"RADICALIZATION HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SOCIAL DEPRIVATION"
FD
http://fd.nl/fd4home/economie-politiek/1128611/met-achterstand-heeft-radicalisering-niets-te-maken
Not the socio-economic but the cultural conditions are the most important factor in the radicalization of Muslims, according to the French integration expert Malika Sorel-Sutter. Politicians and the media turn a blind eye to this, she thinks. "They still do not want to see the real problems."
Malika Sorel-Sutter is a Frenchwoman of Algerian descent, and an engineer by training. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy appointed her to the board for integration issues, Haute Conseil de l'Integration. Earlier this month Sorel-Sutter published a book with the alarming title
Dissolution of France. According to her, the elite is no longer proud of France and therefore unable to lead the way to immigrants.
How do you view the events of November 13?
"The western governments have encouraged the rise of political Islam in many ways. For example, by dislodging Gaddafi in Libya and thoroughly destabilizing Syria. Immigration made it worse. While fundamentalism is growing in Muslim countries, is Europe never has wanted to reduce the inflow. In France the assimilation policy - that managed to turn newcomers into French citizens -was left, because assimilation is no longer possible with these numbers of immigrants. Both natives and foreigners now pay the bill."
The perpetrators do not appear to conform to the clichés about hopelessness.
"According to the UCLAT, which coordinates the fight against terror in France, 67 percent of the candidates for the jihad come from the middle class. This is not only explained by a relatively large number of native converts. Yet it seems that the media and politicians can only see reality through a socio-economic perspective.
They continue relentlessly to spread the lie that social despair is the breeding ground of terror. We would be in trouble because we have not done enough to combat disadvantage, so actually we ourselves would be to blame."
What then is the reason why Isis attracts young people who were born here?
"The fact that they were born here means nothing, especially not in this day and age with the means of communication we have now. The body is here, but the mind is elsewhere. Westerners have become very materialistic and think that Muslim immigrants also have these material needs, such as enough to eat and a roof over their heads. But meanwhile they [Muslims] tell their children that they are very different from non-Muslims. That is the crux of the problem, the underlying cause of all excesses. "
You blame the politicians and the media for not wanting to see this.
"Politics evades the true causes of failed integration, which are of a cultural nature. We have long been witnessing a clash between two worlds. With the banlieue riots of 2005, an alarm went off, but the violence was mainly interpreted as a protest against inequality and the wave of hatred that France faced was ignored. It is not a material issue: the countries of origin have nothing to offer to these children, that is exactely why their parents or grandparents are have come here. And yet they constantly run about waving the Algerian or Moroccan flag and speak more often their mother tongue."
What to do about this? How do you create French citizens in a culture of rejection or even hostility ?
"That's very difficult. Children are not a blank page on which you can write the values and principles of the social and moral pact that the French have with each other. But you must not prevent the work of teachers, and that is exactly what happened.
It has been repaeated over and over that immigrants are the victims of Westerners. Therefore many immigrants got the idea that they are not themselves responsible for their fate. This victimization is the best fuel for resentment and hatred. For each problem - unemployment, crime or violent outbursts - journalists, politicians and social scientists hurried to blame French society. By constantly harping on discrimination and exclusion, the desire for revenge has risen among a part of the Muslim youth. The French elites run away responsibility and don't even love ttheir country, they think patriotism a low instinct that one should distance oneself from. A disastrous attitude. "
What will happen with the refugees and immigration?
"Governments should admit they were wrong. Europe is a colander and must protect itself from such large numbers of newcomers. One has a great responsibility not to make the problems even worse."
BBM
