Perception of Islam and Muslims in the Czech Society: The Criticism of Islam in the Public Sphere in Two Examples. In: Jedynak W. – Kinal, J. – Lužný, D. – Topinka, D. (eds.): Sociology of religion. Selected Aspects from Central European Region. Institute of Sociology, University of Rzeszów, Rzeszów, 2016, s. 80-88: The paper focuses on the topic of representations of Islam and Muslims in the Czech society. It focuses on the comments made by Milos Zeman before his presidential campaign in 2011 and it also summarizes and analyzes the criticism of Islam and Muslims on Facebook page “We do not want Islam in the Czech Republic”. Both examples show that the criticism of Islam and Muslims is connected to the process of defining and understanding Czech national, cultural and social identity. In this context, Czech identity is understood in opposition to Islam which is depicted in homogenizing and stereotypical terms as “anti-civilization”. The connection of understanding of Islam and Muslims with Czech national identity can be seen as a key to the political potential of criticizing Islam. We will probably see more examples of this criticism in connection with political competition in the public sphere of the Czech society.
Original Title
Perception of Islam and Muslims in the Czech Society: The Criticism of Islam in the Public Sphere in Two Examples
Perception of Islam and Muslims in the Czech Society: The Criticism of Islam in the Public Sphere in Two Examples. In: Jedynak W. – Kinal, J. – Lužný, D. – Topinka, D. (eds.): Sociology of religion. Selected Aspects from Central European Region. Institute of Sociology, University of Rzeszów, Rzeszów, 2016, s. 80-88: The paper focuses on the topic of representations of Islam and Muslims in the Czech society. It focuses on the comments made by Milos Zeman before his presidential campaign in 2011 and it also summarizes and analyzes the criticism of Islam and Muslims on Facebook page “We do not want Islam in the Czech Republic”. Both examples show that the criticism of Islam and Muslims is connected to the process of defining and understanding Czech national, cultural and social identity. In this context, Czech identity is understood in opposition to Islam which is depicted in homogenizing and stereotypical terms as “anti-civilization”. The connection of understanding of Islam and Muslims with Czech national identity can be seen as a key to the political potential of criticizing Islam. We will probably see more examples of this criticism in connection with political competition in the public sphere of the Czech society.
Perception of Islam and Muslims in the Czech Society: The Criticism of Islam in the Public Sphere in Two Examples. In: Jedynak W. – Kinal, J. – Lužný, D. – Topinka, D. (eds.): Sociology of religion. Selected Aspects from Central European Region. Institute of Sociology, University of Rzeszów, Rzeszów, 2016, s. 80-88: The paper focuses on the topic of representations of Islam and Muslims in the Czech society. It focuses on the comments made by Milos Zeman before his presidential campaign in 2011 and it also summarizes and analyzes the criticism of Islam and Muslims on Facebook page “We do not want Islam in the Czech Republic”. Both examples show that the criticism of Islam and Muslims is connected to the process of defining and understanding Czech national, cultural and social identity. In this context, Czech identity is understood in opposition to Islam which is depicted in homogenizing and stereotypical terms as “anti-civilization”. The connection of understanding of Islam and Muslims with Czech national identity can be seen as a key to the political potential of criticizing Islam. We will probably see more examples of this criticism in connection with political competition in the public sphere of the Czech society.
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
iJakub 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
alof 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.
83MiloS 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
85ee 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.
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88Sociology of Religion.
Selected aspects from Central European Region
Editors:
Witold Jedynak, Jaroslaw Kinal, Duan Luzny, Daniel Topinka
Rzeszéw 2016Sociology 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