On anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Europe

Is Europe's Islamophobia following the path of 19th century anti-Semitism? 

By Sara R Farris     

Dr Sara R Farris is an Assistant Professor in Sociology in the Sociology Department at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Al-Jazeera - 05 Jun 2014

In 1844, Karl Marx published a short but dense text entitled "On the Jewish Question". It was a critical review of two essays by the-then famous philosopher Bruno Bauer, who had argued against equal rights for Jews if granted on religious grounds. If Jews wanted to be considered full citizens - Bauer maintained echoing the widespread opinion of the time - Jews would have to abandon their religion and embrace Enlightenment. According to this logic, there was no room for religious demands in a secular society.   As Bauer's position suggests, anti-Jewish racism in Germany and elsewhere in Europe in the first half of the 19th century, was justified mainly on cultural and religious grounds. Jews were discriminated and regarded with suspicion because they were considered an alien "nation within the nation". In fact, it was not until the second half of the 19th century and the rise of "social Darwinism" that "racial anti-Semitism", framed in biological terms, appeared on the political scene and Jews were openly discriminated against on the basis of their alleged genetic inferiority.  The question we might want to ask ourselves today is whether contemporary Europe is confronting a Muslim question similar to the Jewish question 170 years ago. Is European antipathy towards Muslims comparable to that first stage of hatred towards Jews, a hatred that culminated in one of the darkest pages of human history?

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