In Syria and Iraq, the strategic set ups and the most influential players are changing, but the conditions that facilitated Isis emergence and proliferation are still the same. Suffice it to think about the aftermath of the wars wanted by the United States in the Middle East in the Bush era, or else having a look at the never ending conflict between Sunnis and Shiites, or at the influence of the Arab powers – Saudi Arabian and Iranian in the first place – as well as that of Russia and Israel.
In Europe, Middle East and Asia thousands of fanatics get converted every day to the Islamic extremism. Often these people do not need a specific instruction or a structured organization to bind to. They “radicalize themselves”, thanks to the propaganda instruments proposed by the terrorist groups.
They give space to hatred, resentment and revenge for not having succeeded to be amongst the few of the world’s wealth-holders. They would do anything to prevent others from enjoying the benefits obtained from arms trading, drugs dealing, or from the exploitation of the massive corporations. They are willing to die to make sense of the obligations given by certain religious leaders who – now as in the past – use religion to manipulate the minds and to maintain control over the people, in order to possess an absolute power.
Terrorists control the weaker minds, and through these they want to produce a constantly under attack, scared and militarized Western World. This is happening while we Europeans still do not realize that the humus that has given rise to all this continues to be alive and flourishing.
But the manipulation of the masses is not only used by religious extremism. Often political forces of extremist left and right wings have used this system to achieve power. Suffering, exploited and hungry populations easily become puppets into the hands of unscrupulous persons aiming only to obtain and consolidate personal power, whilst putting the collective interests and that of the territory in the last place. These self-centered people turn into powerful leaders and on the wave of hatred and resentment, generated by the masses they control, they cause even more destruction and death during their supremacy.
Today Europe, alone, is the strongest economic power in the world, is the place on earth where health and education are most guaranteed, where the standards of living are higher. It is the most sensitive to green energy rather than to the fossil. It is the strongest and most concrete example of integration of languages, races and cultures.
We Europeans do not seem to realize this and we always think that the grass is always greener on the other side. We seem unaware of those who are jealous and want to destroy us. This certainly is the goal of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Isis caliph, but also of Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Marine Lepen, Nigel Farage, Matteo Salvini and Beppe Grillo. A paradoxical breakfast is being laid where the Islamist terrorists are only the most obvious offshoot of a heterogeneous wide movement that has the same goal. The reasons, of course, are different: economic competition for Trump, geopolitical strategy for Putin, personal power for Le Pen, Grillo and Salvini, who ride this dangerous detonator, regardless of the risks for the population.
Having obtained the English Brexit and Trump at the American presidency, being able to stimulate the potential election of Marine Le Pen and to increase the power of Putin on the European continent, these are the real objectives and the great results of the Islamic terrorists. Stirring up people against each other, increasing insecurity and suspicion, whilst having extremists in power would fuel the conflict on a global scale and this would bring the western population to suffer the same tragedies as those of the developing countries or as those of the poor people devastated by endless wars.
Of course the EU needs to revise the treaties and to solve many problems; primarily that of emigration, the need to have an army and a single foreign policy. But the solution must not be destructive: let’s not forget history! This is our best teacher.
Europe needs, however, to fully understand the American lesson. Popular discontent was spurred by a manipulation of the masses with false news published on the social media, but not only. The global economic crisis has created a lot of suffering and the US middle class has been beaten and depleted much more than the European one.
The euro and its international stability have until now protected us from a possible much greater European economic crisis than the one we are facing. But we must not believe that even in the European Union there are no destructive movements; even here wealth has decreased. The austerity policies imposed to support the blow of the global economic crisis hit harshly social protection systems and education. Migration pressure is less and less sustainable and we must acknowledge and take into consideration the requests for protection and security put forward by all the people of Europe.
But to save Europe and therefore ourselves, Italians included, there is no need to step back returning to the total sovereignty of the nation states: this would be a disaster for everyone. We would still be a small fish in a school of sharks. Instead, we must apply the international treaties already concluded and implement them fully.
Few people know, for example, that the economic and monetary union has never been completed. The unsatisfactory results of the EU also take place because it is difficult for a machine without all pieces in place to work properly. We must therefore review the European project, complete it, and grant it a more central place in the political arena, besides of the institutional one. Europe’s future comes from the birth of the United States of Europe: we must strive for a European federation and fight against those who have interests other than those of the well-being of us all.
