Spain and Belgium: two countries that have had to face ISIS
A few months ago there was a terrorist attack in Catalonia which showed us the horror that people in Belgium have suffered at 2016.
At August 18th 2017, two terrorist attacks occurred in the region of Catalonia in Spain. At the famous crowded place Les Rambles, a rental van hit every pedestrian that was in front of it. More than 100 injured people and 13 deads was the balance, but the same terrorists had another plan on mind, and escaping the numerous police controls, they arrived at the tourist beach town of Cambrils, stepping out of their car and shooting everybody. Luckily, they stopped after a very short time and no one died unless two of the terrorists who were dejected.
The terrorists were preparing something bigger, they wanted to blow up bombs at the middle of Barcelona causing lots of more deaths, but the bombs exploded days before at the small village of Alcanar, causing the death of the boss of the terrorists. He was identified as the imam of a mosque in a town near Barcelona, Ripoll. Later that day and thanks to the nice work of the police, the other terrorists were arrested. They were a group of 10 young people (17 to 26 years old) who were born in Spain, but with origins in Morocco or Algeria.
This attack was ratified by the Islamic State (ISIS), a military group born in Irak, more radical than Al-Qaeda, which declared itself a caliphate. For example, until 2017 they had the control of the city of Mossul, the third city in Irak. Its main objective is to gain control over the entire Islamic zone, as well as to cause terror in Western society. This group of people want to do something similar to the Crusades in the Middle Age, consistent in the name of “jihad.” It has to be understood that they are a small part of Muslim community, although they, using violence, aim them all be united for the cause.
Although it is not at all understandable, at least for the majority of the current society in which we live, it is necessary to know that the situation in which they live, with constant war in their countries, can help the recruitment of “mujahidns” (warriors) who give their life for the cause. But it’s even harder to understand how people in the occidental society, born and raised here, are joining this cause and committing these crimes against humanity, even immolating themselves.
Míriam Hattibi, the spokeswoman of Ibn Battuta Foundation, a muslim foundation that fights for their rights, tell us that “They are people who are very disconnected from religion. They look for a project, something to achieve in life and perhaps that is why they point to these kind of ideas”.
Being asked about if there is still racism in Spain, she answers that “Muslim people still suffer a lot of racism, because they are still not understood as a way of life that may be fully compatible with Western values. There is still a lot of work to do and although there are many people who are already sensitized, there are many who still do not understand it well”. This could be one of the principal reasons for the radicalization of these people, who don’t find themselves accepted in our country.
But not just Spain has been attacked, also Belgium and its main city, Brussels, were severely damaged in the bombing of 22th of March on 2016. Two bombs were put on Zaventem airport and at the Maalbek metro station. The results were either more disastrous than in Barcelona, 300 injured and 32 people killed.
Besides, it’s said that Belgium, with France, is the central place where the IS is located in Europe. It’s so complicated to understand, due to the fact that Belgium has always had the reputation of being a place where different ethnic groups coexisted in peace and harmony. The fact is that most of the Muslims had come to Belgium in late 60’s to work in the mining industry, being 6% of the total population in Belgium (ascending to 11 million people).
Most of them got used to live in harmony with their neighbours, but “ghettos” were also created, like the one we have at Molenbeek, were more than 40% of the population is Muslim, living mostly of them in lower conditions than the rest of Belgian society. This can give us an idea of why this place can be one of the main places of recruitment of terrorists nowadays in Europe.
I spoke to some citizens in Belgium, trying to have a mixed sampling, where we can also find the opinion of Muslim people, like Gizem, whose father and mother are from Turkey. She thinks that these radicals don’t represent at all the Muslim community and that “they don’t even know the rules of the Islam, otherwise they would not kill so many innocent people”.
Asked for the possible problem of racism, all of them say similar, considering that if they respect each other they get the same chances, but that it’s true that due to these terrorist attacks, people can now generalize this small group with the whole Islamic society, which they all think is really bad.
There’s finally a diversity of opinion as to whether they are afraid of going out into places with a large crowd of people. Most of the people, like Jordy, have that pain, but also know that in no way this fear will overcome them.
“Since the terrorist attacks I don’t like to go to very crowded places, but sometimes you can’t deny them. I just hope it never happens to me or near me. It is a small fear that I have but most of the time I just don’t think about it because it can happen everywhere.”
Therefore, we can conclude that Spain and Belgium have the same problem to solve: muslims people still suffer of racism but next generations have to know how to live in convenience. Each person is as he is, and they all will have different tendencies, but that is exactly why we have to help build, among all, an egalitarian society in which all opinions are respected: ideological, social, religion or even political but knowing that the radical ways of thinking are always harmful.
