New York: Challenges facing Muslims in the West, Nov. 6

Tuesday November 6, 2007, 6:30-8:30 pm
At NYU’s Silver Center for Arts and Science,
Jurow Lecture Hall, 100 Washington Square East,

New York, NY 10003.

We invite you to attend and help us continue our conversation, significant to contemporary political, economical and cultural issues, facing Muslims in the Western world.

Our conference in Salzburg brought together 60 policy makers, community leaders, scholars, media professionals and activists from Europe, North America and the Muslim World. Mustapha Tlili opened the discussion with “a call for creative thinking about the inclusion of Islam and Muslims in the west”. The participants yielded to this request that led to stimulating and insightful conversations. While Farah Pandith, Senior Advisor on Muslim engagement at the State Department, shared lessons learned from the American experience of integrating Muslims and other minorities, Austrian Federal Minister for European and International Affairs, Ursula Plassnik, emphasized the need to develop tools that encourage integration and prevent hopelessness in young Muslims.

Other participants raised interesting questions such as: Is it appropriate and feasible to speak in terms of a “Western Islam”? How best can tensions created by the presence of Islam and of Muslims in the West be overcome? What role does public policy play in addressing these tensions? What best practices, if any, can be developed regarding security and integration?

Our panelists for the evening are experts & leaders in matters related to the Islamic world and Muslims in the West and the relationship between Islam and West.

Abdullah M. Alsaidi, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Yemen to the United Nations, who, prior to his current appointment, served as his country's Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1999-2002.

Jon Benjamin, Deputy Consul-General of the United Kingdom in New York and considered one of the most knowledgeable experts on Muslim communities in the West.

Jytte Klausen, Professor of Comparative Politics at Brandeis University who has authored several books, including The Islamic Challenge: Politics and Religion in Western Europe.

Piet de Klerk, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the United Nations, former Netherlands Ambassador at large for Human Rights.

Please RSVP to 212-998-8693 or nlh2@nyu.edu by November 4, 2007 if you would like to attend.

To learn more about and to read online copies of our publications please visit us at www.islamuswest.org

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