Remarks to the Women Without Borders Conference

It is a pleasure to be here in Vienna to discuss how the West and Islam can not just live together but thrive together. This is a great group of people assembled here, and I am humbled to be a part of it. Women Without Borders should be commended for doing a superb job bringing us all together to discuss such an important topic.

It is symbolic that this meeting is taking place in this beautiful capital, known for a bit of history with Islam. Today, the Gates of Vienna are open to understanding, to tolerance, to conviviality.

However, not everything is sweetness and light… if we want to solve a problem we cannot avert our eyes. We need to understand the nature of it intrinsically. We must not ignore the history. And we should not be a slave to it either. We need to see it for what it is and be familiar with all its strands, in our time, and for future generations.

But we also cannot despair. We need to make a realistic assessment; we need to be practical in finding solutions to the problems of our day and steadfast in implementing them.

We are here today to discuss how people of different religions can get along, not just country to country, but also when we live in the same community, and are a part of the same community. The presence of large numbers of Muslims in Western societies is a relatively new phenomenon, or, I should say given Europe's long history, an old phenomenon that has returned. Let's not forget that Spain, Portugal and Italy were Muslim, in whole or in part, for many years centuries ago.

All action invites reaction. The Reformation had a Counterreformation and the Dark Ages the Renaissance. Even in art, impressionism was followed by expressionism.

And so it isn't either surprising or historical for the new advent of Muslim communities in Western countries to occasion friction. The question, rather, is how we react to it, how we stop evil people, both Muslims and non-Muslims, from opportunistically taking advantage of inevitable tensions in human interaction.

Here, we should heed the words of that great European, Edmund Burke, who said that "all that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing." I would only amend that to add "good men and women."

The question before this panel is how to live together. For this we need to understand why sometimes we don't do it that well. It does no good to wave away the problems the newcomer has in adapting himself or herself to an entirely new situation, or that the children of immigrants have in dealing with exclusion in the land where they were born.

These problems are real enough, and regard for our interests, if not compassion, demands that we pay attention to them and seek to alleviate them. These problems will be addressed either by us or by the extremists who need recruits for their suicide bomber squads. Or it will be fanned by nationalist xenophobes who want to end all immigration.

Likewise, we succumb to wishful thinking if we try to ignore or wave aside the gripes, some of them legitimate, of members of the host populations.

According to the U.N., every year more than 190 million people leave their countries in search of opportunity elsewhere.

That is quite a large number of people on the move. It is the equivalent of a very large country becoming transient every year all at once. It can also be a source of dislocation and disharmony in industrialized societies, if immigration is not handled smartly. We have to be quite frank about confronting the anxieties people have. If we don't do that, we leave the debate to unsavory politicians aiming to turn general discomfort into personal power.

We have to act now. The most recent German Marshall Fund survey found a significant spike in the percentage of Europeans who feared that immigration, terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism would impact their lives directly. It was a double-digit jump across the board. On the question of immigration, the portion of people who said it was likely to affect them personally went from half to over two thirds. At the same time, surveys of immigrants in Europe reveal they do not feel welcome, and that in fact many feel they are not European.

To understand does not mean to agree in all cases. It does not mean to justify the extremists on both sides who seem to monopolize debate. Quite the opposite. We aim to understand the problem so we can solve it, and therefore deny the extremists the very oxygen they need to survive.

I want today to frame my remarks by posing some questions.

• The first is, are there large societal forces, both internal and external, pushing against Muslims integrating into European societies, deepening differences and creating a Muslim identity that preempts loyalty to their new country?
  
  
• If so, can these forces be counterbalanced? How can you honor your religion and traditions and at the same time be modern bearing a loyalty to a secular state? And what responsibilities does a secular state have to balancing religion and tradition?

Before tackling these questions, I want to make clear that I come not with a silver bullet or magic potion. I am an American, not an Austrian or European. This is not, "hi, I'm from New York, and I'm here to help."

I am however, an American, who is also Muslim. I know from personal experience about the delicate balances required of a Muslim in a Western society, or of immigrant or a first generation American, for that matter. Many of these are not questions limited to Muslims.

