On September 11th, the War on Terror will turn 15. Some would argue that it is in fact much older. Without a doubt, it has now outlasted WWII by a decade. Given how much that conflict transformed Europe, God forbid what this war has done to it.
For many, in the West, the War on Terror has become, at best, a distant hum, something far away, and compartmentalized, by governments which no longer require mass militarization to mobilize themselves to fight. Society isn’t transformed the same way, anymore. At least on the major scale of the global wars of the last century.
Instead, what we find, are immigrant and minority communities, from the margins, drawn drawn to the fire, and burned by them, due to cultural and familial connections to the upheaval. The rest of the West goes about its business, as though nothing is taking place in the Middle East, until a terrorist strikes, rupturing the continuity of daily life.
The following flyer was translated from a poorly printed text found in downtown Brussels, a month after the March 22 attacks. Written from the point of view of an ethnic European, it attempts to rationalize the violence, from a progressive, albeit spiritual perspective. Despite its intellectual softness, you can’t fault the author for trying.
Denial is a powerful thing. The scale at which it has been organized, over the last two decades, concerning Western culpability for the Mideast crisis, is bound to elicit alienated expressions of guilt. It may inadequate, but beggars can’t be choosers, either.
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Why do they become radicalised?
Yassine Boubout. Lots of factors contribute to radicalisation, from socio-economic conditions to racism. I see a strong connection between racism and radicalisation. Because I’ve lived it and I’ve seen it affect other young people.
Belgium has one of the largest concentrations of fighters in Syria, but also has the weakest results when it comes to the treatment of diversity.
Young foreign people do not feel welcome in this country. Some young people are nearing emotional exhaustion, so they choose to leave.
We should dwell a little on that. Why is it that young people prefer to leave the country? How does their life become so painful here? This is a question that isn’t raised often enough.
For thousands of years, we have fought each other and invaded neighbouring countries. The winners enslave the losers who are obliged to submit, unwillingly, of course. Just waiting to get their revenge. The Chinese, who had discovered gun powder before the West, used it for beautiful fireworks. But then the West took it and used it to rain death down upon people along with their swords and arrows…
The West then fought each other in Europe (Napoleon etc) and finally turned their gaze back on Africa and Arabia and the intensive colonisation began… In any conquered country or state, the vanquished have 3 solutions: 1) submit and hide away their anger (80%) 2) collaborate with the victors and nail their colours to their mast (10%) 3) go underground (10%) as such injustice cannot provide a sustainable peace.
See the Pax Romana, the Nazi Reich or the Pax America …. The unequal struggle between the occupying forces and the weaker resistance obliges the latter to use ‘terrorist’ means to regain their freedom: see Vietnam, Algeria … The occupying victors thinks that they have all the rights and massacre, bombard with impunity. Supported by their traitorous collaborators who have neither souls nor morality!
But, over time, the occupying forces are weakened (see the period of decolonisation since 1960) and in 2006: the Arab Spring… sabotaged by Western powers and Israel which organised fake protests and rebel mercenaries to destroy the delicate balance in Palestine and Egypt: take USA-supported general Sissi for example.
All this served to shock the Arabs, even those residing in the West enjoying access to the welfare state and family reunification… but they come under threat by austerity programs, race-motivated searches, resentment of third generation immigrants; the current crop forget what little democracy and integrity their countries of origin had…
These fires smoulder throughout our society and are only fed by the spoils of war (petrol, oil etc) and they threaten to flare up at even the slightest incident?? The idealised youths who go to Syria to defend Arab-Islamic values discover Muslims killing each other in civil wars orchestrated by Israel and the West! They are then “radicalised” against the real destroyers of Arab unity. Namely, US politicians and their European vassals and their airstrikes… “terrorist” reactions not religious but socio-economic in nature.
God, our creator, is the only reality. He is the meeting point between different, distorted religions; He provides the spiritual and material solutions for peace and solidarity to us: His children.
Westerners that accept the current errors of our civilisation and promote democracy, prosperity, social laws, industrial technologies and respect for religions, at a minimum, can then hope to peacefully guide humanity towards the next step for all: spiritual mutation in this next sacred, apocalyptic century: either awaiting the cosmic return of Jesus the Messiah to restore the celestial order and the new divine direction… or the hell of cosmic planetary destruction!
If everyone, in good faith, forgives their own past mistakes and accepts their fair share of global justice as we wait for decisive, cosmic, divine intervention…
Translated from the French by Samuel White. Photographs courtesy of Joel Schalit.
