The violent uprisings that have hit numerous cities and towns in France in the past few days should be a good indication of what lies ahead for most countries in Western Europe over the next few years.
Attempts to integrate the growing immigrant populations from North Africa and the Middle East into Western European societies have failed miserably and the clash of different civilizations with different aims is taking hold across Europe.
Last Tuesday, a 17-year-old young man died in a suburb of Paris after an altercation with the police. Video footage of the incident shows that the young man did not want to stop when the police stopped him at a roadblock. According to the largest police union in France, the young man, who is of Algerian descent, was known to the police due to repeated previous offences.
Since the incident, first protests against the police, but later total anarchy followed with thousands of immigrants in Paris and later also in other towns and cities in France destroying buildings, cars, public transport such as trains and buses and public facilities such as schools and community halls. set fire to.
By Sunday, the French government had already had to deploy 45,000 riot police members and fears grew that the situation could lead to total anarchy in some parts of France. Damage of billions of euros was caused in a few days to infrastructure right across France. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, had to leave a meeting of the heads of state of the 27 member states of the European Union in Brussels early on Friday, while his visit to Germany, which was to take place this week, was postponed.
It is clear from the violence of the past few days that the uprisings are about much more than the death of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk. France has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe and by all indications at least ten percent of the French population is currently Muslim. This excludes all illegal immigrants and recent arrivals who have applied for refugee status.
In a recent study, more than a quarter of France’s Muslim population indicated that they would be in favor of the most conservative forms of Islam in France. This includes Sharia laws and the wearing of a face veil by women.
The survey conducted by the liberal think tank Insitut Montaigne shows that France’s Muslim population is becoming more conservative. More than half of the most conservative, even radical, French Muslims are under the age of 25. It is these young radical Muslims who are increasingly rebelling against secular governments in Western Europe. It simply concerns a clash of two incompatible civilizations.
It reminds one of the writings of the Frenchman Jean Raspail, who made headlines in 1973 when he predicted the occupation of France by immigrants from the Global South. His book has been translated worldwide and in Afrikaans it is under the title Surround the camp of the saints published.
The total loss of national identity, linked to the Christian faith and the accompanying church, in most Western European countries created a breeding ground for the mobilization of radical immigrants. Europeans can expect more of this in the future and they have only themselves to blame.
This news commentary was provided by Pretoria FM. Listen daily to Clankkoerant on Pretoria FM for the latest news commentary.