After these caveats, let's delve into the issues. The first is, what are the forces preventing integration? By forces, by the way, I don't mean anything sinister or conspiratorial. I mean, technological, economic, and cultural forces, both internal to the immigrant population in Europe, and to indigenous European populations.

There are many. Muslims have a different religion from Christian Europeans; they may dress differently; may also look different from our conception of a typical European. All these attributes set them apart.

There's a question of whether these differences have deepened, paradoxically especially among the generations that were born here. The question is whether these European-born Muslims integrate into their societies less than their parents, who were born outside. The question is whether, in their search for identity, Islam has become for Muslim youths a matter of identity more than of religion. And, if it has, does that matter?

We can explore the reasons for why this would be the case. One is 9/11.

Just as in America, the terrorist attacks of September 11 have changed everything here in Europe. After 9/11, Muslims perceived a general backlash against them. So, many have retrenched into an Islamic identity as the way to pull together and protect themselves.

Of course, this can only be a very partial explanation. Even before 9/11 these Muslims, or some of them, felt excluded. The 9/11 masterminds lived in Europe. It wasn't 9/11 that made them seek an Islamic identity that overrode everything else.

Arguably, many Muslims who are Britons, French, German, and so on did not grow up in Britain, France or Germany, even though they did grow up within the geographical boundaries of these countries. Some of these people grew up in neighborhoods that were Muslim, went to schools that were Muslim and went home to Muslim households. They were a part of society, but apart from the mainstream of society.

When the parents of the present generation of youths moved into neighborhoods in clusters, they occasioned so-called white flight. Their children rarely rubbed shoulders with non-Muslims, and non-Muslims rarely reached out to Muslims.

In other words, their parents immigrated to Europe, picked European countries to live in. At some point they made a cost-benefit analysis in which Europe's advantages outweighed its disadvantages. Such a voluntary choice was never made by their children.

Technology may have, again paradoxically, contributed to alienation rather than integration. Satellite television pipes in programming straight from Turkey, the Maghreb and other points on the world. Or pan-Arab television networks, such as al-Jazeera, fill the void.

While the generation that immigrated was forced to watch Austrian, French or German programming, their kids sometimes have grown up or live in "virtual Morocco," or "virtual Algeria"-they may live in Antwerp physically, but the TV programming they watch, the websites they visit and the music they hear comes from elsewhere.

When they visit their "home" villages, however, the villages where their parents and grandparents came from, those places are alien as well. These youths have fallen through a gaping cultural crack.

Nature abhors a vacuum, especially in matters cultural, so an Islamic identity provided what was missing. Radical Islam then opportunistically offered meaning, purpose and excitement. We have all heard about the Mosques where political indoctrination trumps worship.

As we think of possible solutions, one that occurs is for civil society and the private sector to create spaces away from the reach of radical imams or websites or textbooks. In my own country, the YMCAs, with their range of sporting and cultural activities, have saved many a child. Other NGOs formed to address key issues for alienated youth who are isolated and need support have made great headway in America.

An immediate problem that emerges is that civil society is not as strong in socialized Europe, where government has often provided the answer, and voluntary associations and private schemes are not in abundance.

Government can help, to be sure, but top-to-bottom, one-size-fits-all responses have their limits. Nothing can take the place of bottom-to-top, local efforts. It is people on the ground who understand what is needed most clearly.

Government and the private sector should partner with civil society to create solutions. Over time, they will help to bridge the divide. I understand that Europe is experimenting with civil society solutions, especially with regard to tackling the integration of immigrants. This can only be welcome.

It is both individual, non-Muslim Europeans who must make a conscious decision to accept their Muslim compatriots as part of the fabric of their society. And it must be Muslim Europeans, too, who help bridge misunderstandings and explain issues on the ground. Governments can't legislate acceptance, though they can of course make sure they don't pass laws that actually make integration more difficult.

Muslims themselves have special responsibilities to put their institutions to work toward integration. I was gratified to read, therefore, the German press reporting that many mosques and prayer houses in Germany had invited non-Muslim Germans to visit on the Day of Germany Unity on October 3. Several Muslims told reporters that they wanted to demonstrate that Muslims are willing to integrate themselves into German society.

