krarup's statement was supported by Pia Kjærsgaard who maintained that the hijab was a "provocative political symbol' used by some Muslim women to make a political statement: Morten Henriksen, "Pia K. enig i hagekors-udtalelser', Berlingske Tidende, 20 April 2007.
66. 'En sort dag for folkestyre og ligestilling-symbolet på underkastelse tillades i Folketingssalen', Dansk Folkeparti press release, 8 April 2008, available on the Dansk Folkeparti website at www.danskfolkeparti.dk/En_sort_dag_for_folkestyre_og_ligestilling_-_symbolet_pa_underkastelse_tillades_i_Folketingssalen.asp (viewed 28 March 2009).
67. Pia Kjærsgaard, 'Domstolene skal holdes fri fra politik og religion', Pia Kjoersgaards ugebrev, 28 April 2008.
68. Lukas Reimann, 'Minarett = Symbol der Eroberung', impuls (SVP Canton St Gallen), no. 3, 2006, 6.
69. 'Nein zu Groβmoscheen, Minaretten und Muezzinruf!', pro NRW petition, 9 February 2008, available on the party's website at www.pro-nrw-patriot.de/pdf/nrwpetition.pdf (viewed 31 March 2009).
70. Pia Kjærsgaard, 'Ingen stormoské i Danmark', Pia Kjoersgaards ugebrev, 31 December 2007.
71. Pia Kjærsgaard, 'Nej og atter nej til islamisk stormoské', Dansk Folkeblad, no. 8, 1998, 3.
72. 'Innstilling fra kommunalkomiteen om forslag fra stortingsrepresentant Carl I. Hagen om nytt prinsipp for integrering av innvandrere samt lovregler slik at det ikke gis adgang til å fremfoøre boønnerop gjennom hoøyttaler fra moskeer', Dokument nr. 8:34, 19 October 2000, available on the Norwegian parliament's website at www.stortinget.no/Global/pdf/Innstillinger/Stortinget/2000-2001/inns-200001-009.pdf (viewed 31 March 2009).
73. Chantal Saint-Blancat and Ottavia Schmid di Friedberg, 'Why are mosques a problem? Local politics and fear of Islam in Northern Italy', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 31, no. 6, 2005, 1083-104 (1089-90).
74. 'Bologna, si infiamma lo scontro sulla moschea. Calderoli: "Un maiale-Day contro l'Islam"', La Repubblica, 13 September 2007.
75. Vlaams Blok, Aanpassen of terugkeren (Brussels 2001), 9.
76. See also Andrea Gibelli, 'Islam, terrorismo e sicurezza', speech delivered at the Scuola Politica Federale, Bellaria Igea Marina, 5-6 November 2005, available on the Padania Office website at www.padaniaoffice.org/pdf/scuola_politica_federale/bellaria_sestri/Bellaria_Gibelli. pdf (viewed 31 March 2009).
77. 'Kein Verbot von Minaretten im Kanton Bern', Neue Züricher Zeitung, 6 September 2007.
78. Andreas Dünser, 'FPÖ will Minarette verhindern', Vorarlberger Nachrichten, 21 February 2008.
79. 'SOS Abendland: Strache warnt vor Werteverfall und Verlust der Freiheit', FPÖ press release, 16 March 2007, available online at www.ots.at/presseaussendung.php?ch=politik&schluessel=OTS_20070316_OTS0150 (viewed 31 March 2009).
80. 'Il crocifisso sia esposto in tutti gli edifici pubblici', Lega Nord Regione Lombardia press release, Milan, 14 February 2006, available on a party website at www.regionelombardia.leganord.org/Comunicati_stampa/2006/2006%2001_03/2006_02_14%20COMUNICATO%20STAMPA%20CROCIFISSO.htm (viewed 31 March 2009).
81. Bruno Valkeniers, 'Recht door zee!', 4 March 2008, available on the Vlaams Belang website at www.vlaamsbelang.be/6/75 (viewed 31 March 2009).
82. Charter of Cities against Islamization, available online at www.citiesagainst islamisation.com/En/2 (viewed 31 March 2009).
