When the conflict that tore former Yugoslavia apart broke out and everyone, near and far, found out that all the fault lines of "Balkanization" intersected in this Balkan state, we in the Arab and Islamic worlds witnessed the massacres of Srebrenica and Zepa, I was studying to obtain my master's degree in London.
One of my classmates at the time was a Jewish American student, and she seemed to me the most concerned of my classmates and the most eager to help the victims. Indeed, she eventually volunteered to join the relief efforts in some of the besieged "pockets" of the region before the conflict ended and Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown.
I could not get the words she said that day out of my head. In an indignant tone, she asked me why "we" (us Arabs) were silent, even "cowardly," in the face of what she called the resurgence of the "beast of militant Crusades" on European soil. She then added: "Our history, us Jews, has taught us what this phenomenon means... so be wary and take action before it's too late."
During this period, the Western world led by the United States was, on the one hand, keen on doing away with Moscow's influence. On the other hand, it was not concerned about the fate of Balkan minorities - especially the Bosnian Muslims - and what could happen to them at the hands of the Serbs, Russia's "most loyal historical allies." As we know, the Bosnian Muslims paid a heavy price for their fragile independence in a region where historical grudges may sleep, but never die!
In Western Europe, though perhaps to a different degree from the Balkans, we also find religious, sectarian, and ethno-linguistic grudges. Despite the broad "tent" of the European Union, there are latent, sensitive questions simmering on the continent, from Ireland to Catalonia and the Basque Country in Spain. While we have the north-south "mosaic" in Italy, it is being held together through the fascists’ return to power. It is they who have united the northern "Padanians" with the southern "Terronians" against the "foreigners" arriving on the peninsula from the south and east.
We can see this in Britain, too. Its cities are in flames following a dangerous wave of violence. Britain has its own troubled history with crises of "integration" and "pluralism." It also spent a long time avoiding a historical settlement that could end the Irish conflict under the pretext of "refusing to capitulate to armed terrorism."
Moreover, Britain was home to Sir Oswald Mosley, a radical politician who was friends with Benito Mussolini and a prominent figure during the time of the Nazis and fascists. This country also saw the rise of a prominent right-wing politician and intellectual by the name of Enoch Powell. In 1968, Powell warned that "rivers of blood" would flow if immigration to Britain from its former colonies persisted, as a violent clash between white and black communities would be inevitable. At the time, Powell said that merely closing Britain's borders would not be enough, arguing that some of the immigrants who had settled in the country would have to be sent back to their "original" homelands.
Recently, several children were murdered in the city of Southport (northwest) in England - a horrendous crime by all measures. However, British security services decided to withhold the suspect's name for legal reasons, as he is a minor (17 years old). This allowed far-right groups - firstly anti-Muslim and secondly anti-immigrant - to launch a misinformation campaign and incite racist violence, fueling riots and protests in several cities and suburbs.
Under these exceptional and critical circumstances, the authorities decided to disclose the suspect's personal information, as well as take urgent measures to contain the spread of the racist poison that extremist and suspicious groups had been spreading by exploiting two things:
First: social media makes it easier to incite violence.
Second: unethical and opportunistic politicians who saw an opportunity to improve their standing within isolationist, racist, and uneducated milieus through their insinuations and dog whistles.
Some local newspapers reported that the young man accused of the crime is not Muslim and that the claims of "Ali Al-Shakati" being responsible, which had been circulating on social media, had been made up. The accused is a Christian boy of African descent who sings at a church choir.
Moreover, neither the suspect nor his family had arrived in the UK as "refugees on boats," as had been rumored. Rather, he is a British citizen born in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The police did not withhold the name to "cover up the truth" but out of respect for the law and judicial procedure.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) published a report on the dangerous role played by the far-right and its exploitation of the incident through social media to spread false "conspiracy theories." Meanwhile, other sources focused on the "changes within the British right," explaining that far-right extremists are resorting to explicit incitement to violence, attacking places of worship, and systematically targeting Muslims, immigrants, and asylum seekers.
Here, I find myself compelled to share a saying despite myself. "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." In my opinion, the fact that some racist thugs have gone so far as to assault people - and even the police - threaten places of worship, and raise nauseating, hateful slogans, should not come as any surprise.
While I understand that there is no "direct relationship" between ideological extremism and lethal fascism, I could sense where things were headed. It begins with people fearing for their jobs, then "losing" their identity and country, and it ends with retaliation against the party that is "responsible"!
I can see how easy it is for demagogues of unethical politics and hardened racists to exploit the ignorance of those who have a limited understanding of history, geography, and economics, and to turn them into pawns for spreading blind hatred and violence.
What we are seeing today in Britain, which could morph - God forbid - into something worse in Britain as well as in other prominent Western countries, demands a conscious approach. We should not downplay what is happening nor seek to score points.
Racism is not a "fleeting, momentary phenomenon." No society in the world is immune to it, no matter how emphatically we extol the virtues of democratic experiences.
Isolationism can begin as an innocent phenomenon... but it does not stay that way forever!
