Dialogue To What End?

By Farish A. Noor

Recently a high-ranking delegation of diplomats from Germany paid a visit to
Malaysia, as part of Germany’s outreach efforts to engage with the Muslim
world abroad and to explain how and why the process of internal dialogue is
taking place within Germany, and indeed within Europe itself. In fact
‘dialogue’, particularly of the inter-religious kind, seems to be highly
fashionable these days and everywhere one comes across conferences,
seminars, projects and enterprises with the buzz word “dialogue” inserted
into them one way or another.

It is undeniable that dialogue is a necessary thing, particularly in the
fraught and tense times we live in when bullets seem to be doing more of the
talking than words. It is also crucial that as Europe engages with the
Muslim world in dialogue that the same process of communication be taking
place within its borders. For this reason the German delegates went to great
pains to show just how far the process of dialogue has taken place in
Germany itself, as seen during the German Muslim conference that was held in
Berlin last year.

However no dialogue process can or should be allowed to proceed uncritically
and unquestioned. For this reason it is equally important to stress some
salient points and concerns that are all too often sidelined as soon as the
dialogue process begins.

For a start when countries like Germany begin the process of dialogue with
the Muslims residing within their borders, we need to also address the
issues of race and racism; power differentials and inequalities - both
institutional and non-official- that exist in such countries. It would be a
tad too simplistic to simply say that Germany’s Muslim community has not
integrated well with the rest of the mainstream German population for that
would overlook the economic and social realities of immigration and the fact
that Germany’s millions of Muslims also happen to belong to the poorer
classes of society for economic, political and historical reasons that have
nothing to do with Islam or religion per se.

Secondly it would also be important to note that dialogue should begin from
the premise of mutual respect and a clear understanding of what the ultimate
goal should be. If engaging in dialogue with Muslims is meant to help them
integrate better into German and European life, we should also note that
Europe and Germany are not, and have never been, homogenous entities.

This appears to be a problem that is slightly more difficult to address as
European society still seems in a state of denial about its own complex
identity and history of internal migration. Yet one look at the urban
population of Germany today would point to centuries of immigration from
other parts of Germany and beyond: From French to Polish, Russian, Armenian
and Jewish migrants that have flowed into the country, settled there and
helped to develop the rich culture of Germany we see today. The new waves of
migration into Europe from Asia and the Arab lands should therefore not be
seen as anything novel, but how many Germans realise that theirs was and is
a country of migration?

That is why the cynics among us may wonder at the timing of these grand
dialogues with Muslims in Europe today. Islam and the Muslim world have
existed next to Europe for fifteen centuries- Has it taken that long for
Europeans to realise that the Muslims they regard as their dialectical
Others are actually their long-standing neighbours?

And if the question today is about how to integrate Muslims better into the
mainstream of European life, then are Muslims simply being foregrounded and
set up as test cases for a deeper and more complex process of streamlining
European identity that seems to be more complex than ever? After all,
Muslims are not the only ones engaged in a communitarian politics of
identity in Europe today: A cursory glance at Europe’s poltical landscape
would show that all over the continent once-marginalised ethnicities and
communities are also demanding representation and the recognition of their
particular identities, from the Basks of Spain to the Gypsy communities of
Eastern Europe. So are Muslims the only, and main, problem of a complex
Europe today?

By all means, dialogue is always commendable and important- But let this not
be the opportunity to pathologise Muslims as the ‘problem’ that prevents
Europe from finding itself and fulfilling its destiny in the world.

End.

Dr. Farish A. Noor is a Malaysian political scientist based at the Zentrum
Moderner Orient, and one of the founders of the http://www.othermalaysia.org
research site.