By Euro Weekly News Media • Published: 18 Nov 2015 • 23:00
The massacre in Paris perpetrated by what seems to be a highly professional and ruthless group of terrorists, prepared to die for their cause, whatever it is, has possibly signalled the end of Europe’s open border policy. The tragedy in Paris overshadowed the conference in Malta which was intended to deal with the growing problem of massive illegal immigration from Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
It is still unclear whether the terrorists joined the thousands of migrants from Turkey or Libya to infiltrate Western Europe, or are from what is being described as ‘home grown’ terrorists. But we have to face the fact that the world is becoming more precarious with Islamic groups seeking to vent their anger at the west with increasingly violent actions.
France has Europe’s largest Muslim population with five million people mainly of north African origin. Yet the majority, now second or third generation, still live in the poorest suburbs in segregated communities, unwilling or unable to join mainstream French society. Successive governments have to bear some responsibility for a lack of integration programmes and discrimination but it is also due to restrictive Islamic laws and culture, which make the western life style so hard to accept for Muslims who follow their faith. Many disillusioned young people are an easy target for radical Islamic groups.
With a global population reaching eight billion people of whom the vast majority live in poverty or in countries racked by conflict in an ever more interconnected planet, Europe’s immigration policies need rethinking. Demographics may suggest that the Western democracies need immigrants, but is becoming increasingly apparent that Western Europe, cannot cope with an influx of millions of refugees or illegal immigrants from Africa, the Middle East and Asia with totally different cultures, laws and traditions.
Angela Merkel, who along with David Cameron admitted that the multicultural society does not work, has opened up a Pandora’s box with her invitation to welcome millions of migrants and the deep divisions she has caused within the European Union, have threatened its very survival. Britain must now consider the introduction of ID cards not only to facilitate identifying illegal immigrants and potential terrorists but to protect the population.
Providing humanitarian assistance is a long-standing European tradition. It is natural to offer temporary right of abode to genuine refugees until it is safe for them to return to their own countries. But today’s illegal economic migrants, including refugees, are not seeking charity but expecting to remain forever with passports, nationality, homes and jobs. And if the migrants and their families cannot go where they want to go, instead of being grateful, they revolt.
In addition most of the current wave of immigrants tends to be of Muslim origin, which poses the problem of integration as well as the threat of more terrorist attacks. For many African states their population is considered as a vital ‘export’ repatriating funds from overseas. Workers’ remittances are often their main source of revenue. Many overseas countries will be reluctant to see a fortress Europe, but it is becoming inevitable.
The economic crisis has left twenty million Europeans out of work. Millions in employment have to survive on low earnings while governments have been cutting back on social services. If nothing is done to stem the flood of migrants entering Europe, we risk seeing more fences erected across Europe’s borders to prevent our towns and cities ending up like Calais, a lawless jungle controlled by mafia trafficking gangs.
The world is now facing a major conflict with the Islamic State and to try to prevent this scenario we need more involvement from the United Nations and cooperation among the rich countries. There has to be a consensus to work together to help the poor nations eradicate corruption, armed conflicts, the exploitation of resources and where possible, remove despotic regimes in order to encourage education and economic development and improve the standard of living of the population.
This may be difficult to achieve in an ever more volatile and precarious world, but there can be no peace, stability or prosperity without a redistribution of the world’s resource and the elimination of gross inequality and poverty.
© Peter Fieldman
Author of The World at a Crossroads published by Austin Macauley London.
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Congratulations Peter, a very well written and informative piece that has ‘hit the nail on the head’ so to speak. I agree with all you have said, but must point out that more than four thousand ISIS terrorists have already entered Europe posing as refugees. This is a fact.
The main reason why Muslims live separately from the rest of us is that they do not WANT to integrate into our society. This again is a fact as we have seen time and again in Britain in towns like Bradford, Birmingham and Manchester among others. Their religion will not allow them to integrate with us because their way of life is so different to ours, and they consider anything non-Muslim to be far beneath them.
It is also a fact that those ISIS terrorists who have made it into Europe are hell bent on persuading European born Muslims to carry out acts of terrorism. ISIS recently sent out messages on their websites for European Muslims not to go to Syria and Iraq to fight, but to carry out attacks in their own country.
Unless European governments take desperate measures, like deporting all radical Muslims preachers, and deporting all illegals all hell will break loose in Europe very soon.
Well written and well done. It’s already known that one of the terrorists came from Syria and his passport has been recorded in Greece and some of the others has been in Syria before. As we have seen, the wave of “refugees” are frequently out of control and it was inevitable not to have Trojans or mangy ewe. What is unclear is why europeans and americans are just taking some sporadic and separate decisions now instead of working together to eradicate this scourge.Why Nato is losing is time to intimidate russians while the danger is not Russia but the new Islamic state which earns actually 1.5 million dollars per day thanks to the oil wells they control? Soon it will be too late as they are already powerful enough to threaten the world. In his last speech, F. Hollande starts with a a tone of mild and moderate voice: “Nous sommes en guerre”…(We are in war), as if he said that the Camembert was not so bad and that he would take on a little more. This soft, flat statement will definitely make laugh sarcastically Putin who since the departure request to create a coalition to fight terrorism with a “Fin de non-recevoir” which means a flatty NO to any Putin’s demand and even was criticized for initiative to begin air raids.
spot on.!
Actually, the Paris terrorists were all born in France or Belgium. They had French or Belgian passports. They were born to immigrant families who are now suffering the aftermath of not only losing a child, but a child they had lost already to this vile terrorist outfit (one mother was convinced her son had gone skiing, when he was actually in Syria). ISIS does not need to come to Europe; it recruits kids already born here or having lived here since early childhood, in order to do their dirty work. The ringleaders high up in the organisation are still out in Syria – they never left, they would never put themselves in danger of arrest or death. Suicide bombers are a cheap and easy way of staging an attack, so all they have to do is get some insecure mug living in a ghetto with no prospects to be their pawn. The passage of refugees into Europe (erm, in order to ESCAPE ISIS, not join it, because the Paris attacks are their everyday lives) is perilous, tough, often involving months or years living in a tent and queuing for food, and harsh journeys that many do not survive. ISIS would not risk that. It wants to protect its investment, and it’s easier and cheaper to indoctrinate kids in the west. Those Paris terrorists who returned from Syria did so either on tourist visas or overland through countries you’d never suspect. One was caught in Poland. France’s integration policies, after its own actions forced millions of Algerians to become refugees, have always been poor. Back in the ’90s I can remember studying the problems in the banlieue estates, or the cités, of second-generation Algerians and Moroccans growing up in slum areas with no help, no facilities, and no chance of getting a job because they were called Mohammed or Fatima. Nothing has changed. France made a rod for its own back by not actively tackling the problem at grass-roots level, and now these directionless kids – who started off as problem teenagers of the type I remember being very scared of at school – are being brainwashed by DAESH. The DAESH community appears to welcome them and appreciate them and understand them; their own country does not. Is it any wonder that a youngster with limited education and intelligence, and no real role models or prospects, wouldn’t cling to this? Many, many western teenagers go off the rails, and it’s only luck that it’s unsuitable boyfriends or shoplifting gangs rather than terrorists.I don’t feel sorry for the evil little barstewards, but I do think the problem is preventable at an early age if the wherewithal existed. And spreading anti-immigration sentiments (ironic how you guys do, when you’re immigrants yourselves here in Spain) and anti-Muslim propaganda is isolating kids even MORE and making them MORE receptive to terrorist indoctrination.
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