Nice attack: European bigotry continues to create divisions and nourish radicalism

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At this point we have to fight against the ideology of fanaticism, not against each other

2016-07-15T15:34:39+05:00 Khadija Khan

The Nice attack comes in the backdrop of the rising tide of the extreme Right and its bigotry across the West. The tragic attack's immediate backdrop is the radical Britons xenophobia manifested by the recent referendum. Bigotry and radicalism, working in tandem, has left the European nations tossing hither and thither out of anguish and anger.

The reaction to Brexit by EU parliamentarians and people as a whole shows how bitter that bit was. Hence, there are lessons for all of us to learn.

The anti-EU UKIP leader Nigel Farage finally spoke his mind in the EU Parliament and took it as a roaring success just before resigning from his office – as if after doing the deed he was assigned to.

As he said and I quote:

“Isn’t it funny? When I came here 17 years ago and I said that I wanted to lead a campaign go get Britain out of the European Union, you all laughed at me. Well, I have to say, you are not laughing now, are you? Now, I know that virtually none of you have ever done a proper job in your lives or worked in business or worked in trade or indeed ever created a job.”

These words were dipped in poison and scripted hatred against EU, reflecting a mindset which is imperiling the whole continent only to make his flimsy position prominent – which is still unheeded by many.

However in retaliation, he was asked by the president of European Commission Jean Calude Juncker that ‘you were fighting for the Brexit, the British people voted in favor of the exit. Why are you here?’

And so, he was there to prove thousands and thousands of British people wrong about their affiliation with Europe and their longing for living in harmony with other nations including immigrants.

Although more than 50,000 people have proved this theory of hatred and prejudice wrong when they marched through central London in protest against Britain leaving the European Union, and London mayor Sadiq Khan has warned the police to be vigilant in case of racist activities in post-referendum scenario, but still the British rightwing extremists have succeeded in proving through their hate campaign against EU immigrants – mostly the Polish – that the Great Britain, which was considered the champion land of rights and diversity, is actually not so great. It has showed us all that a bunch of morons can somehow get the power to reverse the cycle of social evolution.

Looking at the appalling British economy, and degeneration of the social diversity, one can safely say that the draconian philosophy of divide and rule by the long gone British empire is finally boomeranging to wreak havoc at home. The dire need of the new act of union among England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is reflecting how badly Brexit is traumatizing the nation as a whole.

But look carefully at the fall and we see there are deeper lessons for the world to learn. It’s more about hating the have-nots by the privileged classes of the world and Europe in particular.

Brexit, and the Nice attack, provide Europe – especially the xenophobes in Poland, Hungry, Bulgaria, Macedonia and anti-immigrant nations – to look into the mirror and see how it feels to be looked down upon you by those who think they have a bit more than what you have. One jeopardizes the whole social development of Europe by starting to follow the solution to the refugee crisis provided by the xenophobic way of the radicals in West.

In the post Brexit scenario, the sense of dogmatism among the European nations is at its peak once again. Inescapably, it shows the parameter to which these nations had been suffered once. They are clouded by the same fear of barbarianism over again. As the post Brexit scenario has exposed the racial aptitude of such fundamentalists in Britain, in the same way the incident triggered the ratio of such people who replete themselves by rebuking and threatening other people openly in Europe.

To one’s surprise, Europe is facing this phenomenon for decades but a couple of incidents sparked off such cold behavior. The growing number of splinter groups and radical  individuals are threatening the moral values across the continent. The chilling echo of Dark Ages is lingering on…

In today’s world Brexit personifies the action which led the world into the depth of intolerance and chaos. What a fanatic perceives from Europe and Britain is that the only solution to get rid of the refugee problem is by isolating himself and later on propagating racism against other fellow human beings.

These fanatics demonstrated their ruthlessness, selfishness and lack of concern with the human values in Great Britain. They are not only helping to fuse the hatred and prejudice among the rightwing in the European nations but also providing a justification to the radicals in the Middle East for their inhuman acts. If what British radicals are doing is fine and in accordance with the patriotism then on what ground the sane world would reject the notion of nationalism among the fanatics in Middle East?

Britain is already fighting the growing extremist problem at home, as many people have already left Britain to join ISIS. Merely the act of holding back the passports of the young people does not serve the purpose at all.

In July 2015, the British government introduced a scheme 'prevent strategy’, hence the schools have been assigned the duty of preventing the schoolchildren from getting involved in terrorism. This has resulted in creating havoc in the lives of young Britons as a never ending nightmare.

Moreover, the Swiss imposed law in Switzerland is purloining one’s basic rights by putting a ban on hijab and taking it as a necessity that simply instigates the necessity of imposing hijab on the other side of world (Middle East). In that case they don’t even have to give any justification for it either.

Austria's Supreme Court recently issued a judgment that the employer can fire the staff if the clothing hinder the communication. This obviously targets a specific part of the population. I am not against sustaining equality and basic rights, but it must not promote the bigotry in disguise. To maintain the law and order situation, one can make laws which should comply with the very nature of human rights.

The gist of the story is that every fanatic has an explanation. It just varies from person to person and country to country. It might be social, political or religious but serves only a specific group of people that thrives on the sacrifices of countless innocent lives.

This is what would exactly happen in the western world when the radicals and extremist people like Donald Trump in US, Marine Le Pen’s party The National Front in France, Sweden Democrat, Austrian Freedom Party and AFD in Germany enter into the power corridor. And believe me these people are playing with the fear of their own people for the sake of their dirty politics. They are deceiving their own countrymen who long for living with other nations in harmony.

At this point we have to fight against the ideology of fanaticism not against each other. This repelling attitude of a few bigots that is causing distress every passing day will never let the peace and serenity prevail around for long.

They say the world is globalizing but the combination of bigotry and ideological extremism is creating radical divisions which give birth to evils like ISIS or Nazis.

These stonehearted people are diminishing the hope for peace and harmony, denting the spirit of human development and destroy the very concept of globalization.

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