Which brings me to my last point. How can you be both modern and honor your cultural and religious traditions, for example? How can you balance the various nuances so you value all of your identities? How can you be a Muslim in Europe?

This is a very personal question, obviously. Each person needs to find the right balance for him or herself. Society does, of course, also have a claim.

I recently was in Switzerland where a Muslim man whose ancestors were from Bosnia asked me in a frustrated tone "Why is it that before I was Swiss and now all of a sudden I must tell people I am a Swiss Muslim?"

I think this gentleman has hit the nail on the head. How are people defining themselves and why is it that others are taking the power away from people to create their own identity?

The trick is to find a way to balance your identity and your background in a way that works for you, that honors your past, lets you succeed in your present and propels you into the future. It has to work for you, but it also has to work for your new community and country.

In order to do this well, you need a certain degree of self-awareness. You must know the difference between true religious requirements and cultural traditions which are "essential" and which can be kept or discarded without any harm to true religious observance.

Look, America is by no means perfect. We are learning, we are still finding our own balances. However, for many Muslim youth in America, there are enough sources to help them find an identity balance that works for them. They look to the history of the Irish Catholics or the Italians or the Chinese immigrants or whoever to see how balance between cultural roots, religion and America made sense for them. And there is plenty of "room" in American society to accommodate them.

Europe must amplify voices that help young people through these crises and find the role models that can reach out.

For American youth there is no perfect answer but there are many answers. The bottom line is the comfort level at which they can be true to American values and ideals and still be whatever else they chose to be. When you don't know who you are and you have no sources to learn about how your faith is practiced around the world, for example, you listen to the loudest voice.

And that is happening to many kids in Europe, both Muslim and non-Muslim. I hear this all the time from Muslims to whom I speak from Marseille to Milan to Madrid. How can you be both Italian and Muslim or Spanish and Muslim?

I met a young girl in Copenhagen - she was ethnically an Iraqi Kurd. She said to me "I am not Muslim." I didn't understand as I was in a group of about 50 kids all of whom were from what I thought were Muslim families. I looked puzzled. I said "what do you mean?" She told me again, "I am not Muslim," and she pointed to what she was wearing. I looked at her. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. She said "my imam tells me that if I am dressed like this I can't be Muslim."

This girl is in high school. She, like every other teenager around the world no matter his or her religion or race is dealing with identity issues. For female Muslims in Europe, you also see an additional burden.

The status of women within society is worth looking at apart. The "culture-within-the-culture" situation in which Muslims find themselves has continued practices relating to dress, marriage and the like that are not acceptable in European societies. But many of these practices are the result of cultural traditions rather than Quranic injunctions.

Constraints on women's freedoms, especially of movement, dress and action cannot always be squared with laws in Europe or America, or indeed with societal norms. Also, the women must be educated on what the Koran says on their rights. They must be able to read it for themselves.

The trick is to make the success of Muslim women a point of pride for the community and the family. Muslim women have shown themselves to be avid learners, good students and great workers and inspiring leaders when they enter the workforce. Anything that can be done to increase the talent pool of Muslim women, and raise their profile and role in the broader society would contribute to a solution.

Across all these issues, Muslims will need support. Because people are going to decide where that line is individually, where the fine balance is between their past and their present, they are going to need support structures. Where are they going to get instructions? Will they have imams who speak the local languages? Will they have guidance if they wish to live in a traditional way but at the same time find a modern compromise?

They need European societies that are tolerant and welcoming of cultural diversity. They also need greater participation in civil society and government structures.

Technology, which I singled out earlier as a contributor to alienation from the surrounding community, can play a positive and increasingly important role here. Electronic social networks can become some of these support structures. I am seeing that taking place in many cities that I have visited over the last six months. Again, private individuals are providing answers where governments can not.

I just hope that we can do more to encourage such things from bright, young, motivated Muslim entrepreneurs who have an interest in building stronger communities and getting young European Muslims into a frame of mind that encourages them rather than tells them they don't have a future.

I think I will stop here as my time is up. Delicate balances are by definition difficult to come by. I know I have offered mostly generalities here, but that's because the true answers must come from the individual.

I look forward to listening to the other panelists, to your questions, and to the general discussion.