Norway's massacre trial of "mentally deranged" European terrorist Anders Breivik could be opportunity for Europe to address the issue of Islamophobia

Anders Breivik was allowed to give an hour-long address to the court today, reading a statement that summarized the anti-Islamic manifesto he had posted online before his bombing and shooting attacks nine months ago.

He's hoping to avoid an insanity ruling, which would deflate his argument that he was defending against Muslim immigration.

During his address to the court today, a judge interrupted him several times and asked him to get to the point. Breivik was allowed to continue after saying that he would either finish the speech or not speak at all.

Breivik set off a bomb outside government headquarters in Oslo, killing eight people, and then drove to an island outside the capital and killed 69 others at a youth camp.

Anders Breivik said on several occasions he has been inspired by other European Islamophobia politicians, including Geert Wilders of the Netherlands.

The Moroccan approach to Islam can probably teach Europe some useful lessons. In Morocco, Islam is practiced in a tolerant and moderate way and at the same time is tightly controlled by the state. King Mohammad VI controls how Islam is interpreted, which avoids the development of radical branches of Islam. The problem is that the Moroccan state holds Islam as the official state religion. This notion doesn’t fit well with Western secular democracies. Nonetheless, it would not violate the principle of secularism to provide representative Muslim organisations with the exclusive authority to authorise imams to teach and preach Islam.

This should provide a legal basis to prohibit radical imams from spreading hatred and violence in the name of religion. The state would remain secular and continue to treat all religions equally, whilst preventing the spread of ideas which are against the fundamental values of European countries: the right to live, equality of genders, freedom, etc. This is even more important as radical interpretations of Islam make extreme-right arguments and demands sound rational to some. There lies the real danger, as Islamophobia destroys the social links between Europeans of all confessions.

EU-Digest