Sociology of Religion, Selected aspects from Central European Region Edited by: Witold Jedynak, Jarostew Kinal, Dutan Luzng, Daniel Topinka Reviewer: dr, hebil, Henrietta Nagy, PhD Publisher: Institute of Sociology University of Rreszw 35-959 Rejtana 16C Street POLAND Print: advertdruk.pl ul. Krakowska 21 41-503 Chorzow ISBN: 978-B3-64804-46-5 f iJakub Havliéek Perception of Islam and Muslims in the Czech Society: The Criticism of Islam in the Public Sphere in Two Examples* Introduction Though the modern Czech society is often characterized as non-religious and even atheist, it is not that easy to jump to such a simple conclusions. Even in the contemporary Czech society, religion is not merely private effair. Many topics connected to zeligion continue to enter the public sphere of the Czech society (cf, Havlitek - Luény 2013). From this point of view, Islam can be considered an example of treditional religion entering the public sphere. Various topics connected to Islam and Muslims are widely discussed. What is the image of Islam and Muslims in the public sphere of the Czech society today? What can we tell about the content and the context of-this image or images? It is important to emphasize that we are well aware of the complex nature of the phenomena we are about io encounter. From the scholarly perspective, Islam represents a snultiple-layer phenomenon or, rather, a set of phenomena. Of course, there are different concepts of Islam even from the proponents’ or emic perspective. As we shall see, we are about to deal with the homogenizing, stereotypical damage or perception of Islam and Muslims: in the public discourse, their image or images usually are more or less simplistic and stereotypical. ‘The topics connected to Islam and Muslims enter the public sphere of the Czech society through various media. Even a quick glimpse on the media images of Islam and Muslims in the Czech environment reveals that it is possible to distinguish three basic categories or perspectives on the topic. The first perspective treats the topic with criticism: Islam and Muslims are homogenized and cepresented stereotypically, quite often es a threat to “Western” cultural and social values. ‘The other perspective is reversed: Islam and Mustims axe 'S This study was supported by the “Islam in the Czech Republic: The Establishment of Muslims in the Public Space” project, which is implemented within the Program of Security Research in the Czech Republic for the years 2010-2015 (VG20i32015113). 80 also tepresented stereotypically, but in this case they are depicted es being peaceful and harmless. Religious violence and all other negative phenomena connected to Islam, Islamic countries and Muslims (if such phenomena are even mentioned) are usually dismissed as “non-Islamic” for Islam is seen as “the religion of peace”. Both perspectives — the negative and the positive one ~ can be seen as Orientalistic in order to understand or to “grasp” the complex phenomena, they are simplified and depicted in either positive or negative way (cf. Said 1979), The third perspective we can call as a scholarly view and it offen treats some particular topic connected to Islam and Muslims in a neutral, non-evaluating, academic way in order to explain the context of selected topics to wider public. We will focus on two particular examples when the topics of Islam and Muslims are publically discussed. As we shall see, both examples are connected to the first perspective when tbe topics of Islam and Muslims are treated with criticism. We will analyze the comments of the president of the Czech Republic Milos Zeman on the topic he has made in 2011 as prospective presidential candidate (cf. HavliSek — Koretkova 2015). Shortly after his comeback to higher politics, Zeman enters the public debates as prospective presidential candidate and he aims at attracting the attention of the public through his comments on diverse topics ~ Islam and Muslims are among them. Then we will weat the topic of criticizing Islam on: Facebook where we will analyze the content of the page “Islam v Ceské republice nechceme” (We Do Not Want Islam in the Czech Republic; further referred to as “IVCRN®) (cf. Havliéek 2015). Before its removal by Facebook administrators in January 2016 the page represented the most popular Internet platform for the opponents of Islam ~ by mid-July 2015 the page has been fiked by more than 141,000 Facebook users. In describing and analyzing the two examples, we apply the methods of both quantitative and qualitative data analysis, examining the statistics of religious affiliation, the frequency of themes in the comments on Islam and Muslims but also the content and the context of these comments. Islam and Muslims in the Public Discourse We can start our inguity with a simple question: what is the public image of Muslims and Islam within the Czech society? In his recently published study on the topic of Muslim tainority in the Czech Lands, Daniel Topinka presents the results of 2014 survey of attitudes alof