by Guy Millière
September 5, 2017 at 5:00 am
September 5, 2017 at 5:00 am
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§ European leaders accepted the transformation of parts of their
countries into enemy territories. They see that a demographic disaster is
taking place. They know that in two or three decades, Europe will be ruled by
Islam.
§ Ten years ago, describing what he called "the last days of
Europe," the historian Walter Laqueur said that European civilization was
dying and that only old monuments and museums would survive. His diagnosis was
too optimistic. Old monuments and museums might well be blown up. Look nowhere
else than what the black-hooded supporters of "Antifa" -- an
"anti-fascist" movement whose actions are totally fascistic -- are
doing to statues in the United States.
The terrorist attack in Barcelona received the same reaction as
all the large-scale terrorist attacks in Europe: tears, prayers, flowers, candles, teddy bears,
and protestations that "Islam means peace ". When people gathered to
demand tougher measures against the rising influence of Islamism across the
continent, they were confronted by an "anti-fascist" rally. Muslims
organized a demonstration to defend Islam; they
claimed that Muslims living in Spain are the "main victims" of
terrorism. The president of the Spanish Federation of Islamic Religious
Societies, Mounir Benjelloun El Andaloussi, spoke of a "conspiracy against Islam"
and said that terrorists were "instruments" of Islamophobic hatred.
The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, cried in front of the cameras and
said that her city would remain an "open city" for all immigrants.
The governor of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, used
almost the same language. Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, a conservative,
was the only one who dared to call
jihadist terrorism by its name. Almost all European journalists said Rajoy's
words were too harsh.
Mainstream European newspapers describing the horror once again
sought explanations to what they kept calling "inexplicable". The
leading Spanish daily newspaper, El Pais, wrote in an editorial that
"radicalization" is the bitter fruit of the "exclusion" of
certain "communities," and added that the answer was more
"social justice". In France, Le Monde suggested that terrorists want to
"incite hatred", and stressed that Europeans must avoid
"prejudice". In the UK, The Telegraph explained that "killers attack
the West because the West is the West; not because of what it does" -- but
it spoke of "killers", not "terrorists" or
"Islamists".
Anti-terrorism specialists, interviewed on
television, said that the attacks, carried out across the continent at an
ever-faster pace, will become deadlier. They noted that the
original plan of the Barcelona jihadists had been to destroy the Sagrada
Família Cathedral and kill thousands of people. The specialists parroted that
Europeans will just have to learn to live with the threat of widespread
carnage. They did not offer any solutions. Once again, many said that
terrorists are not really Muslims -- and that the attacks "had nothing to
do with Islam".
Many leaders of Western European countries treat Islamic terrorism
as a fact of life that Europeans must get used to -- as some kind of aberration
unrelated to Islam. They often avoid speaking of "terrorism" at all.
After the attack in Barcelona, German Chancellor Angela Merkel issued a brief reproach about
a "revolting" event. She expressed "solidarity" with the
Spanish people, and then moved on. French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted a message
of condolence and spoke of a "tragic attack."
Throughout Europe, expressions of anger are conscientiously
marginalized. Calls for mobilization, or any serious change in immigration
policy, come only from politicians scornfully described as
"populist."
Even the slightest criticism of Islam immediately arouses almost
unanimous indignation. In Western Europe, books on Islam that are widely
available are written by people close to the Muslim Brotherhood, such as Tariq
Ramadan. Books that are "politically incorrect" also exist, but are
sold under the counter as if they are contraband. Islamic bookstores sell brochures calling
for violence without even hiding what they do. Dozens of imams, similar
to Abdelbaki Es Satty, the
suspected mastermind of the attack in Barcelona, continue to preach with
impunity; if they are arrested, they are quickly released.
Submission reigns. The discourse everywhere
is that despite increasing threats, Europeans must live their lives as normally
as possible. But Europeans see what threats exist. They see that life is not
even slightly normal. They see policemen and soldiers in the streets,
proliferating security checks, strict controls at the entrance of theaters and
shops. They see insecurity everywhere. They are told just to ignore the source
of the threats, but they know the source. They claim they are not afraid.
Thousands in Barcelona shouted, "No
tinc por" ("We are not afraid"). In fact, they are
scared to death.
Polls show that
Europeans are pessimistic, and think the future will be bleak. Polls also show
that Europeans no longer have confidence in those who govern them, but feel
they are left with no choice.
This shift in their lives has occurred in such a short time, less than
half a century. Before then, in Western Europe, only a few thousand Muslims
were present -- mostly immigrant workers from former European colonies. They
were supposed to be in Europe temporarily, so were
never asked to integrate.
