Christopher Caldwell on "What is the West's Problem with Islam?"

Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West: your purchase benefits LCC programming Europe has received a wave of immigration from the global south in recent decades, similar in scope to the US-but very different in its results. Many immigrant and second-generation communities have astronomical unemployment rates and a thin connection to European identity. Some have produced terrorists. The problems are particularly severe among newcomers from the Muslim world.

If Europe has an Islam problem, whose fault is it? Is Islamic belief and culture incompatible with Western institutions? Or is there such a thing as "Islamophobia," poisoning immigrants' efforts to integrate on European terms?

Christopher Caldwell, who writes for the Financial Times, The New York Times Magazine and The Weekly Standard, visits Zócalo to talk about themes from his upcoming book, Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West.

By Crystal Allene Cook

Read about the "Art Knows No Borders" event on November 18, 2008.

Arriving in Yerevan, Armenia on a Fulbright in 2004 to research a novel, I had some specific things in mind. Once on the ground, making friends, talking to people, traveling, many of my preconceived notions of those things, and of myself, soon began to change.

The 4th Annual God Loves Beauty Festival, Nov. 12-20, 2008

The eclectic Al-Fareed aka Alfred Madain is a deejay, musician and ethnomusicologist in Los Angeles. A walking encyclopedia of traditional, folkloric and contemporary music of the Arab/Islamic world and Africa, he intimately “gets” and analyzes music ranging from ancient traditions to modern world techno, hip hop, western new wave, heavy metal and punk. Al-Fareed’s attuned feel for rock gives him the ability to reflect on the west from an eastern perspective and on the east from a western perspective. As a music historian he can explain the history and influence of ziryab (a musician of the Baghdadi and Andalusian courts) as well as the history and influence of Woody Guthrie, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Black Flag, Blind Lemon Jefferson, the Velvet Underground and more.

No Borders: by Anna-Marie Lopez de LeonThis eclectic event benefitting Doctors Without Borders includes a silent art auction with work by dozens of contributing artists including Anna-Marie Lopez de Leon, and performances by the Middle Eastern-jazz fusion group Saffron Parade Arabesque Band, Tehran’s heavy metal band TarantisT, belly dancers, deejays and much more. Pic Vicious and Killsonic will perform later in the soirée.

From October 24-26 in Hollywood, Arpa International Film Festival will screen 50 films from 21 nations, including Armenia, Australia, Canada, China, Congo, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tobago, Trinidad, Turkey, UK, and Venezuela.

Arpa International Film Festival, which goes green in 2008, is produced by Arpa Foundation for Film, Music, and Art (AFFMA), a non-profit organization dedicated to artists exploring identity, multi-culturalism, war, exile, genocide and global empathy.

The Silk Road Music & Dance Ensemble and the iST-West Ensemble will perform live with special guest vocalist Serpil Borazan. Featuring Rowan Storm on percussions, with Nyofu Tyson on saz, Neil Seigel on Azeri tar, Ergun Tamer on kanun and Robyn Friend performing dances of Turkey and Central Asia, plus additional musicians.

Hammasa Kohistani: the daughter of Afghan refugees who fled the Taliban revises England's notion of the Muslim woman.The first Muslim to be crowned Miss England warned that stereotyping members of her community is leading some towards extremism.

Hammasa Kohistani made history three years ago when she was chosen to represent England in the Miss World pageant.

But one year later, the then-19-year-old student from Hounslow felt that winning the coveted beauty title was a "sugar coating" for Muslims who have become more alienated in the years since 9/11.

She said: "The attitude towards Muslims has got worse...Also the Muslims' attitude to British people has got worse.

"Even moderate Muslims are turning to terrorism to prove themselves. They think they might as well support it because they are stereotyped anyway. It will take a long time for communities to start mixing in more.

Language for a New Century: your purchase benefits LCC programmingKudos to Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond. This handsome new anthology (Norton 2008) celebrates the artistic and cultural forces flourishing today in the East—gathering an unprecedented selection of works by East Asian, Middle Eastern, South Asian and Central Asian poets as well as poets living in the diaspora. The volume is organized around nine themes—including childhood, politics and oppression, identity, war, homeland and love—and includes more than 400 unique voices from 59 countries. Each section of the anthology—organized by theme rather than national affiliation—is preceded by a personal essay from the editors that introduces the poetry and invokes the readers to examine their own identities in light of these powerful poems.

A city with history...[Al-Quds/Jerusalem] – Perched on a bar stool in Jerusalem, I looked around at the many Israeli men in the room, relaxing, drinking beer and playing pool. I felt serene, but the tired faces of the soldiers told a different story. For them, this was an escape from their enemies who lay intimately bound to them beyond the hills of the city.