 Print
Attacks will only increase intolerance, Jedwab says
1-12-2015
Beyond all the innocent people who lost their lives, one of the casualties of this week’s terror attacks in Paris could be voices of tolerance and moderation, an expert on intercultural relations warned Friday.
“When these things arise, bridge-building efforts become very threatened,” said Jack Jedwab, president of the Canadian Institute for Identities and Migration.
“That’s a real concern. The paradox is, when these things occur, the bridge-building efforts are needed more than ever,” he said.
Jedwab said polling shows Canadians’ perceptions of Muslims have become increasingly negative in recent years, and there is a risk that acts of terrorism like this week’s tragedies could further stigmatize followers of Islam.
Polls conducted for the institute show the proportion of Canadians with a positive opinion of Muslims declined from 46 per cent in March 2012 to 35 per cent in September 2014.
We need to work hard on improving the relationship between various communities, and the Muslim population is the object of the highest level of stigma of any faith group right now. — Jack Jedwab, president of the Canadian Institute for Identities and Migration
Visceral reactions to the tragedies “that we’re seeing a lot of in social media and that are relatively unfettered are making it hard to work on improving the relationship, which is something that we desperately need to figure out how to do,” Jedwab said.
“We need to work hard on improving the relationship between various communities, and the Muslim population is the object of the highest level of stigma of any faith group right now,” he said.
In Quebec, the proportion of people who have a favourable view of Muslims fell from 34 per cent in March 2012 to 28 per cent last September.
Equally troubling, Jedwab said, is that a majority of Canadians think there is an irreconcilable conflict between Muslims and western society.
“That’s a worrisome proposition because it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Where do we go from there if people think there is an irreconcilable conflict?” he asked.
The proportion of Canadians who say there is an irreconcilable conflict between Muslims and the West has held relatively steady, from 58 per cent in November 2012 to 56 per cent in October 2014, six polls conducted for the institute show.
In Quebec, the proportion of people who believe there is an irreconcilable conflict fell from 68 per cent in November 2012 to 58 per cent in October 2014.
All the polls were conducted by web panel by Léger Marketing and are estimated to be accurate within 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
While it is urgent to promote dialogue between religious groups, that is “quite the opposite of what we’re likely to see, which is that bridge-building efforts will probably be weakened because when these incidents arise, people from these communities are very reluctant to stand together publicly,” Jedwab said.
He added people should not hold all Muslims responsible for denouncing acts by Islamic terrorists. “That’s making an association between such incidents and the Muslim population, which is unacceptable,” he said.
Jedwab predicted this week’s terror acts, including the killing of four people during a hostage taking in a kosher grocery on Friday, would also raise anxiety within France’s Jewish community.
“Already in France, what it’s meant for the past few years, as the climate has become increasingly poisoned, is that Jews have been leaving France. They’ve moved to Israel,” he said.
If the tragedies do have the effect of heightening mistrust between Muslims and non-Muslims, that will simply play into the hands of terrorists, Jedwab said.
“The hatemongers would like nothing more than watch the bridge-building efforts disintegrate,” he said.
Eta Yudin, associate director of public affairs for the Quebec branch of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), said the tragedies should spur western nations to step up the war on terror.
“When journalists are killed for what they’ve written and innocent civilians are killed for going grocery shopping, there’s something wrong and there’s something that has to be done,” she said.
“This week’s events in Paris serve as a wake-up call to the real threat that is represented by these terrorist groups and the need for democracies to wake up and to deal with this threat and ensure the safety of their civilians.”
Yudin said all Montrealers are invited to a vigil Sunday night in memory of the victims of the Paris attacks, organized by CIJA, Federation CJA and the Montreal board of rabbis.
“I would say that people of goodwill who value and respect the values that we share need to come out and stand up,” she said.
Sunday’s vigil will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Beth Israel Beth Aaron Congregation, 6800 Mackle Rd. in Côte-St-Luc.
mascot@montrealgazette.com
twitter.com/JMarianScott
Footnotes:
|