At War in Europe: The Hidden Cost of Empire
“We are at war,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in the wake of the attacks in Brussels, Belgium, on the morning of Tuesday, March 22. When Valls or others like him announce that Europeans “are at war,” they’re right- it’s just not anything new.
The terror attack was another strike by extremists designed to inspire terror and fear across Europe. Three bombs were set off, during at the morning rush hour, at the Brussels airport and in the city’s metro. This was specifically planned to cause as much mayhem and horror as possible.
The terror group ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks by the early evening. Brussels is the home of the European Union and NATO, both of which are blamed by ISIS for their involvement in the Middle East. Striking at the heart of the two institutions was an intentional blow.
[S]o, yes- Europe is at war. The war involves the fear of innocent men, women, and children that they may be killed at any moment, for any reason, without warning. The war involves horrifying, sudden acts of violence from out of nowhere. The war involves attacks by an enemy that civilians have little direct interaction with and do to less direct violence.
That same war has been waged by the institutions housed in Brussels against the broader Islamic world for over a century. European nations have been invading, exploiting, and ethnically cleansing North Africa and the Middle East for generations. This systemic and unending campaign of violence has had a traumatizing effect on the people in its path. That trauma has been channeled into declaring the same kind of senseless, brutal war on the people who are represented by the colonial powers.
Following the historical pattern, attacks on Europe from the Islamic World have been low-tech and designed to cause terror rather than to gain territory, to cause fear instead of gaining footholds. It’s how the undermanned and outgunned have always waged war against their more powerful foes.
In keeping with that same historical precedent, the people of Europe are seldom told about the atrocities and violence done in their name, at least not directly. Attacks are always presented as aberrational acts of deranged minds or religious extremism, but context to explain where the derangement or extremism spring from is always missing.
The people of Europe shouldn’t need to be told they are at war with their neighbors to the south and southeast. They’ve been at war with them for over a century.