the Czech citizens toward Muslims. It shows that roughly 50% of the Czechs consider ‘Muslims as “threat to our values, traditions and culture” (Topinka 2015, p. 32). According to approximately 70% of respondents, Muslims represent security threat for us (ibid.). According to Martina Kyizkova (2006), the Czech people usually lack accurate information as far as Muslims and Islam are concerned, Within the Czech society, Muslims can be called “invisible minority” (ibid.): their actual presence within the society is marginal and, generally specking, the Czech people construct their image of Islam and Muslims with the information they get through various media, Kitzkova analyzes the image of Muslims in the media and she comes to the conclusion that it is schematized and simplified: Islam and Muslims are largely depicted as being “different” or strange and are usually seen as conflicting with our social and cultural values and habits (K#izkové 2006). We can assume that only a small number of Cyech citizens have personal, direct experience with Islam or Muslims. This assertion is supported with statistical data. From the statistical point of view, the number of Muslims in the Czech society is negligible. “As the results of the most recent National Census held in 2011 reveal, the number of inhabitants of the Czech Republic who declared themselves as Muslims or Islam believers does not exceed 3,500 individuals (Natioval Census), However, according to the estimates presented by Daniel Topinka, the total number of Muslims fiving in the Czech Lands would be probably higher ‘Topinka’s model shows that there are approximately 22,280 Muslims living permanently in the Czech Republic by October 31, 2013 (Topinka 2015, p. 36). The small number of persons who openly declared theic adherence to Islam in the Census is probably due to the fact that the response to the question of religious affiliation was not mandatory: it probably explains the discrepancy between the number of Muslims ascertained through the Census and the estimated pumber of Muslims as provided by Daniel Topinka. Milo’ Zeman’s Comments on Islam in 2011 "The case of Milos Zeman’s comments can be seen as an example of traditional religion (Islam) entering the public sphere of contemporary Czech society (cf. Havlitek — Koretkové 2035). Let us examine the content and the context of his comments, Then we are going to 82 suggest some concepts or theoretical tools of social sciences which could be applied in the attempt to analyze the case of Zeman’s comments on Islam, Milo’ Zeman was known as reformist as early as in the 80's and after the Velvet Revolution and the fall of Communist regime in 1989 he enters the world of state politics (M. Zerman’s Biography). Between 1993 and 2001 he is chairman of Social Democratic Party and in 1998 he becomes Prime Minister of the Czech government. In January 2003 he fails in his atiempt to become President of the Republic and he temporatily leaves the political career, returning in 2009 with his own political formation “Party of Citizens’ Rights — Zeman's Supporters”. A year Jater the party fails in the general elections. Zeman’s prospective candidature to the presideney becomes widely discussed and in 2012, Milo Zeman offically announces that he will run for the office in the elections of 2013 - he wins in the second round of the general election in 2013. It is important to explain that the presidential election of January 2013 was the first dicect presidential election in the Czech Republic when the position has been decided by direct popular vote. During 2011 Milo$ Zeman publically commented on the topics of Islam and Muslims and various media published and further commented Zeman’s statements. Let us focus on the most read daily published newspapers in 201; if they refer to other resources, we are going to follow this reference ~ as for example the interview with MiloS Zeman published on August 4 in weekly published journel Reflex. Ata conference organized by the Ministry of Foreign Aflairs and by the Ministry of Defence held in Prague on June 27 and 28, Milo’ Zeman identifies the enemy of the Noxth Atlantic defense structures. According to Zeman, the enemy is the “anti-civilization” extended from North Aftica to Indonesia, inhabited with 2 billion of people and financed partly by oil sales, partly by drug sales (Umiméng mustim 2011). The newspapers’ commentaries point out Zeman’s prospective presidential candidature: by giving his opinion on Tslam, Zeman aims at drawing the attention of the public (Zeman: iskim 2011) and therefore, also the attention of his potential voters. 