Caught in their own trap

The line “If it is Tuesday it must be Belgium” acquired a macbre meaning last Tuesda when at least 34 persons were killed in terrorist attack in Brussels at the airport and at a metro station. The whole city was shut down, kids sent home from school and people were advised to stay indoors.

First it was France and now it is Belgium. Much as I feel sorry for the victims I say these nations are caught in a trap of their own making.

When Francophone colonies of Africa became independent, a wave of migration from there to Europe started either to escape emerging dictators or to look for greener pastures. Countries like France and Belgium, particularly the former, welcomed these migrants with open arms, driven by a sense of misguided liberalism, a nostalgia for old colonies on the part of the north African born French politicians in important position, above all by the lure of cheap labour on the part of the capitalists.

But the flood of migrants into France that spilled over into Belgium and the Netherlands remained marginalized. No steps were taken to improve their lot, to make them a part of the socio cultural mainstream. When their was a slump in the economy it was these guys who were hit first. Resentment at social marginalization and economic downslide made them move backwards mentally instead of forwards. They did what cornered people do—took refuge in religion and found solace in age old beliefs and practices even if they were not in sync with the 20th and 21st century European values. Liberals misused terms like “multiculturalism” to justify their failure to integrate these people into mainstream society.

The result was on the one hand they were marginalized and on the other the guilt complex of the society over the marginalization let them be treated with kid glove ,a kind of laissez faire. If the migrants cover their women from head to toe, never mind it is their culture, if they don’t send their girls to school it is their tradition. Forcing them to do what your kids do would go against the spirit of multiculturalism.

This had some grotesque manifestations. In avowedly secular France, which has firmly kept state away from church and has a strong tradition of anti-clericalism, many roads were blocked on Friday as Muslim migrants offered prayers there. No one told them to go to mosques to pray. That would violate the principles of religious tolerance,

This deadly cocktail of marginalization and indulgence resulted in the migrant community becoming a fertile harvesting ground for terrorist recruits. We have seen the results of this in France and Belgium.

The recent flood of refugees from Arab countries into Europe following ISIS onslaught further worsened the situation. It was virtually impossible to check whether the refugees were bona fide ones or ISIS terrorists infiltrating into Europe. After the attack in Paris , investigators found out that many of the attackers were from the refugee camps.

Even the US has a good amount of Muslims but after 9/11, which was launched by al Qaeda affiliated Arabs not a single attack has taken place. But Europe has repeatedly been at the receiving end. I think the basic reason is in the US, you are not marginalized on the basis of your faith despite sabre rattling by some rightwing groups and politicians. It remains a land of equal opportunity and doors remain open for all to raise in life with little enterprise. Also American Intelligence gathering is probably far superior to that of France and Belgium.

Let us also note that Germany which has a large Muslim population (A rather alarmist study once said that in about 100 years there would be more Turks than Germans in Germany) augmented by the recent in flow of refugees, no incident has taken place. And chancellor Angela Merkel has firmly refused to put a stop to taking in the refugees. The country has the situation firmly under control, may be because the German intelligence organisation Bundesamt fuer Verfassungsschutz (Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution) and the Bundeskriminalamt the German version of FBI, hav well-oiled Big Brother is Watching kind of machineries.



Also more importantly, the original Turkish immigrants in Germany have not been marginalized and are reasonably well off, though many have taken to crime like drug trafficking lured more by profits than due to marginalization.

But Belgium is not Germany. The tiny nation might be the centre of European unity but it is a deeply divided country. The Flemish and Walloons (Francophone Belgians) don't see eye to eye on anything. The country is getting pulled on various sides and its intelligence apparatus is considered something of a joke in global intelligence community..

Bombing Syria for what someone did to you in your own country is no solution. Such terrorist organisations are like Hydra, cut off one head and two spring there. What is needed is to kill what creates terrorists than bomb terrorists themselves.

 

Viswa Belgium is a small nation with amazingly low crime rate, one of the lowest in the world. Its police force is very small, not big enough to take on a terrorist threat or monitor potential suspects or keep away suspects from outside with an open, porus border with France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germkany. That makes it a sitting duck for terrorist attacks. IN US Muslims as a class are integrated into national mainstream, but in France and Belgium they are not. That makes the north African migrants easy prey for terrorist recruits.It is high time the European nations sat up and got their act together and tackle the problem not merely at security level but at socil-economic and humanitarian levels too.
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Twinklingstar on the one hand we have to take firm steps ncluding preventive ones against terror and on the other we should avoid taking any steps that would isolate any community and make its members easy recruits for terror.That Azadi stuff turned out to be a damp squib as the videos were found to be doctored.

 

Sanity, Kamalji must prevail before it is too late. Reports say the terrorists planned to capture a nuclear power plant.in Belgium. Imagine what if they had blown it up? Terrorism must be dealt at both law and order and security level on one hand and sociocultural and economic front on the other.

 

Shobhamma tell me how many Indians are flocking to the country of our former colonial masters? So why blame these north African migrants who have flocked to France and Belgium looking for an El Dorado.? The problem is these countries have woefully failed to integrate these people into national mainstream. This is mainly due to lack of political will. While under law the migrant citizens are equal, when it comes to job opportunities and advancement in life they are not. That should change in the long run while at the same time dealing with a firm hand any attempts at terror.