Europe Moving Towards A Police State

Yasin Yağcı – Holland
Fear must be one of the hardest emotions for a human being to deal with. It constricts you, and steals your courage away. What could be the psychology of a person who has no courage or self confidence?
If the fear in question is for an individual, the damage is localized, but if this state of fear affects a society as a whole... Especially when governments use fear as a political tool, that makes life all the more unbearable.
This atmosphere which significantly has started to reign in Europe in recent days is the outcome of this very mentality. The constriction of freedom due to security concerns renders life unbearable in this old continent. The perception of security is about to become a paranoia. European countries are about to become police states, literal police states where everyone suspects and watches one another. As long as this schizophrenic point of view exists, an atmosphere of harmony and peace cannot be attained.

“THE ENEMY AMONG US"
The terrorist attacks which targeted the U.S., Spain, and finally London, forced these countries and other countries in Europe to reconsider their security measures. The name of the new Western concept of the enemy is "The Muslims Among Us". Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci's utterance of the phrase "the enemy among us" for the European Muslims proves this reality. As this mentality, regarding one another as enemies, spreads on a wider scale with each passing day, the life of over 20 million Muslims living in Europe turns into a nightmare. The European people are confused to find out that the names behind the attacks are, actually, people of their own culture who have shared the same resources with them for a very long time.
While, in the old days, people with adaptation and language difficulties were considered a problem, the terrorist attacks have completely altered this conception since all the people who took part in these attacks were raised in these countries, and thus, molded by their cultures.

I AM NOT ONE OF THEM
These attacks put a stain on the image of Islam, a religion of peace, in the western countries. Nowadays, Muslims feel obliged to stage demonstrations to say “I am no terrorist. I am not one of them." It is very hard to explain what it feels like trying to answer one of your closest neighbors or colleagues asking “Do you agree with them?" with a reply starting with "I am a Muslim but..."   
When will the people, who claim to be acting in favor of Islam, see that they are actually hurting it? When will they realize that they have destroyed everything that Muslims so far achieved in building? The Netherlands, the center of tolerance, has become a dreadful country after the murder of Theo van Gogh; England, too; Germany has always been waiting for it. Telephone and e-mail transactions, every move including mosque visits of the Muslims living in these countries are under close supervision. People are being watched everywhere. Well, who is to blame for all this?                        

(August 2005, 18th Issue)
Last modified onSaturday, 06 May 2017 10:07