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| 'The Great Divide' in the market | | Muslims and Westerners away from each other | | From B L KAK
NEW DELHI: Heard of the Pew Global Attitudes Project? It is a well-known organisation. It has just published results of another study based on opinion polls in 13 different countries, including the US, Spain, France, Germany, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan and Pakistan, on the views that Westerners and Muslims hold of each other.
The results of the study, entitled 'The Great Divide', are worrying. They are, however, not surprising. The past months have been marked by the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the terrorist bombings in London, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the riots caused by the publication of cartoons of Prophet Mohammad by western newspapers, linking Muslims to terrorism.
Globally, Muslims and Westerners share the view that their relations are rather bad right now. The only difference is what they think are the causes. Westerners see Muslims as fanatics, who are violent and intolerant, while Muslims consider Westerners to be egoistic, immoral and greedy, as well as violent and fanatical.
The two groups agree that Muslim countries should today be more prosperous. But again, there is difference of opinion about the causes. Muslims largely believe the western powers are responsible for the situation, while Westerners believe it is corruption, lack of education and fundamentalism that are the principle obstacles to prosperity.
With regards to the cartoons, opinions are again very clear and diametrically opposed. Muslims feel Westerners do not respect Islam while Westerners see it as proof of the intolerance of the Muslim world. The fact that women are not respected is an opinion that unites the two worlds. But here again, each camp accuses the other of this lack of respect for women.
Weighty indeed is the analysis of Dr Pascal Boniface, well-known French researcher: "Nevertheless, a positive element does emerge from Pakistan, Jordan, and Indonesia, as there is a significant decline in the number of people in these countries who feel suicide bombings can be justified. It is true that these countries have themselves been victims of suicide attacks".
Further statistics come from Indonesia (65 per cent), Turkey (59 per cent), Egypt (59 per cent) and Jordan (53 per cent), where a large majority of citizens do not think that Arabs were responsible for 9/11. While Muslim and western leaders have done their best to assure us that they want to avoid a clash of civilisations, these polls reveal a growing rift between Muslim and western societies. It is vital to not settle for declarations of good intentions, accompanied by policies that go in the opposite direction.
There are, nevertheless, several patterns of hope in this study. In France, for example, and despite the image portrayed by the crises in the suburbs, 74 per cent of the French believe that there is no contradiction between being a practising Muslim and living in a modern society. The proportion of those who think the same among French Muslims is comparable (72 per cent).
The rate of favourable responses to this same question is weaker in the US (42 per cent), Germany (26 per cent), Spain (36 per cent) and Russia (35 per cent). "It is thus in France that there is the greatest tolerance towards Islam", says Dr Boniface.
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