Eurabian Nights

Posted 11/7/2005
The French Riots: The consequences of Europe's laissez-faire attitude toward Muslim immigration are now visible in France. The "Arab street" has finally exploded — in the suburbs of Paris.

The riots that we've witnessed for 12 days now, and which have spread to 300 French towns, are said to be fueled by the failure of the stagnating French economy to assimilate its growing Muslim population and provide jobs.

But the intensity and number of outbreaks suggests something else as well — a seizing of the moment by those unwilling to be assimilated. Motivated by their hatred of Western culture and their fundamentalist beliefs, they have lashed out at the infidels.

The rioting comes almost a year to the day after Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh had his throat slit by a Muslim born in Holland. The incitement? Van Gogh produced a film criticizing the Islamic world for its harsh treatment of women.

It's reasonable to suggest the feelings of van Gogh's killer are shared by many of the rioters in France. Clichy-sous-Bois, the suburb where the trouble started, is like many European communities. More than 80% of the residents are Muslim immigrants and their children. It's a place French police have avoided for years.

It is not alone. As columnist Mark Steyn reports, Belgian police officers in Brussels are advised not to be seen drinking coffee in public during Ramadan. In Malmo, Sweden, ambulance drivers will not go into certain areas without police escort.

As we've noted for years, there's another bomb going off in Europe, a demographic time bomb. It's already having unintended geopolitical consequences as Muslim immigrants descend on a declining Europe desperate for "cheap" and abundant labor.

Indigenous Europeans are a dying breed. To sustain a population requires each woman on average to have 2.1 children. In the European Union, the birth rate is 1.5 and falling. To keep its working population stable, Europe must import 1.35 million people a year. Most are Muslim. Not all are friendly.

In the last 10 years, Europe's Muslim population has doubled to 20 million. France's Muslim population, at about 5 million, is Western Europe's largest — roughly 7% of the population. There are 1 million Muslims living in van Gogh's Holland. In the Netherlands' four largest cities, Muslims are a majority among children under 14.

Among this population are groups like Britain's Al-Muhajiroun ("the immigrants"), which celebrated 9-11 as "a towering day in history" and whose leader has ties to Osama bin Laden. Before the London subway bombings in July, its spokesman proclaimed, "One day the black flag of Islam will be flying over Downing Street." Perhaps the Eiffel Tower as well?

Madrid. London. Paris. Maybe what Europe needs is a Patriot Act.