There are a number of times in which you have to wonder about humanity. It seems we are in capacity to inflict all kinds of unforeseeable pain. Nowhere has this been more pronounced than in France, where a string of terrorist attacks have plagued the country. The first thing that I wish to do is to offer my condolences to the families and friends of all those who perished in the recent attack in Nice. The loss of a relative or friend before their time is something that no family ought to go through at all. It is the cruelty of a few lost souls which means that people no longer have their nearest and dearest. But alas, I am also writing bearing a very ominous message. There is no way that it shows solidarity this time around. Solidarity this time around would only serve to absolve the French government for the responsibility that it must claim. Rhetoric matters. Policies matter. Approaches matter. In all of these regards I can have nothing but disdain for the way in with the French Government have conducted themselves in the last 18 months. This is far more than a clash of civilizations. This is a story of a subjugated minority, marginalized to such a degree that they fall into the arms of such extremist activity. This is a story in which there are no innocent parties. Only the dead.
It is probably appropriate to explain with context why the incidences of terrorism have been so high in France compared to the rest of Europe. France has always had something of a racism problem regarding the North African Arabs that live in the country. There are a number of the reasons for this. The standard anti migration rhetoric is common, citing the pressures that migrants place on public services and threat that they serve to the French way of life. This would be typical of sections of any developed Western economy. This by itself is deplorable, but will not tend to drive people towards acts of terrorism. But there is something even worse which manifests itself in France. This is a kind of French exceptionalism, which views the French way of life as superior to all others, thus the demotion of many cultures to the statuses of savage. The cultural nuances that are thus practiced by ethnic minorities are made to feel wrong and absolute conformity is expected of any 'good' immigrant. People can place all the blame they like on Le Pen's National Front. But these far right populists (increasing prevalent across the continent) are not the cause. They are but a mere symptom of a problem with the political culture of a nation. In order to support such a party, you have to have a certain level of detestment of what is foreign in advance. At least Britain has tried (rather unsuccessfully) to address this problem through greater integration and community drives. The French political system has allowed it to fester. I have never felt less comfortable than in the banlieue of Nancy (where I have family relatives) and was speaking to some of the locals of all ages.
The first fallacy is that the West is somehow some kind of purely innocent victim which has not at least contributed through its misguided acts of intervention and history of unreconcilliated oppression of the developing world. The second thing is a toleration of the intolerant. The fact of the matter is that Islam does have a role to play in all of this. A somewhat controversial thesis, but a justified one. It is nothing short of ludicrous to argue that a religion can be practiced entirely outside of social context or that it cannot fundamentally influence human behaviour. It can, and Islam does. You cannot just ignore the fact that in a most literal interpretation the Kuffar are to be viewed as those who have to be converted. More nuanced readings of the Quran actually teach to reject the disagreement in your heart as opposed to with your fists. But that is the problem with common sense. It never is all that common. There are a number of lessons that need to be learned if we are to effectively combat extremism. A start would be to ensure that all madressas across Europe come under the inspection of the relevant education authorities, and to call out the times where it is obvious that religious practices are coming into conflict with the values which the greatest premium is placed upon. There should be the greatest freedom placed upon the ability to express and practice one's religion how they see fit. But when the law and the faith come into conflict, it must be the law that holds out every single time. This does not merely mean the letter of the law. The spirit of the law also matters.
The fact that I have come to the conclusion of 'je ne suis rien' is genuinely heart wrenching. There are a number of good people who have had their lives cut short because of the greedy actions of a single individual poisoned by one ideology or another. But as the leading lights of the world economy, we have to do more. In terms of understanding. In terms of cooperating. In terms of resolving. The only thing that seems to be able to unite a populous is hatred. For as long as this is the case, the continuation of the nation state is going to come at a very high price indeed...