http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0...lance&n=266239
While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West from Within
A review:
Underneath its surface tolerance and secular welfarism, there lurks something very sinister in the Europe of today, something that the sanctimonious political correctness and anti-Americanism of the elites cannot cover up anymore. In this book, Bawer examines the psychological, moral and political angles of Europe's current predicament and its reaction to the threat posed by large unassimilated minorities in its midst.
The first manifestations of the clash of civilization have been the murders of Van Gogh and Fortuyn, the Madrid bombing, the London bombings, the 2005 riots in France and the uproar about the Danish cartoons in 2006. These are just the beginning of an ominous cultural conflict. The denial of the political and intellectual elites show disturbing similarities to the 1930s.
There is nothing left of classical liberalism in Europe today - the welfare state is a type of soft Leftism based on multiculturalism and moral relativism. What is most disgraceful about the current European mindset is the phoney tolerance, for example the European view of unassimilated minorities as "colourful" but Europe's total refusal to meaningfully integrate these into society. European are happy to dole out welfare money but not prepared to give these people proper employment.
The pieties of multiculturalism obscure a very tenacious ethnocentrism. Bawer points out the demographic reality, the declining birth rate of native Europeans versus the rapid rise in the numbers of Muslim immigrants. European elites are still in denial, even after the murders of Theo Van Gogh and Pim Fortuyn, but there are signs that ordinary people are becoming aware of the threat. The rejection of the proposed European constitution by Dutch and French voters is a welcome sign of this.
Based on personal experience and thorough research, the book makes riveting reading. It is clear that the continent, especially Old Europe, is in deep trouble. The most disturbing scenario would be a repeat of the 1930s, by for example embracing a type of Christian fascism instead of a return to Judeo-Christian roots and true liberalism.
Part of the problem is, Europe does not have a decent Right, except perhaps amongst the libertarian parties of Scandinavia or the Flemish nationalists. The senescent Christian Democrats have accepted the tenets of welfarism. The French and Austrian parties of the right display Fascist tendencies. Thus the welfare state consensus has never been properly challenged except in the UK where Margaret Thatcher positively transformed the country in the 1980s. That is why British society is in a better state today.
For more information on the recent history and the current state of Europe, I recommend Eurabia by Bat Ye-or, The West's Last Chance by Tony Blankly, The West And The Rest by Roger Scruton, The Force Of Reason by Oriana Fallaci, Our Culture: What's Left Of It by Theodore Dalrymple, The Dragons Of Nihilism by Robert Conquest and Menace In Europe by Claire Berlinski.
While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West from Within
A review:
Underneath its surface tolerance and secular welfarism, there lurks something very sinister in the Europe of today, something that the sanctimonious political correctness and anti-Americanism of the elites cannot cover up anymore. In this book, Bawer examines the psychological, moral and political angles of Europe's current predicament and its reaction to the threat posed by large unassimilated minorities in its midst.
The first manifestations of the clash of civilization have been the murders of Van Gogh and Fortuyn, the Madrid bombing, the London bombings, the 2005 riots in France and the uproar about the Danish cartoons in 2006. These are just the beginning of an ominous cultural conflict. The denial of the political and intellectual elites show disturbing similarities to the 1930s.
There is nothing left of classical liberalism in Europe today - the welfare state is a type of soft Leftism based on multiculturalism and moral relativism. What is most disgraceful about the current European mindset is the phoney tolerance, for example the European view of unassimilated minorities as "colourful" but Europe's total refusal to meaningfully integrate these into society. European are happy to dole out welfare money but not prepared to give these people proper employment.
The pieties of multiculturalism obscure a very tenacious ethnocentrism. Bawer points out the demographic reality, the declining birth rate of native Europeans versus the rapid rise in the numbers of Muslim immigrants. European elites are still in denial, even after the murders of Theo Van Gogh and Pim Fortuyn, but there are signs that ordinary people are becoming aware of the threat. The rejection of the proposed European constitution by Dutch and French voters is a welcome sign of this.
Based on personal experience and thorough research, the book makes riveting reading. It is clear that the continent, especially Old Europe, is in deep trouble. The most disturbing scenario would be a repeat of the 1930s, by for example embracing a type of Christian fascism instead of a return to Judeo-Christian roots and true liberalism.
Part of the problem is, Europe does not have a decent Right, except perhaps amongst the libertarian parties of Scandinavia or the Flemish nationalists. The senescent Christian Democrats have accepted the tenets of welfarism. The French and Austrian parties of the right display Fascist tendencies. Thus the welfare state consensus has never been properly challenged except in the UK where Margaret Thatcher positively transformed the country in the 1980s. That is why British society is in a better state today.
For more information on the recent history and the current state of Europe, I recommend Eurabia by Bat Ye-or, The West's Last Chance by Tony Blankly, The West And The Rest by Roger Scruton, The Force Of Reason by Oriana Fallaci, Our Culture: What's Left Of It by Theodore Dalrymple, The Dragons Of Nihilism by Robert Conquest and Menace In Europe by Claire Berlinski.
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