Prague, Nov 21 (CTK) – President Milos Zeman´s acceptance of the position of Czech extremism leader has prevented it from being taken by someone more dangerous, but on the other hand, Zeman as president spreads anti-migrant hatred far more effectively than extremists, Martin Biben writes in Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD).
At a recent public meeting, Zeman compared the culture of a half million foreigners who live in the Czech Republic with the culture represented by incoming refugees. He said the former is compatible with “us,” i.e. the civilised world, unlike the latter one that he labelled a culture of murderers and religious hatred.
Although Zeman´s words were applauded by thousands of opponents of Islam at the meeting, and supported by a large part of Czechs on social networks, still they were a huge faux pas of him as president, Biben writes.
By no means can the culture of numerous migrant ethnicities that differ by their languages and approach to Islam be viewed as homogenous or clearly evil, Biben says.
No top European politician has made such hateful statements on Islam or any other religion or race for a long time before Zeman, Biben writes.
The example of the Czech Republic proves Zeman´s utterances to be superficial and simplified. By speaking about the foreigners living decently in the Czech Republic, he also unwittingly praised Muslims, of whom 22,000 live in the country, according to experts, Biben writes.
Their life here is just as Zeman put it. They have no conflict with either the majority population or other foreigners. Most of them have got smoothly integrated in the society. These people came to the Czech Republic, or previously to Czechoslovakia, as students or refugees in several waves from various countries, including Arab ones, as from the 1960s, Biben writes.
Their example shows that Muslim immigration does not necessarily have to be a problem, let alone a threat of terror, Biben writes.
There are also other countries like the Czech Republic, where there are no separated Muslim neighbourhoods, ghettos, where Islamic State fighters often come from. For example, in the USA, Muslims have mostly joined the middle class, Biben writes.
Apart from these arguments, there are also further facts that Zeman failed to mention. Neither the EU nor the Czech Republic can reject refugees all of a sudden, even if they wanted to, because this is prevented by the Geneva Convention, i.e. the U.N. convention on the legal status of refugees from 1951, Biben writes.
The convention binds us to accept war refugees as well as the people who justifiedly fear of being persecuted over their race, religion, ethnicity or adherence to a certain social group or political opinion, Biben writes.
Zeman also ignores the fact that many refugees flee the same evil that massacred people in Paris last week. They have lost their homes and relatives due to IS, and they could help the world fight IS, Biben writes.
The idea of forming combat units from Syrian immigrants is probably naive because those who wanted to fight have joined the fighting already. However, there is a realistic chance of gaining aides and informers of intelligence services from among refugees. Their recruitment has already been underway, according to experts, Biben writes.
Is it possible that Zeman, an educated man, is unaware of all this? Of course he knows it, but he is not the first intellectual to deny his own view in order to gain popularity and attract voters, Biben writes.
One may feel consoled by the fact that Zeman, by taking up the position of Czech extremism leader, has prevented it from being filled by someone more stupid and more dangerous, Biben says.
The other way round, however, Zeman, in his respected position of president, spreads superficiality and [anti-Muslim] hatred far more effectively than extremists, Biben concludes.
rtj/t
