Is Europe under attack?

Much as it is an understatement to say that I was shaken by the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, so it is the case with the terrorist assaults on Brussels earlier this month. This is indeed a trying chapter for Europe that is being jolted by a host of numbing internal and external challenges. So much so that our politicians have increased their high-decibel statements as they try – not always successfully – to reassure our troubled psyches and counter our growing suspicion of strangers in our midst.

However, despite these murderous attacks and the high state of alert in many European Union countries, as well as the tireless – and at times, frankly, thankless – job of our overworked but brilliant intelligence services, let me posit a few sparse and exigent thoughts about those events and how they attach themselves to the troubling realities of the MENA region.

An immediate – almost axiomatic – first thought comes to mind. Those attacks have shown once more how vital it remains for EU member-states to pool their resources together.

Much as I accept that such sharing of intelligence could be done on a bilateral basis, it makes much more sense to work together from inside the European tent rather than camp outside it.

Diplomatic language

This was stressed again only this week by MP Dominic Grieve, chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee at the British Parliament, when he suggested on BBC HARDtalk in rather diplomatic language that EU mechanisms of cooperation would be helpful.

READ MORE: The future of Europe after the Brussels attacks

However, more significant is that our gut reaction to those attacks highlights at times the “us” versus “them” stereotypes.

We blame destitute refugees for being terrorists but overlook that it is Europe-born and Europe-bred men and women who are the main culprits.

by 

Looking at social media alone, I have come across numerous messages from the larger MENA region suggesting – correctly in many instances, too – that we in Europe get exercised emotionally only when such dreadful attacks target our continent.

We do not show comparable degrees of angst, solidarity or empathy when people are killed or maimed in equal or larger numbers in other parts of the world.

This was made abundantly clear, for instance, by many tweeps ranging from Iraq to Algeria last week, when a suicide bomber triggered a deadly explosion in a crowded park following a football match that caused 41 deaths and 105 injuries.

The attack took place in the Babil province village of al-Asriyya near Iskandariya in Iraq. This is a largely Shia town, previously dubbed the “triangle of death”, which is some 32 kilometres south of Baghdad.

But why was this incident not even reported in Western media channels, some writers soliloquised sarcastically? Was it because the victims were Arabs and also Muslims, even though the atrocity was worse than that outside the Stade de France football stadium north of Paris? 

Eurocentric and tribal reactions

This is quite true, and I am the first to say mea culpa for such Eurocentric and tribal reactions. After all, we in Europe have dealt with the IRA, ETA, Baader-Meinhof and other groups that have at one time or another attempted to undermine our institutions.

We have reacted calmly and with due diligence, not erratically or recklessly, with a focused and almost plodding methodology. Today, though, when the enemy is alien to our borders, we revert to our shrill instincts.

Secular and religious leaders turn into instant know-it-alls and come up with half-baked directives to impress their constituencies. In the process, they terrify us, too.

However, I would like to play devil’s advocate by inquiring why MENA citizens are not also coming out in larger numbers to demonstrate their opposition to such attacks?

In many of these MENA countries that are bruised by such execrable terror, whether perpetrated by ISIL, al-Qaeda or the various state apparatuses that prey upon, muzzle and detain their own citizens, there are no Je Suis … identity-affirming badges.

READ MORE: Terror attacks indicate our system is malfunctioning

Instead, there is fear, impotence, fatigue or indifference. Some readers might well bristle at my observation, but is it natural that Europeans should be more empathetic to the MENA than its own residents?

Finally, let me fingerprint another key issue. We in Europe seem to have somehow lost our resolve to stand up for those values that define the European ideals and that also underline human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The sacrifices made by Europe during the two Big Wars were awesome and costly, but we seem to find ourselves these days increasingly in a rut of our own making.

Has Europe gone soft?

We tinker with the Schengen borders and criticise our porous frontiers but are unable to take firm decisions. We blame destitute refugees for being terrorists but overlook that it is Europe-born and Europe-bred men and women who are the main culprits. (For this, simply read Nahlah al-Shahal’s relevant Arabic article entitled Redefining the Humanitarian Concept in Al-Hayat, March 27).

We make noises over Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Libya or over rights-based issues in the Arab world but do not show any interest or will to act upon them.

by 

We also intimate that there is a vast difference between Islam and its isms but we do not fully believe it. We make noises over Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Libya or over rights-based issues in the Arab world but do not show any interest or will to act upon them.

And of course we pretend to oppose Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands but choose inaction and bluster. Has Europe gone soft: are we spoilt or obsessed with money-making and consumerism, or are we merely mercenaries who pretend otherwise?

If the actions and reactions of a dissonant group of 28 EU leaders over the past few years is a benchmark, we need to take a leaf from Plato’s Apology and examine ourselves and the rootedness of our hard-fought values.

It is, after all, much easier to blame others for our contemporary ills, but our intellectual indolence and wanting political rigour remind me of other isms such as Nazism, Fascism and even communism that Europe has fought against in the past.

So is Europe under attack? I do not fully accept this argument, at least not yet, but we are at a critical crossroads and we have in some of our politicians a clutch of men and women who are far more invested in their power-based bubbles or oneupmanship ploys than they are in true leadership.

As Europe falters, maybe we should court prudence and recall the Malagasy proverb that urges us to “Move like a chameleon, look in front, and watch behind”!

Harry Hagopian is a London-based international lawyer, political adviser and ecumenical consultant on the MENA region. He is also a second-track negotiator and works closely with European institutions.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.