PolicyMic

Naeem Meer I completely agree with you on the fact that the US should take a closer look at the French election given that France is one half of the EU powerhouse.

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• 3 weeks ago

Naeem Meer For the past ten years, there have been aproximately 100000 new immigrants from outside the EU in France; hardly a mass phenomenon. Marine Le Pen wants to remove the country from the EU, that is how she intends to fight globalization. By doing so, s...

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• 3 weeks ago

Naeem Meer Thank you for your spot-on analysis Richard. I'm afraid the choice of words for the title was unfortunately changed by the editorial team.

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• 3 weeks ago

Naeem Meer Thank you for your comment Vithar. Would you care to expand on what the fate of 'diverse cultural states' is? Also, in your opinion, what would Marine Le Pen do in order to make France a better place?

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• 3 weeks ago

Naeem Meer Sorry Jonathan, I think you misread the sentence. The countless journalists who have died have joined the list of those already dead, therefore the list has been strengthened with additional names.

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• 1 month ago

Naeem Meer That sounds like a great initiative Melisa. Best of luck!

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• 1 month ago

Naeem Meer You're very welcome Ed! Thank you for reading.

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• 1 month ago

Naeem Meer You're welcome Douglas!

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• 1 month ago

Naeem Meer I assume that the French government is responsible for reassuring its population because that is one of the primary functions of a state, along with security and the wellbeing of its citizens, especially in trying times such as the one France is curr...

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer Christine, no one inside the Muslim community knew about Merah's activities. They had no one to "turn in". In fact, it appears that a young Muslim woman once contacted the police because her little brother had been shortly abducted by ...

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer An infinitely tiny minority of Shoah survivors did murder someone (it is statistically impossible that not a single one of them didn't), therefore similarly a tiny fraction of individuals pretending to be pious Muslims felt inspired by those the...

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer My article doesn't have a thesis per se, I have simply shared some elements that I believe need to be addressed in the very near future in France but also abroad. Your comment on my alleged sympathy for Merah is uncalled for, especially since Be...

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer I agree with you on the personal reasons behind his actions Tarek, but I would not define him as a madman, at least not in light of the current public information. For me his situation led him to bitterness, frustration and a desire to seek revenge. ...

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer Can you expand on the actions you see as done by Muslims responsible for their situation and that they should change? Thanks

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer I think that in order to do this, French politicians should: -refrain from creating an unproven linkage between immigration and terrorism -reassess the objectives in Afghanistan and decide whether a change in policy can be contemplated -push for a...

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer Thank you very much for your thoughts Ben and for outlining the importance of a comprehensive argument. As I mentioned, Muslim religious leaders have indeed condemned these actions but I don't think it's right to ask more from random Frenc...

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer I agree, the risk of people getting jumpy is there, but the role of the state and its educated leaders is to restore calm and reorient that nervousness towards the reconstruction of a positive societal model.

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer His motivations were not incoherent at all: he targeted French soldiers for their involvement in Afghanistan due to France's fight in that theatre and he targeted a Jewish school because he wrongly equated Jews with controversial Israeli foreig...

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer Again, on the point of mental insanity, I totally disagree. It is very simplistic to disregard those actions as those of a madman because they lead us to shut down on any form of understanding (and thus tackling) of the issue. Would you similarly arg...

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer My point about his age is that it is extremely disturbing that someone so close to my reality can act in such a way. It hits home a lot more when a terrorist has grown up in virtually the same environment as you. Yes I am familiar with who Marine Le...

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer It's economic policies and social segregation that lead to a inward looking attitude and in this regard, the state has a greater role to play that the individual.

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer I believe that Muslims, just like Jews, Christians and others, should not be considered through the prism of their religious community. They are citizens of France, not Muslim citizens of France. Furthermore, stating that the killer is not a madman ...

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer Dear Ben, sometimes I don't think that it's necessary to state the obvious. My short article revolves around the public policies and the political discourse that will surface after these events and the risks for an unhealthy debate. My cond...

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer You're right Seamus, it's very ironic. These where photos probably taken during protests against various laws against the veil or the niqab in France. The woman in this shot is probably implying that her religious is not incompatible with h...

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer Thanks for your comment Tarek. I agree with you that France has a stronger sense of identity than Britain but I don't think that British tolerance has been more effective than in France. Notice that the same issues of integration have been addr...