83MiloS Zeman mentions Islam and Musfims also in the interview published on August 4 — the title of this interview speaks clearly: “Milo’ Zeman: Islam is the Enemy” (Milog Zeman 2011). Zeman compares Islam with Fascism and he ascribes this statement to W. Churchill, Under Zeman’s opinion, Christianity can be characterized as “teligion of love?, while he calls Islam “religion of hatred”. According to Zeman, all terrorists are Muslims and there are no “moderate Muslims”. He compares Islam to Nazism: “Moderate Muslim is (...) contradiction in terms, as well as (..) moderate Nazi* (ibid), In order to free themselves, Zeman states, Muslims have to abandon their faith. He is also convinced that it is necessary to defend Western Eutope against Islamic infiltation: it is impossible to co-exist with Islam which strives to subdue all infidels and dominate the world (ibid.). In another interview published on August 13 Milo’ Zeman reminds the readers of Samuel Huntington’s concept of “the clash of civilizations” (Zeman; Batora 2011), According to Zeman, the conflict between Euro-American civilization and Islam is the conflict that awaits us and we must be well-prepared to face this war to come (ibid.). Zeman applies Huntington's concept of the clash of civilizations; under his opinion, Islam represents “anti-ciyilization”. He compares Muslims to the Nazis. With no exception, Milos Zeman sees Islam as oppressive and aggressive religion which threatens European cultural and social values. Under his opinion Islam is strongly connected to terrorism since “all tertorists are Muslims". The journals’ commentaries often connect Zeman’s comments on Islam with his prospective presidential candidature (Zeman officially announced his candidature in 2012. and he wins the elections in 2013), Milos Zeman can be seen as opinion leader who — by the means of mass-media, journals and newspapers - mediates his opinion on the topic of Islam to his adherents and followers. In his comments, he presents Islam and Muslims as threats to Sour” cultural and social values: for this reason the case can be seen as an example of moral panics (cf ‘Thompson 1998), Zeman’s comments are connected to the process of defining (and defending) Western/European/Czech cultural and social values. From this point of view, ‘Zeman applies the undeniable political potential of presenting Islam and Mustims in general as 8 a “threat”, He exploits this topic as a means to gain political support for his prospective presidential candidature, Criticism of Islam on the Internet The Facebook page “Iskim v Ceské republice necheeme” (We Do not Want Islam in the Czech Republic; IVCRN) was probably the most popular Facebook page focused on ctiticism of Islam and Muslims; by mid-July 2015 the number of Facebook users who “liked? the page has come to 141,000. From July 2014 to July 2015 the number has more than doubled: in July 2014 the page had approximately 70,000 fans that have chosen to “like” the page. The page IVCRN was founded on July 26, 2009 (Basic information), In June 2014 the page is temporarily blocked for a period of one week by the Facebook administrators (Facebook smazal). The page is renewed on June 27, 2014 and blocked again on January Ul, 2016 (Facebook zablokoval) ~ this time the removal of the page is probably permanent. The content of timeline or the main page of IVCRN is administered by a limited number of adntinistrators who publish their comments, references to other web pages or visual materials such as photos or drawings. All other users can express their preferences basically by three different ways: they have the option to “ike” the posts on the timeline, they can share them on their own petsonal dimefines and they can also leave their own comments under the posts on the page itself. We focus on the content end on the context of administrator’s posts to the dimeline of IVCRN from June 28 to July 27, 2014 (cf, Havligek 2015). In this period, there are 196 posts by administrators of the page. After analyzing the content of these posts, we come io the condusion that the majority of them, 101, concern Islam in direct relation to the Czech Republic, the Czech society or Czech social and cultural identity and values. In general, fslam and Muslims are presented as threatening Czech national identity and socio-cultural values. ‘The posts often mobilize the followers to actively oppose the threat of “Islamization” of the country, e.g. by signing and supporting a petition against granting the Center of Mustim 85ee near Sane NCSA ONT er a EE EE eee eee Communities (the association of Muslims in the Czech Republic) the rights to officially enter the public sphere by founding schools or working at hospitals and prisons (ibid.). What concepts of social sciences can be applied to analyze the criticism of Islam on the page of IVCRN? In order to interpret the case, we can suggest the application of the concepts of “opinion leaders”, of “moral panics” and, last but not feast, of “collective memory”. The administrators of the page are identified as “opinion leaders”. The role of opinion leaders is based on their involvement in a social categorical relationship shared with their followers, connected to the process of defining a Czech national identity (ibid. cf, Reicher - Haslam — Hopkins 2005). This identity is formulated in contrast with “Islam” and “Muslims” and their characteristics and vahies are generally