83. See Moritz Schwarz's interview with Geert Wilders, "Ich lebe in Todesangst"', Junge Freiheit, 7 September 2007.
84. On the ensuing controversy, see Markus Schär, 'Ein Kreuz mit dem Islam', Weltwoche, no. 38/04, 15 September 2004.
85. The ad appeared in Switzerland's respected Neue Züricher Zeitung, 14 September 2004; its content was severely criticized by the Ethikrat der öffentlichen Statistik der Schweiz (Ethics Board of Swiss Public Statistics).
86. 'Å rets 4.743 nye danskere (indtil nu...)', [2001], available on the Dansk Folkeparti website at www.danskfolkeparti.dk/pdf/file-53-6412-24499.pdf (viewed 31 March 2009).
87. Bossi's statement in a session of the Camera dei deputati, Legislatura XV, Seduta no. 513, 26 March 1999, transcript available on the Italian government website at http://legxv.camera.it/_dati/leg13/lavori/stenografici/sed513/s090r.htm (see page 51) (viewed 31 March 2009).
88. Editorial, 'Det omvendte Korstog...', Dansk Folkeblad, no. 4, September 1999, 2.
89. Karsten Holt, 'Myten om den kærlige krig', Dansk Folkeblad, no. 1, February 2008, 24-5.
90. Interview with Heinz-Christian Strache by Ivana Cucujkic, 'Der Tschuschen-Freund', biber, 2 January 2008.
91. Interview with Filip Dewinter by Adi Schwartz, 'Between Haider and a hard place', Haaretz, 29 August 2005.
92. See also Dewinter's 2005 letter to the Flemish Jewish community in which he distanced himself and his party from Holocaust deniers, noting that the "genocide against the Jewish people by the Nazi regime cannot and must not be forgotten': "Open Brief van Vlaams Volksvertegenwoordiger Filip Dewinter aan de Joodse gemeenschap', Brussels, 28 January 2005, available on the Vlaams Belang website at http://vlaamsbelangvlaamsparlement.org/2/134 (viewed 31 March 2009).
93. For the Lega Nord, see Giuseppe Baiocchi, 'Gli ebrei morti, gli ebrei vivi', La Padania, 6 November 2001.
94. For the July 2004 speech, see "Carl I. Hagen infame tale hos Levende Ord', at www.youtube.com/watch?v=c12XeNljACM (viewed 31 March 2009). The present Fremskrittsparti leader, Siv Jensen, however, has moderated this position; see Jensen's petition at a meeting in support of Israel outside the Danish parliament, "Siv Jensens appell', 8 January 2009, available online at www.frp.no/Innhold/FrP/Les+Siv+ Jensens+appell.d25-TgtnIYJ.ips (viewed 31 March 2009).
95. 'Besoøg af Israels ambassadoør', Dansk Folkeblad, no. 5, October 2002, 4.
96. See Karsten Holt, "Danske ildsjæle i kamp for Israel', and Kenneth Kristensen, "Joødehadet florerer i Arabien', both in Dansk Folkeblad, no. 3, July 2007, 8-9 and 10-12, respectively.
97. John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925, rev. edn (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press 2002), 4.
98. Richard Hofstadter, 'The paranoid style in American politics', Harper's Magazine, November 1964, 77-86.
99. David H. Bennett, The Party of Fear: From Nativist Movements to the New Right in American History (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1988), 41.
100. Filip Dewinter, "Forza Europa"', speech delivered at the party congress of the German Republikaner, 8 October 2007, available on the Republikaner website at www.rep-hagen.de/content.aspx?ArticleID=412d695e-d0a9-4ad2-b0f4-5a14c92eb2ee (viewed 1 April 2009).
101. Quoted by SVP politicians in support of their initiative to ban the construction of minarets: see 'Moscheen ohne Minarette', Neue Züricher Zeitung, 3 May 2007,
102. Patrick Freudiger, 'Keine Islamischen Machtsymbole auf Schweizer Boden!', SVP Pressedienst, 4 June 2007, 8.
103. Quoted in Eros N. Mellini, 'Einige Anmerkungen zur "islamischen Gefahr"', SVP Pressedienst, no. 41, 9 October 2006. Mellini was the leader of the SVP in the Italianspeaking Swiss canton of Ticino.