They soon numbered hundreds of thousands, then millions. Their
presence turned permanent. Many became citizens. Asking them to integrate grew
unthinkable: most seemed to consider themselves Muslim first.
European leaders gave up defending their own civilization. They
slipped into saying that all cultures should be viewed the same way. They
appear to have given up.
School curricula were altered. Children were taught that Europe
and the West had plundered the Muslim world -- not that the Muslims had, in
fact, invaded and conquered the Christian Byzantine Empire, North Africa and
the Middle East, most of Eastern Europe, Greece, Northern Cyprus, and Spain.
Children were taught that Islamic civilization had been splendid and opulent
before colonization supposedly came to ravage it.
Welfare states, established in the post-war period, began to
create a large underclass of people permanently trapped in dependency, just
when the number of Muslims in Europe redoubled.
Social-housing neighborhoods suddenly were Muslim neighborhoods.
The rise in mass unemployment -- mainly affecting less qualified workers --
transformed Muslim neighborhoods into mass-unemployment neighborhoods.
Community organizers came
to tell unemployed Muslims that after purportedly looting their countries of
origin, Europeans had used Muslim workers to rebuild Europe and were now treating
them as useless utensils.
Crime took root. Muslim neighborhoods became high-crime neighborhoods.
Extremist Muslim preachers arrived; they reinforced a hatred of
Europe. They said that Muslims must remember who they are; that Islam
must take its revenge. They
explained to young, imprisoned Muslim criminals that
violence could be used for a noble cause: jihad.
Police were ordered not to intervene lest they aggravate the
tension. High-crime areas became no-go zones, breeding
grounds for the recruitment of Islamic terrorists.
European leaders accepted the transformation of parts of their
countries into enemy territories.
Riots took place; leaders made even more concessions. They passed
laws restricting freedom of speech.
When Islamic terrorism first hit Europe, its leaders did not know
what to do. They still do not know what to do. They are prisoners of a
situation they created and cannot control anymore. They appear to feel
helpless.
They cannot incriminate Islam: the laws they passed make it
illegal to do that. In most European countries, even questioning Islam is
branded as "Islamophobia". It leads to heavy fines, if not
trials or prison time (as with Lars Hedegaard, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, Geert Wilders or George Bensoussan). They
cannot re-establish law and order in no-go zones: that would require the
intervention of the army and a shift towards martial law. They cannot adopt the
solutions proposed by parties they have pushed into opposition at the margins
of European political life.
They cannot even close their borders, abolished in 1995 with
the Schengen agreement. Re-establishing border
controls would be costly and take time.
Europe's leaders seem to have neither the will nor the means to
oppose the incoming waves of millions of
Muslim migrants from Africa and the Middle East. They know that terrorists
are hiding among the migrants,
but still do not vet them. Instead, they resort to subterfuges and lies. They
create "deradicalization"
programs that do not work: the "radicals," it seems, do not want to
be "deradicalized."
Europe's leaders try to define "radicalization" as a
symptom of "mental illness"; they consider asking psychiatrists to
solve the mess. Then, they talk about creating a "European Islam",
totally different from the Islam elsewhere on Earth. They take on haughty
postures to create the illusion of moral superiority, as Ada Colau and Carles
Puigdemont did in Barcelona: they say they have high principles; that Barcelona
will remain "open" to
immigrants. Angela Merkel refuses to
face the consequences of her policy to import countless migrants. She chastises countries in
Central Europe that refuse to adopt her policies.
European leaders can see that a demographic disaster is
taking place. They know that in two or three decades, Europe will be ruled by Islam.
They try to anesthetize non-Muslim populations with dreams about an idyllic
future that will never exist. They say that Europe will have to learn to live
with terrorism, that there is nothing anyone can do about it.
But there is a lot they can do; they just do not want to -- it
might cost them Muslim votes.
Winston Churchill told Neville
Chamberlain, "You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You
chose dishonor, you will have war." The same is true today.
Ten years ago, describing what he called "the last days of
Europe," the historian Walter Laqueur said that
European civilization was dying and that only old monuments and museums would
survive. His diagnosis was too optimistic. Old monuments and museums might well
be blown up. Look nowhere else than what the black-hooded supporters of
"Antifa" -- an "anti-fascist" movement that is totally
fascistic -- are doing to statues in
the United States.
Barcelona's Sagrada Família Cathedral was spared only thanks to
the clumsiness of a terrorist who
did not know how to handle explosives. Other places may not be so fortunate.
The death of Europe will almost certainly be violent and painful:
no one seems willing to stop it. Voters still could, but they will have to do
it now, fast, before it is too late.
Dr. Guy Millière, a professor at the University of Paris, is the
author of 27 books on France and Europe.
