The scariest reaction to economic despondency and fear of immigrants is starting to happen in Europe. It has struck with ruthless shock and awe in a country that is among the continent’s most homogeneous.
The killings by an over six-foot blond Norwegian using the automatic weapons and fertilizer bombs favored by self-motivated terrorists have sent a message that rigid beliefs are not the province only of Islamists. Anders Behring Breivik, 32, arrested in connection with the killing spree that might claim some 100 lives seems to be a fundamentalist Christian and nationalist.
His psychopathic actions send the message that natives like him are also willing to destroy innocents of their own kind and sacrifice liberty for their principles, however misguided. Had Islamic terrorists perpetrated this heinous crime, killing tens of teenage children, both Norway and NATO would have howled for revenge. The pacifist Norwegian people would surely have lifted their objections to taking part in anti-terrorism wars and their contingents in Afghanistan might have been beefed up.
What has happened is worse. Breivik’s actions have opened up a European Pandora’s box. First there will be soul searching. How could a discreet and peaceful Norwegian living with his mother kill so many children by his own hand, not a remote-controlled car bomb? Does the blame lie with the rhetoric of right wing demagogues using anti-Islamism as a ladder to climb to better political fortunes in Norway and other countries? Is it possible to prevent young heads from being filled so effectively with venom that moderate and left wing Europeans become legitimate targets for violent homegrown terrorism?
Breivik’s motives are still unclear but might have been linked to an expected visit by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to the Utoya Island youth camp, where the most carnage occurred. An hour earlier, a fertilizer bomb exploded outside his office building and for a while there was worry that he might have been hurt.
At the same time a new surge of fear may rise. The nightmare is that native right wing terrorists will exact retribution on governments, like Norway’s decent center-left regime, for being soft on immigrants especially those practicing Islam. A right wing lurch is already visible in Germany, France, Italy, Britain, Holland, Denmark and Finland. It may increase as centrist and center-right politicians leaner further right to snatch votes back from right wing extremists. Such extremists, who usually call themselves nationalists, traditionally win 10-20 per cent of the vote. The current economic malaise and increasing unemployment, often blamed on unfair competition from cheap third world labor and immigrants, could make their bombast more attractive.
In France, the Socialists are in such disarray after Dominique Strauss Kahn’s recent disgrace, that Marie le Pen, daughter of retired fiery right-winger Jean-Marie le Pen, is seen as a front-runner in the 2012 national elections. She has radical anti-Islamic views. President Nicholas Sarkozy has already upped his anti-immigrant rhetoric to separate some of her supporters from her sugar-coated but extreme positions.
Since 9/11, every major European country has started internal debates about national identity in relation to immigrants from mostly Arab Islamic countries. They currently average 3-4% of Western European populations. Recently, France and Belgium banned the Islamic veil in public places. The main complaint is that Islam does not empathize with European democratic values and Christian historical traditions. The challenge is often defined as one of integrating the immigrants without compromising European values.
When the details emerge, it is likely that Breivik acted to protect Norwegian national and cultural identity as well as the homogeneity of its Nordic population. Denmark, Sweden and Finland have strong right wing parties running on such platforms, as does Norway.
The prospect is not of a clash of civilizations or religions. However, we are at the threshold of a clash within European democracies between those who favor open borders and cultural intermixture and those who prefer to see fewer foreigners of non-European origin and religions living permanently in their midst.