Terrorism

In a rational world, security threats might boost European integration, given their cross-border nature. Today’s Europe, however, is different.

As a Bruxellois, confronted with the terrible events in Zaventem and the Maelbeek metro station, terrorism has reached my doorstep. More than ten years after September 11th, my reaction to these attacks is very different to the one I had back then.

“France is at war,” declared the French President, François Hollande, in front of the Congress of the French Parliament on 16th November 2015. He was using the same words as Le Monde on 14th November and Manuel Valls the same evening on TF1 television news. The Prime Minister then said that Islamic State (IS) would lose the struggle, but he admitted that it was only just beginning.

After the Paris attacks on 13th November 2015, instead of selectively grieving within a national frame and restricting liberties, what we need is transversal grief, time to think and a serious monitoring of the discourse on liberty. That will prevent dangerous classifications and dichotomies as well as impulsive actions and belligerent acts.

The roots of the 13th of November are also to be sought from the foreign policy of both Europe and France over the past forty years. Europe’s withdrawal from the Palestinian question, the missed opportunity with Turkey which could have so easily been brought into the fold of the EU, France’s alliance with the ‘petro-monarchies’… are all mistakes which have only served to aggravate the calamity and feed rancour and radicalisation in the Middle-East.

Every opportunity that comes up is used by mega-project promoters and their allies to stigmatise resistance movements.

Although Greens tend to agree on most issues, they don’t always think alike. Politicians from France, the UK and Germany discuss their stances and those of their national parties on the military industry, drones, Afghanistan, the legacy of Joschka Fischer, among other thorny issues…

Beset by the crises occurring internally and in its immediate neighbourhood, the EU has neglected its relations with South East Asia. This is a major shortcoming, since that region is becoming the epicentre of global relations and will play an increasingly important role for international security.

The Kurds have conducted a remarkable democratic experiment in the north of Syria: Their “Canton-based Democratic Autonomy” is a pursuit of freedom, justice, dignity and democracy led by principles of equality and environmental sustainability. Nevertheless, protecting this area with weapons and the blood of martyrs shouldn’t be applauded.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, the French and European responses have focused on security and how to reinforce it. At the same time, far-right movements are making gains across Europe, attacks on mosques have increased and a distorted secularist discourse is leading to further marginalisation of religious groups.