As the famous joke says, with revolutions it is often too early to tell if they are good or bad! But the unfolding Tunesian revolution is very heartening, and it will clearly encourage similar movements accross the Arab world. (Nevertheless, Tunesia is relatively small, relatively well educated, and relatively homogenous, so we should not generalize quickly from it.)
Over time one casualty of this revolutionary process -- if it remains democratic and pluralist in spirit rather than gets hijacked by radical elements in various Muslim Brotherhoods -- may well be the appeal of (essentializing) claims about the nature of (Political) Islam, which justify a lot xenophobic sentiment in Northwestern Europe. It won't eliminate the xenophobia, of course.
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