The Euro-Arab Axis

Bat Ye’or’s wrote Eurabia, The Euro-Arab Axis. In her Preface she provides some definitions and explains what she intends to do in the rest of the book. Since she was herself a dhimmi in Egypt, that matter is important to her. She sees a slide in Europe toward dhimmitude. Interestingly, she sees this slide being guided by European leadership and resisted by the common people who do so in an instinctive non-comprehending way

She writes, “This book describes Europe’s evolution from a Judeo-Christian civilization, with important post-Enlightenment secular elements, into a post-Judeo-Christian civilization that is subservient to the ideology of jihad and the Islamic powers that propagate it. The new European civilization in the making can be called a ‘civilization of dhimmitude.’ The term dhimmitude comes from the Arabic word ‘dhimmi.’ It refers to subjugated, non-Muslim individuals or people that accept the restrictive and humiliating subordination to an ascendant Islamic power to avoid enslavement or death. The entire Muslim world as we know it today is a product of this 1,300 year-old jihad dynamic, whereby once thriving non-Muslim majority civilizations have been reduced to a state of dysfunctional dhimmitude. Many have been completely Islamized and have disappeared. Others remain as fossilized relics of the past, unable to evolve.

“For over a millennium, following the seventh-century Muslim military offensives against Byzantium, European powers instinctively resisted jihad – militarily when necessary – to protect their independence. The response of post-Judeo-Christian Europe of the late twentieth century has been radically different. Europe, as reflected by the institutions of the EU, has abandoned resistance for dhimmitude, and independence for integration with the Islamic world of North Africa and the Middle East. The three most apparent symptoms of this fundamental change in European policy are officially sponsored anti-Americanism, antisemitism/anti-Zionism and ‘Palestinianism.’ These increasingly visible aspects of Europeans policy are merely components of an overall vision for the transformation of Europe into a new geopolitical entity – Eurabia.

“The decisive shift in European policy came as a result of the oil crisis of 1973 when the European Economic Community (EEC), at the initiative of France and the Arab League, established the Euro-Arab Dialogue (EAD). Since then, the EAD has been in the vanguard of engineering a convergence between Europe and the Islamic states of North Africa and the Middle East. The EAD promotes a specific conception of international politics that determines Europe’s relations with the Arab/Muslim world, and with America and Israel. It has also formulated a vision of European history, religion and culture, both past and future. Under the rubric of ‘dialogue,’ the EEC and its Arab League partner created a formidable political and legal superstructure that encompasses the entire Euro-Arab relationship and fostered increased joint Euro-Arab diplomatic initiatives.

“The following chapters describe the origin and development of the little-known EAD. EEC and subsequently EU documents reveal the development of a new ideology that is producing demographic and cultural change for the purpose of creating conditions for the fulfillment of the Eurabian vision. Eurabia’s cultural preconceptions include the ‘new Judeophobia,’ as well as resurgent anti-Americanism. The intensity of Judeophobia and anti-Americanism reflects increasing Islamic penetration of Europe and its growing influence on European policy. Judeophobia has been a characteristic of European and Islamic societies since medieval times. The Islamic elements of the modern European Judeophobia, together with its related anti-Americanism, have been incorporated into policies emerging from the EAD. They are as much anti-Christian and anti-Western as they are anti-Jewish. I do not believe that Judeophobia and anti-Zionism are common among the majority of Europeans. These attitudes, instead, are imposed nolens volens on an often reluctant public by political, media, and religious elites through methods that I will elucidate.

“It is now obvious that Islam in Europe has not followed a process of Westernization; instead, the West becomes increasingly complaint to accommodate the religious and political norms of Muslim immigrants out of a fear of social unrest and terrorism. Policies aimed at the integration of Muslim immigrants and their offspring have generally failed. Many Europeans have perceived this profound civilizational shift. A significant minority of Europeans have responded by voting for rightest or even extreme right-wing political parties. Despite popular protests, European immigration policies were not substantially altered until 2003.

“Observing this disturbing phenomenon, one gets the impression of a sinking continent, a colossal Titanic wreck, where the passengers run from one desperate situation to another. Indeed the situation does seem hopelessly compromised, as the European political authorities responsible for a state of affairs that they have knowingly created refuse obstinately to confront it. Instead, they tend to escape into a virtual world of rhetoric that replaces reality.”

Lawrence Helm