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• 2 months ago

Naeem Meer The reward for opposing those who want to colonize the West Bank is simply the prospect of peace. Both the Palestinians and the Americans have underlined how important freezing the settlements was to coming back to the negotiating table. Furthermore,...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer I'm sorry Dennis but it's a bit strong of you to suggest that Israel is not the instigator of the current unrest. Surely they carry at least half of the blame through things such as illegal colonisation...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer I agree with you Gary, peaceful protesting works better than violence. It has even been proven statistically (you might want to take a look at Erica Chenoweth's brilliant work on the subject). I hope you can understand however that this option ...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Sorry, I just realized the question wasn't for me!

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Thanks for your question Raoul, it's a really interesting and hard one! Personally if by "same maxim" you mean to engage in talks with a group that uses terrorism in order to limit the number of civilian casualties on both sides and ...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Ethan, please don't forget that the issue of who broke ceasefires first is a highly contested one. Events leading to the Gaza offensive of 09-10 for example have shown that Israel might have very well been the first to attack in order to use the...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Yes that's a great quote Ethan and it's true that the Palestinians have kept on missing useful opportunities...but who could blame them, especially in 1948. I don't understand why you say that the example of the PLO's behaviour m...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer I don't think a group needs diplomatic status to be engaged with. Again, as I mentioned before, it's important to try and look beyond aggressive rhetoric and notice that Hamas is willing to accept an indefinite truce with Israel: seems to ...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Thanks for the question Luke. I would advise you to take a look at some of the comments further down. I have mentioned that Hamas (having already a certain amount of political power) has already negociated with Israel on a few issues and that leaves...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Try and replacing "Hamas" by "PLO" and you will see that any situation can evolve, you just need to start sitting down and talk.

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer That's the one! Looking forward to your thoughts.

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Dear Dennis, I think your argument is valid when you are dealing with apocalyptic groups such as Al Qaeda. But groups like Hamas have a nationalist agenda and thus can be pushed to the negotiating table.

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Clearly I wish as well for all countries separating religion from politics, but the examples of Algeria in the early nineties and others have shown that violence will not defeat those who want to link religion to politics. Let's try through elec...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Thanks a lot for the comments Ben.

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer All these questions are related. Very true, granting a Palestinian seat at the UN would be the best way but it's also the least likely.

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer I don't think it's such an impossible feat. There are already signs that such talks are taking place and I think that the events in Syria give less leverage to Hamas. Furthermore, the recent elections in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco have show...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Oh sorry. Covert at first because I don't think that people in Europe are ready to accept their governments discussing with an organisation labelled as terrorist by the EU. Secret talks would provide a framework and enable Hamas to eventually gi...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer My idea in involving the EU is to offer a credible alternative to the US as an intermediary. The case can be made for a less visible US role in the region, especially in the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict where some view it as too biased.

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Thanks for those important points Tarek. I would even go farther than you and repeat one of my points from the article. It could be better to start any talks without any preconditions in order to force all parties to sit and talk without any excuses...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Absolutely, Hamas' emergence is due to outside actors that had an interest in seeing the PLO less powerful. But if Hamas joins the PLO, it will be less easy for it to conduct terrorist actions. Pushing Hamas towards a more moderate stance, it ...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Thanks for your comments Michael. I agree with you, Hamas' vision of government is not my favourite either. However, Hamas has earned legitimacy through an election and that means that Fatah has to do a much better job (mainly one involving les...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Don't you think that when negociating truces or exchanging prisoners, Hamas already somewhat recognizes Israel and thus has done a piece of the road already? The idea is exactly not to have any preconditions to talks in order to reach an underst...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Dear Douglas, thank you for your comments. Covert because I think that the public opinion is not ready to accept such talks yet and a veil of secrecy would enable the different parties to create a certain amount of trust that any negotiation needs. ...

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• 4 months ago

Naeem Meer Thanks a lot for the addition Jonathan! Although the Salafists...that's another story.

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• 5 months ago

Naeem Meer -They are not relying on God to govern them but they believe in using religious elements as sources of jurisprudence within their framework of governance. Success will be measured in their ability to drastically curb unemployment, manage the countr...

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• 5 months ago

Naeem Meer I'm not sure that Arabs are seeking "American equality"...I would argue that they are just interested in equality.

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• 5 months ago

Naeem Meer Thanks a lot Matty. I agree, Tunisia and Morocco are maybe less at risk but we have seen in Tunisia that extremists exist and are quite vocal for example in the case of those clashes that erupted before the screening of a movie on secularism.

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• 5 months ago

Naeem Meer I assume that Islamists will fail because no one holds all the keys to success in politics. Having God on your side does not make a difference. I never said they couldn't adapt, in fact I think they have done a great dealing of adaptation by ev...

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• 5 months ago

Naeem Meer Thank you very much Akil!

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• 5 months ago