Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom [Paperback]

The USA has experienced 9/11 and Europe too has had its share of terrorism. Bawer goes back to the Salman Rushdie affair that erupted in 1989 to demonstrate how the West's capitulation began in our era. For the bigger picture he goes back even further, to a time when armies of desert tribes bearing a new religion burst out of the Arabian Peninsula to conquer the civilized world as far as Central Asia and Spain during its first expansion. Later waves led to the conquest of Hindustan, deep penetration into northern, western and eastern Africa and finally the subjugation of the Balkans.

The majority of the conquered peoples were converted by force or policies of oppression and discrimination (dhimmitude) except in the cases of Spain, India and the Balkans where the indigenous faiths stood their ground, eventually reasserting themselves through counterconquest or independence. In Africa, Christian Ethiopia was protected by geography and fierce defenders. Bawer shows how the crusades were a reaction to Islamic incursions and covers the USA's first ever overseas war, the one with the Barbary pirates in the early 1800s. Today, the target is the West's civil liberties of which free speech tops the list.

It's now clear that the Salman Rushdie affair exposed the cowardice of western leaders and intellectuals, introducing an era of intimidation aimed at undermining our basic freedoms. The triumph of multiculturalism & political correctness and the decline of Christianity in Europe handed the Islamists a 5th column, a weapon and a vacuum to fill. The consensus-über-alles European political & academic elites opted for appeasement. By now, this spirit of surrender has infected all aspects of European society including the courts, law enforcement and what remains of the mainstream Protestant churches of western and northern Europe.

Bawer devotes much energy to the cowardice of western media - especially the New York Times and BBC - that deny the threat by portraying radicals like Tariq Ramadan as moderates, by ignoring the treasonous statements of extremist clergy and all the while smearing those who dare speak out. Chronicling the crumbling resistance, he covers the murders of Pim Fortuyn in 2002, Theo van Gogh in 2004, the 2005 Danish cartoon controversy and the riotous reaction to a speech by Pope Benedict. As grand causes, the author diagnoses the horrors of WWII and the welfare state that followed as the breeding grounds of the pacifism-über-alles mentality which is leading to civilizational suicide.

The complicity of the media is established through hundreds of examples of underreporting, omission, silence & dissembling, every one backed up by verifiable sources and quotes. They refuse to admit the extent of e.g. honor killings & female circumcision in Europe, they obfuscate the nature of crimes and blur the identity of perpetrators and they deny that integration has utterly failed. In effect, two societies now exist in Europe: one of native Europeans & assimilated immigrants versus one of alienated, unassimilated populations in enclaves that are subject to Sharia law.

Trapped in wishful thinking, the media blame the messenger who increasingly risks prosecution under European speech codes. Bawer points out the deplorable slurs meted out to a brave defender of freedom like Ayaan Hirsi Ali. A favorite media tactic is to take recourse in moral equivalence with the mantra of "extremists on both sides," equating violent jihadis with their non-violent critics. The late Oriana Fallaci faced trial in Italy when she passed away in 2006 and in Canada, Mark Steyn & Ezra Levant only triumphed over state kommissars due to their spirited defense and public support. In America, the First Amendment still guards freedom of expression, for now.

Meanwhile reality -- unable to conform to the fantasies of the elites -- continues to assert itself. Despite generous welfare payments and the lavish funding of leaders & representatives, the hidden society promotes crime and is prone to ourbursts of nationwide violence as France learnt in 2005. This by the way, was initially ignored by the US media and when eventually reported, the euphemism "youths" was employed for the arsonists. Amsterdam that once prided itself on being the most tolerant city in Europe has become dangerous for gay people who are targets of this low-level Jihad. Yet the media still prefer discredited academics like Karen Armstrong and John Esposito over serious scholars such as Bat Ye'or, Robert Spencer, Ibn Warraq, Efraim Karsh and Andrew Bostom.

'Surrender' eloquently defends Enlightenment values as it attempts to rouse a comatose West. Besides the aforementioned observers, the alarm has also been sounded by Claire Berlinski, Theodore Dalrymple, Nonie Darwish, Brigitte Gabriel, David Horowitz, Caroline Glick, Melanie Phillips, Bruce Thornton, Phyllis Chesler, Walter Laqueur and Jamie Glazov to name a few. Let the author have the last say: "At least one thing seems certain: against people who are ready to die in the cause of destroying freedom, people who are not willing to speak up for freedom for fear of being called a racist or an Islamophobe don't stand much chance of victory."

Gary Bawer is an American expatriate literary critic and writer of renown. In his extensive writings, Mr. Bawer has written about the gay lifestyle, about religion, and about freedom. With the publication of his 2006 book, While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within, he took a step into a truly harrowing subject - militant Islam. In this book, Mr. Bawer looks at how the "politically correct" elements of Western society have effectively embraced the cause of militant Islam, and how they are working to tear down many hard-won freedoms in their support of them.

Overall, I found this to be a deeply disturbing book. Mr. Bawer shows extreme courage in writing this book, taking on real heat for discussing a subject that many think should be left unexamined. The book goes quite into depth on what is happening, and what it means. If you want to read a book that is truly illuminating on the subject of militant Islam and what it means for freedoms within the Western democracies, then you really must read this book.

Author Bawer has done yeoman work in exposing the curtailment of free speech in the West and notably in the US in order not to offend Muslims. Sometimes this is as a result of overt threats by Muslims, sometimes it occurs due to self-censorship to ward off such threats and criticism. In any case it is cowardly, and ultimately self-defeating.

This work is replete with examples of such instances from beginning to end, but in spite of the author's courage in writing this book, I note that the publisher saw fit to omit the cartoons that brought the most direct threats from the Muslim world. It seems like self-censorship is alive and well. Frankly I have seen much worse anti-Christian "works of art" in the US, but these were allowed to be publically displayed. I guess Christians aren't willing to murder people over such issues.

Not only is the entire theme timely and important, but so are several side points. The author mentions "dhimmitude" -- a concept that should be loudly proclaimed on our Government-controlled media (NBC and its various outlets and affiliates) and taught in our schools until every American understands what it means. Non-Muslims are not merely 2nd class citizens in Muslim countries under Sharia law; they pay an tax for the privilege of not being a Muslim, cannot fight a Muslim, and their oaths are not valid. Frankly their status is much lower than that of blacks in the US during the Jim Crow years. One must remember that the Qur'an definitely states that non-Muslims must be subordinate to Muslims and are not equal to Muslims in any sense. So much for "All men are created equal." In addition, we in the US should also know that the Turkish word for non-Muslims is the same as "cattle." That supported the children tax that was levied on Christian towns in the Balkans to fill the Janassary Corps and harems of the Ottomans. Gee, no wonder the Serbs don't like the Muslim Bosnians. So why do we?

Nonetheless, political correctness in the West & the US is turning free speech into a mockery. Only the Muslims (and the radical leftists in the US) actually have free speech -- for the rest it is already a lost right. Bawer does well to prove this fact, and his scholarship is impressive. One would hope that more than a few are reading this book, but it doesn't look like it.

Highly recommended. The hour is late.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 24 reviews  4.3 out of 5 stars