Inauguration of the Assilah Forum Foundation – PHOTO/SOCIAL NETWORKS
Cultural sharing does not equalise all migrants who arrived in Europe and America during the last decades of the last century. In the host countries, the treatment of newcomers is totally different depending on their political orientations. According to Libya’s former foreign minister, Mohamed Al-Dairi, the waves of migrants now arriving in Europe do not come to represent their countries, but Arab culture.
The Asilah Forum also highlighted the fact that, over time, the Muslim community has increasingly found it necessary to move. Marginalisation, language, culture are just some of the reasons that have driven the Muslim diaspora to travel in Europe. Whereas in the 1990s, France was the main destination for this migration, with constant changes and stigmas, now London has become the new epicentre of this diaspora.
Assilah Forum Foundation – PHOTO/SOCIAL NETWORKS
‘Paris has always been the dream home for Arabs,’ said London-based journalist Mohamed Kawas, who also pointed out that there are differences between host countries: in Belgium and the United States, the trend is increasingly extremist in terms of the social treatment of Arab figures, while in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France it is common for political and important personalities to be of Arab origin.
For Mohamed Kawas, figures of Arab origin within European countries represent European countries rather than their countries of origin.
Counter-immigration trend
Through marginalisation, isolation and exclusion, the West has returned people of Arab roots to origins they did not even know. This was the view of Moroccan novelist Ahmed Al-Madani, who explained that these issues reflect the generational and geopolitical change that Europe is experiencing and that the Muslim population living on the continent is suffering.
Haitham El-Zobaidi, director of Al-Arab and one of the most prestigious speakers at the Forum, said: ‘The situation of Arab immigrants, including the elites, has been affected by the recent terrorist events in Europe, which has increased Islamophobia and damaged the image of Arabs’. Furthermore, she raised the question of whether the Arab diaspora had achieved its goal when cultural exchange began in the 1980s and 1990s.
Assilah Forum Foundation – PHOTO/SOCIAL NETWORKS
Similarly, Katia Ghosn warned that the immigration that arrived in Europe more than 50 years ago has settled in the European system ‘forgetting’ its origins, but, the ‘sidelong glances’ suffered by the descendants of Arab roots born in Europe are increasingly common.
Faced with these stigmas and changes, many of the countries that have been characterised by their capacity to welcome immigrants are now seeking measures to curb the arrival of more immigrants by means of economic aid to the countries of origin. A move that, according to several speakers, demonstrates the hypocrisy of these Western countries.
Assilah Forum Foundation – PHOTO/SOCIAL NETWORKS
The hypocrisy of the West
‘Although the West has stopped promoting the values of justice at a global level, there is a popular movement that is re-emerging and making its voice heard,’ said Mohamed Benaissa, secretary general of the Asilah Forum.
The slogans about issues such as human rights were just a pretext for the powers to maintain their power. ‘Although some Western governments may have abandoned common values such as freedom, equality, justice, partnership, peace and tolerance, it does not mean that these values are wrong,’ Benaissa added.
Assilah Forum Foundation – PHOTO/SOCIAL NETWORKS
Speakers at the Forum concluded that the future risk of recent events in Gaza, with Israeli aggression, and Western prejudices could lead to the formation of an extremist generation that seeks revenge at a lower cost.
However, it is not all negative: Arab immigration to the West has brought great economic benefits in the form of capital inflows and new lines of trade that have fostered the growth of ties between entrepreneurs of all backgrounds.
Source link : https://www.atalayar.com/en/articulo/politics/the-asilah-forum-and-the-situation-of-the-arab-diaspora-in-the-west/20241028130207206705.html
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Publish date : 2024-10-28 12:02:00
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