presented as being contradictory to “Czech cultural values”. Further, the criticism of Islam can be interpreted as a case of “moral panics” (Thompson 1998), and, for its connection to the process of defining a Czech national identity, it is also endowed with considerable political potential. ‘The criticism of Islam in the process of defining a Czech national identity is connected to the imagery of Muslims in the collective memory (Halbwachs 1992) of the members of the Czech society (cf, Mendel ~ Ostiansky - Rataj 2007), Conclusion, MiloS Zeman’s comments on Islam as well as the criticism of Islam on the page of TVCRN and the analysis of the content and the context of criticizing Islam and Muslims reveal that the perception of Islam and Muslims is connected to the process of defining and understanding Czech national, cultural and social identity, ‘This identity is defined as the opposite of Islamic socio-cultural features which are depicted rather negatively. In this stereotypical and homogenizing perspective Islam and Mustims represent “anti-civilization” (as expressed by Milo’ Zeman). Prom this perspective, the Huntingtonian “cutture clash? is inevitable. The connection of criticism of Islam and Muslims to the understanding of Czech socio-cultural identity can be seen as a key to the political potential of this criticism: we will probably see more examples of this criticism in the near future in connection with political competition in the public sphere of the Czech society. References Halbwachs, M. (1992), On Collective Memory, Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press. Havlivek, J. - Koretkova, J. (2015}, Muslimové, islim, nacisté a anticivilizace. Véroky Miloge Zemana o islimu a muslimech v roce 2011 pohledem sociélnich véd, unpublished working paper. Havliéek, J. - Luiny, D. (2013), Religion and Politics in the Czech Republic: The Roman Catholic Church and the State, in International Journal of Social Science Studies 2, 1: pp. 190-204, doi: 10.11114/ijsss.vli2.145. Havligek, J. (2015), Kritika islimu na Geském intesnenr — modnosti interpretace. PHpad facebookové strénky Islam v Ceské republice nechceme, in Lidé mésta ~ Urban People 17, 3, pp. 475-511 Kitzkova, M. (2006), Neviditelné meniina ~ analyza mediélniho obrazu éeskych muslima, Migraceonline.cz, May 26, 2006, htip://migraceonline.cz/ca/e-knihovna/neviditelna- mensina-analyza-medialniho-obrazu-ceskych-muslimu (December 1, 2015). ‘Mendel, M. ~ Osttanskf, B. - Rataj, "[.. 2007, slim v srdei Evropy. Viivy isldmské aivilidace va déjiny # soucesnost ceskych zem, Praha: Academia, Reicher, S. ~ Haslam, S. A. - Hopkins, N. (2005), Social Identity and the Dynamics of Leadership. Leaders and Followers as Collaborative Agents in the Transformation of Social Reality, in Lezdership Quarterly 16, 4: pp. 547-568 Said, E. W. (1979), Orientalism, New York: Vintage Books. ‘Thompson, K. (1998), Moral Panics, London, New York: Routledge. Topinka D. (2015), Role religiozity a etnicity v procestr integrace muslimit-imigranth do éeské spoletnosti “in Nad Evropou piilmésic I: Muslimové vy Cesku a zdpadntch spoleénostech, ed, Karel Cerny, Praha: Kavolinum, pp. 24-63.Newspaper and journal articles Milo’ Zeman (2011): Milo’ Zeman - neptitelem je islém, Reflex, August 4, p. 22. Umiméng muslim (2011): Umimény muslim neexistuje, fekl Milo Zoman, MF Dnes, June 28, p. 4. Zeman: Bétora (201): Zeman: Bétora je polovitni fasista, Prfvo, August 13, p. 7. Zeman: islam (2011): Zeman: islim je anticivilizatni. Zeny ale za volant nepatti, Prfvo, July Bp.2 Websites Basic information: ZaKladni informace, skim y Ceské sepublice _nechceme, htps://www-.facebook.com/iveeryinfo (July 29, 2014). Facebook smazal: Facebook smazal strénku, které brojila proti islimu v Cesku, Lidovky.cz, June 20, 2014, _ http;//www-lidovky.cz/facebook-smazal-strankn-ktera-brojila-proti- jslamu-v-cesku-pa9-/zpravy-domov.espx?c=A140620_223525 In domov_rek (July 20, 2014) Racebook zablokoval: Facebook zablokoval Iskim y CR nechceme. Odvolime se, wedi Konvitke, iDNES.cz, January 11, 2016, http://zpravy.idnes.ca/facebook-zablokoval- islam-v-cr-nechceme-d9k-/domaciaspx?c=A1G0IU_200312_domaci_fer (April LL, 2016). National Census: Obyvatelstvo podle véku, nébotenské viey a podle pohlavt (Population: age, religious belief, gender), Czech Statistical Otice, btips://edb.czso.cz/vdbvo2/feces/cs/shontUr12su=53d35493 (December 1, 2015). M. Zemen’s Biography: Zivotopis, Milo’ Zeman, prezidert Cesk’ repabliky, hup://www.zemanmilos.cz/cz//zivotopis.htm (December 18, 2014). 88Sociology of Religion. Selected aspects from Central European Region Editors: Witold Jedynak, Jaroslaw Kinal, Duan Luzny, Daniel Topinka Rzeszéw 2016Sociology of Religion, Selected aspects from Central European Region Edited by: Witold Jedynak, Jarostew Kinal, Dutan Luzng, Daniel Topinka Reviewer: dr, hebil, Henrietta Nagy, PhD Publisher: Institute of Sociology University of Rreszw 35-959 Rejtana 16C Street POLAND Print: advertdruk.pl ul. Krakowska 21 41-503 Chorzow ISBN: 978-B3-64804-46-5 f i