Reflections on the Revolution In Europe
Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West is a 2009 book by Christopher Caldwell about the impact of the mass immigration of Muslims to Europe in the 20th century.
According to The New York Times, Caldwell's argument is that "When an insecure, malleable, relativistic culture" (Europe’s) "meets a culture that is anchored, confident, and strengthened by common doctrines" (Islam's), "it is generally the former that changes to suit the latter."
In The New York Times, Caldwell argues that the mass immigration by Muslims to European countries' cities is altering the culture of Europe because of a strong Muslim disinclination to assimilate to the culture of their new homelands. Muslim immigrants do not so much enhance European culture as they supplant it. Caldwell asserts that Muslim immigrants are "patiently conquering Europe’s cities, street by street".
According to Caldwell, "the most chilling observation" in Reflections on the Revolution in Europe is that " the debate over Muslim immigration in Europe is one that the continent can’t openly have, because anyone remotely critical of Islam is branded as Islamophobic. Europe’s citizens — as well as its leaders, its artists and, crucially, its satirists — are scared to speak because of a demonstrated willingness by Islam’s fanatics to commit violence against their perceived opponents. There exists, Mr. Caldwell writes, a kind of "standing fatwa" against Islam’s critics".
The ultimate impact of immigration will vary throughout Europe, he predicts. Britain is most susceptible to violence and political extremism. Sweden has the greatest problem with isolation and segregation of immigrants. Spain, already beset by questions of national unity, is most vulnerable to being swamped by the sheer volume of immigration. Turks in Germany may slowly assimilate. And, though France will continue to experience “spectacular social problems”, its republican traditions offer the best hope for fully assimilating immigrants’ children and grandchildren.
According to The Observer, "Caldwell cuts to shreds the conventional wisdom of the "immigrationist" ideology - the view that mass immigration is inevitable and in any case a necessary injection of youth into our ageing continent. He shows, contrary to the immigrationists, that the flows of recent decades are unprecedented. He also demolishes the economic and welfare- state arguments for mass immigration... One of the most startling figures in the book is that the number of foreign residents in Germany rose from 3 million to 7.5 million between 1971 and 2000 but the number of employed foreigners stayed the same at 2 million."
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