A research poll done by The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in cooperation with YouGov, titled “What Europeans really want: Five myths debunked” What Europeans really want: Five myths debunked. (Source: ecfr)

Comment:

What is the single biggest threat to Europe today? Was one of questions of a research poll which was conducted by the international think-tank, The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in cooperation with YouGov, titled “What Europeans really want: Five myths debunked”, in order to map the electorate potential in Europe. Almost all the EU-member states electorate considered “Islamic radicalism” the biggest threat to Europe. Which makes up, 87 million or 22 percent of the EU voting population! Leaving the threat of “economic crises and trade wars” way behind with merely 16 percent or 63 million.

Even in Spain, which was on the verge of a bankruptcy due to the 2008 worldwide financial crises (“Great Spanish Depression”) and had to be saved by a bailout by the Eurogroup, “Islamic radicalism” was considered as a bigger threat than the “economic crises and trade wars.” On top of this, the economic crises resulted in the increase in support of independence in Catalonia were Spain’s sovereignty was jeopardised.

Also, there was not a big difference between the pro-European and the anti-European parties. Both sides considered “Islamic radicalism” the biggest threat to Europe. “Migration” by the anti-European parties scored the same percentage as “Islamic radicalism” since “Migration” is considered to be an influx of Muslims from African, Middle-Eastern and Asian countries.

Even tough Muslims are a relatively small minority in Europe, making up roughly 5% of Europe (according to a Pew research) they are still considered the biggest threat to Europe. Whereas the threat of the upcoming nationalism marks only 11 percent while this was together with the economic crises, the biggest threat to Europe and the main causes of World War I and World War 2. Moreover, the creation of the EU was to end these internal economic and political conflicts between nation-states in Europe in order to secure lasting peace.

So, the so called “Islamic radicalism” is not only severely exaggerated but it is used as means to delude the people of the deficits of the Capitalist system which causes the real threat. Just to give a small impression. In 2017, in just one year, nearly 600 homeless people died by freezing to death on the streets in the UK according government figures.

This reminds me of the Roman poet Juvenal, who came with the expression in Latin “panem et circenses”, which means “bread and circuses” to describe the propaganda to pacify the people by food and entertainment when they should be rallying against a real and existential threat. So, the concept isn’t new.

The irony however, is that the Romans were at least able to provide the people “bread and circuses” to deceive them. The current Capitalist ideology, is not even able to provide the “bread” and all other basic economic requirements for its own people in Western countries. That is, if we should disregard the aggressive exploitation and theft of the wealth and resources of humanity at large.

The false propaganda against Islam as a threat is done deliberately and it is a manifestation of a failed system which is no longer able to take care of the needs of the people. So, it tries to prologue its lifespan with some crumbs of food and entertainment. And creating an external enemy while the enemy is within.

 

Okay Pala

Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in The Netherlands