And
until Paris confronts its deep historical legacy of colonialism and prejudice,
violence will continue.
- By Gordon Adams
- November 17, 2015
Once
again, a violent jihadi terrorist attack has hit France, this time with at
least 450 victims, 129 of them fatal. Rallying around the French flag, even
pasting it over our Facebook avatars, follows, because an attack on European
soil somehow “exports” the war in the Middle East to our front doors. We
remember and mourn Berlin, Madrid, London, and New York. But deaths at the
hands of terrorists in Beirut on Nov. 12 (43 dead; 200 wounded), or Baghdad the day after (26 dead; 46 wounded); Dhaka on Oct. 24 (1 dead; 104 wounded); or in Ankara on Oct. 10 (95 dead; 246 wounded) have not brought
the same outpouring of grief and flag-draping. Even the killing of 224 passengers on a commercial Russian passenger
plane, brought down by a terrorist bomb over the Sinai Peninsula, pale by
comparison to the outpouring of emotion following the attacks in Paris.
The
war against terrorists, especially the Islamic State — reputed sponsor of all
those non-European attacks — has “come home,” we say. In reaction, French politicians, like former President
Nicolas Sarkozy, demand “total war.” Republican presidential candidates
thump the tub to escalate a ground war in Syria.http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/11/17/france-has-been-no-friend-to-muslims/
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