104. Dewinter, 'Het groene totalitarisme'.
105. Mellini, 'Einige Anmerkungen zur "islamischen Gefahr"';
106. Eros N. Mellini, 'L'Islam che preoccupa', Il Paese, 28 July 2006.
107. 'Turkse premier op meeting in Hasseltse Grenslandhallen-Dewinter: "Erdogan heeft hier niets te zoeken"', 15 January 2009, available on Filip Dewinter's website at www.filipdewinter.be/zondag-grote-meeting-met-turkse-premier-erdogan-inhasseltse-grenslandhallen (viewed 4 April 2009).
108. Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon and Schuster 1996)
109. The FPÖ, for instance, states in a position paper on Islam that Huntington's predictions "have already come true in many areas': FPÖ, "Wir und der Islam', Vienna, 22 January 2008, 2, available on the FPÖ Freiheitlicher Parlamentsklub website at www.fpoe-parlamentsklub.at/fileadmin/Contentpool/Parlament/PDF/Wir_und_der_Islam_-_Freiheitliche_Positionen.pdf (viewed 1 April 2009).
110. Michael J. Shapiro, 'Samuel Huntington's moral geography', Theory & Event, vol. 2, no. 4, 1998, 5-12 (5).
111. Lawrence E. Harrison, 'The end of multiculturalism: the US must be a melting pot-not a salad bowl', Christian Science Monitor, 26 February 2008.
112. Faal, "Koran ist ein faschistisches Buch"' (interview with Wilders).
113. William E. Connolly, 'The new cult of civilizational superiority', Theory & Event, vol. 2, no. 4, 1998, 2-3.
114. The conference, organized by Arieh Eldad, member of the Knesset, was held at the Begin Heritage Center, Jerusalem, on 14 December 2008. Wilders's speech is available online on a number of anti-Islam websites, such as http://gatesofvienna.blogspot. com/2008/12/geert-wilders-speech-in-jerusalem.html (viewed 1 April 2009). In January 2009, the Amsterdam court of appeal ruled that Wilders be put on trial for inciting hatred towards Muslims by comparing Islam to Nazism: see 'OM moet Wilders alsnog vervolgen', De Telegraf, 21 January 2009.
115. See, for instance, the Lega Nord's most recent election manifesto, which has a section entitled 'Le nostre radici cristiane' (Our Christian roots), available on the party's website at www.leganord.org/elezioni/2008/lega/ue/radici_cristiane.pdf (viewed 1 April 2009). For an analysis of the Lega's use of Christianity, see Renzo Guolo, 'Chi impugna la croce? Lega, Chiesa e Islam', Religioni e Societá, vol. 20, no. 52, 2005, 39-45.
116. Federico Bricolo, 'Con questo Papa l'Occidente bloccherá l'espansionismo islamico', 25 March 2008, available on the Lega Nord website at www.leganord.org/dblog/articolo.asp?articolo=948 (viewed 1 April 2009).
117. See 'ÖVP verzeichnet starke Verluste bei strengen Katholiken', Der Standard, 2 October 2008.
118. See Jan-Yves Le Gallou, 'Europe: le temps joue pour le populisme', 3 December 2008, available on the Polémia website at www.polemia.com/article.php?id=1806 (viewed 1 April 2009). Among the participants at the conference were Frank Vanecke (Vlaams Blok) and Mario Borghezio (Lega Nord).
119. Lega Nord, Segreteria politica federale, 'Oggetto: sintesi posizioni Lega Nord sull'Unione europea', Prot. no. 0440/2004/RM, Milan, 10 March 2004, available on the Padania Office website at www.padaniaoffice.org/pdf/affari_istituz/doc_politici/Punti_LN_Europa.pdf (viewed 1 April 2009).
120. The Mediterranean image was first advanced by Filip Dewinter in Dewinter, 'Het groene totalitarisme'. In the spring of 2008 it was adopted by Susanne Winter of the FPÖ during a speech a few days before the municipal election in Graz. For an example of the Lega Nord's use of Lepanto, see 'Lepanto: la battaglia che salvó l'Europa', La Padania, 7 October 2004.