Muslims have wanted to conquer and Islamize Europe for centuries. Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, is said to have predicted that the armies of Islam would one day conquer Constantinople and Rome, which at the time this story was composed, were the two foremost cities in Christendom. Muslims did indeed conquer Constantinople in 1453, and more than one Muslim cleric in our own age has said that time has come, and it will soon be Rome’s turn.
Nowadays, however, the warriors of jihad are not besieging the cities of Europe and attempting to breach their walls. Instead, the conquest is taking place in a vastly different manner. Leftist open-borders policies have allowed millions of Muslims to stream into Europe, where the European left’s dogged commitment to “diversity” and “multiculturalism” has foreclosed on any effort to convince the migrants to assimilate and adopt European values. Meanwhile, as adherents of a supremacist ideology, those migrants are doing just the opposite of assimilating.
The latest example of this is a dispute in Italy over a most unthreatening item, a plastic pig. The European news service Remix News reported Thursday that “a plastic pig displayed in the window of a newly opened delicatessen on the Piazza dei Signori in the Italian city of Padua has triggered a local controversy after a senior representative of the city’s Muslim community called for its removal, arguing that it is offensive and inappropriate.”
The loutish pig in question is actually the Italian cousin of the happy, chef’s hat-wearing pigs that adorn the signs of barbecue joints all over our own fair land, and is no more offensive and inappropriate than they are. But if you’re trying to establish and enforce the principle that everyone must always and in every case bow to Islamic sensibilities, then the Padua pig might end up becoming a thorn in your side.
Remix notes that the pig, “placed in the window of the deli Mortadella… e Non Solo, is used to advertise the shop’s sandwiches and cured meats, which are primarily made from pork.” Nothing offensive or inappropriate about that, Salim El Mauoed, who is the regional vice president of the Muslim community in Padua, nevertheless “urged both the shop’s owners and local authorities to intervene, describing the display as ‘in bad taste’ and offensive to Muslims who pass through the area.”
Now, you might notice that “Salim El Mauoed” is not exactly a conventional Italian name. The man is from somewhere else, yet he does not hesitate to dictate to the Paduans regarding the kind of items they are permitted to have in their shops. Should he succeed in compelling the deli Mortadella… e Non Solo to remove the plastic pig from its window (as well as from its logo and promotional materials), it is not remotely inconceivable that Salim El Mauoed and his fellow Muslims in Padua will then demand that Mortadella… e Non Solo stop selling pork as well. If you can get a beer or a glass of wine at this deli, those are going to have to go, too.
Salim El Mauoed issued his demand in the name of “diversity,” but ultimately, the “diversity” for which he stands is decidedly monochromatic. He says that the plastic pig in the window is “in bad taste” and offensive to Muslims who might pass by, but he has no concern whatsoever for the possibility that some native Italians might find the removal of the pig to be just as offensive and inappropriate as he regards the pig itself. The Padua of Salim El Mauoed’s dreams will be entirely stripped of material that is offensive to Muslims, but the sensibilities of everyone else will not be taken into consideration.
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That is why El Mauoed’s demand that the pig be removed “has drawn criticism from some politicians and residents, who argue that it amounts to interference with lawful commercial activity and undermines the principle of civil coexistence.” Many Paduans “contend that living together in a pluralistic society necessarily involves accepting visible expressions of different cultures, religions, and dietary traditions, particularly when those expressions are neither targeted nor discriminatory.”
Indeed. But if a pluralistic society is not what you’re after, and you’re instead pursuing a supremacist vision, the pig has to go. That’s why this is much more than just an argument over restaurant advertising. The demands will not stop with plastic pigs. Italy, and Europe as a whole, is going to have to decide at some point whether it will stand up for its own culture and mores, or surrender and accept those of the Muslim newcomers. That choice has not yet been made.
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