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He came from
Algeria seeking a better life,
anticipating an escape from poverty,
oppression, and hopelessness. In
Paris, he found a low-skill job and
had children and grandchildren. As
French citizens, they had the right
to an education and health care. But
they grew up in the ghettos that
ring France’s major cities,
surrounded by families like theirs,
literally on the margins of society.
Unable to integrate fully, they had
few opportunities for economic
advancement. Paradise was never
gained. This story
has been repeated millions of times
in the countries of Western Europe,
with immigrants and their families
ending up poor and excluded. In the
worst-case scenario, they are
recruited by extremist groups that
seem to offer what they are missing:
a sense of belonging, identity, and
purpose. After a lifetime of
marginalization, participation in a
larger cause can seem worth the
lies, self-destruction, and even
death that inclusion demands.
In the wake of the attack on the
French satirical magazine Charlie
Hebdo in Paris and the thwarting of
another attack in Belgium, Europe
needs to take a good look at itself.
It must recognize that second- and
third-generation immigrants are
susceptible to the blandishments of
terrorist organizations because
European citizenship has not
translated into social and economic
inclusion. If anything, growing
inequality – exacerbated by years of
crisis – is making the problem
worse. People need
hope. They need to believe in a
vision, a project that promises a
better future for them and their
communities. European countries once
offered that sense of hope. But the
crisis, and the official response to
it, has replaced hope with
frustration and disillusionment.
This has created fertile ground for
anti-immigrant populists and
Islamist terrorists alike. More than
1,200 French citizens are estimated
to have joined the jihadi cause in
Syria, along with 600 from the
United Kingdom, 550 from Germany,
and 400 from Belgium. Other European
countries, including Spain, are
experiencing a similar phenomenon.
And some European citizens, like the
Charlie Hebdo assassins, have acted
at home. While
intelligence services and police
forces must be engaged to prevent
attacks, devising an effective
strategy to counteract extremist
movements requires, first and
foremost, understanding what drives
them. Western countries must go
beyond defending freedom of speech
and improving police coordination to
develop lasting solutions that
address adherents’ economic and
social marginalization, while
avoiding cultural confrontation and
reliance on repression alone.
More fundamentally, such solutions
require abandoning the false
dichotomy of liberty and security.
If security concerns trump basic
rights and freedoms, fanaticism will
have scored a victory; and the same
thing will happen if expressions of
Islamophobia and xenophobia
increase. A week
after the Paris attacks, German
Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated
the sentiment expressed by former
President Christian Wulff in 2010:
standing beside Turkish Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Merkel
declared that Islam is as much a
part of Germany as Judaism and
Christianity. This statement
represents the right way forward.
Muslim immigrants, whether first-,
second-, or third-generation, must
be able to integrate fully into
European society, gaining the same
opportunities as Europe’s other
residents and citizens.
That principle should be applied at
the global level as well, through
the establishment of an inclusive
framework that fosters development –
and encourages the rejection of
fanaticism – in the Islamic world.
The aggressive fundamentalism and
infighting that held down Christian
societies for centuries has been
relegated to the past, and that is
where it must remain.
A religion is not only a belief
system; it is also an institution, a
language, and even a kind of market
actor, competing for supporters.
Radical terrorist groups attempt to
consolidate their distorted version
of “true” Islam as the only
institution, imposing their language
to win the entire Muslim market.
Today, groups like the Islamic State
and Nigeria’s Boko Haram have joined
Al Qaeda in a struggle to attract
Muslims from all over the world,
thereby securing their leadership in
global jihad. These groups take
advantage of unruly environments and
weak or collapsing institutions to
gain a territorial foothold.
Indeed, it was the failed
transitions in Syria, Libya, and
Yemen after the Arab Spring revolts
that fueled the Islamic State’s
emergence. Millions of young people,
though disillusioned by decades of
social paralysis, unemployment, and
brutal dictatorships, had dared to
expect better. Though Tunisians have
made progress, the other affected
populations, like many Muslim
immigrants in Europe, have had their
hopes shattered.
Jihad, like any other reductionist
political program, is capable of
seducing a wide variety of people.
The attribute they almost always
share is a sense of futility or a
lack of purpose.
The West must recognize that, as
Afghanistan and Iraq have shown,
conflict in the Arab world cannot be
resolved through foreign military
intervention. The only way to
restore order and spur progress in
the region is by empowering moderate
Muslims, so that they can triumph
over the forces of radicalism and
violence. The West’s role is to
identify them and offer them
acceptance and support. This lesson
should be applied both abroad and at
home.
Javier Solana
Javier Solana was EU High
Representative for Foreign and
Security Policy, Secretary-General
of NATO, and Foreign Minister of
Spain. He is currently President of
the ESADE Center for Global Economy
and Geopolitics, Distinguished
Fellow at the Brookings Institution,
and a member of the World Economic
Forum’s Global Agenda Council on
Europe. |
