"We have been sold terrorism as an existential threat that requires an exceptional response, but, in turn, only a certain type of terrorism. After the September 11 attacks, terrorism stands alone as jihadist", Javier Biosca. 

The reality of terrorism in Europe: What is the real danger?  

photo_camera Reuters/John Kirk-Anderson- - Brenton Tarrant, author of the attacks on the Christchurch mosques in New Zealand.

Jihadist terrorism is not the only one that should concern us.

Jihadist terrorism has always been and is in the spotlight, consolidating as one of the greatest fears of Western societies. However, the reality is different, being masked and protected.  

A somewhat classic and biased concept of terrorism prevails, taking as such attacks only those carried out by individuals driven by a religious motive. Treating an individual as a "terrorist" from the outset when it comes from a Muslim, and as a "perpetrator of the massacre" in the case of a white Western man. As Moussa Bourekba of the Center for International Studies and Documentation of Barcelona (CIDOB) points out, there is a "slow but sure legitimization of the use of violence by individuals affiliated with the ultra-right". As the Global Terrorism Index 2019 indicates, this type of attack has increased by 320% ii in the last five years (1,156 violent crimes with 838 victims during 2018 in the West iii), despite the prevalence of jihadist attacks in the media iv

The increase of this type of terrorism finds some explanation in the legitimization promoted by the political parties themselves and their rulers v, promoting xenophobia, homophobia and Islamophobia vi, this being a double-edged sword. According to the Global Terrorism Index, in 2017 17 lives were claimed, rising to 26 in the following year and 77 in 2019 vii.  

PHOTO/MICK TSIKAS/AAP New Zealand, Christchurch: A man prays in front of flowers and pays tribute to the victims of attacks on mosques

In Spain, in 2016 alone 309 cases of xenophobic attacks were detected viii. In 2019 there were several xenophobic terrorist attacks against MENAS centers, with the arrest in the course of investigations of a sniper who had threatened to assassinate the Prime Minister over a Vox chat, and the dismantling of a clandestine explosives manufacturing and weapons storage workshop ix.  

One of the attacks with more impact in Europe in recent years occurred in Norway against a youth camp of the Labour Party, the work of neo-Nazi Anders Breivik in 2011, leaving 77 dead and 151 injuredx. It is important to highlight one of the most striking characteristics of this type of terrorism: just as Hitler did with his 'Mein kampf', Breivik left a manifesto written and published, explaining the reasons for his attack, based on the "Islamization of Europe" in the hands of the multiculturalist left xi  

An example of their influence is the attack on the Christchurch mosque in 2019, in which a total of 49 people were killed xii. Author Brenton Tarrant, inspired by the words and deeds of "Commander" Breivik, published his own work prior to the attack: 'The Great Replacement' xiii.  

PHOTO/Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images/AFP Improvised memorial for the victims on August 15, 2019 in El Paso, Texas 22 people were killed at the Walmart shopping mall in a mass shooting on 3 August.

These events and the rise of extreme right-wing political parties in Europe in recent years have fuelled this wave of homophobic, xenophobic and misogynist violence. In Germany alone there were 1,054 acts of extreme right-wing violence xiv in 2017; in the United Kingdom and Italy, there have been a number of attacks with firearms and knives against politicians, including the murder of British MP Jo Cox in 2016 xv, as well as attacks against immigrants and homosexuals by members of neo-fascist groups such as Casa Pound, a Social Home ally, the Lega Nord xvi or the Nordic Resistance Movement in Sweden xvii. France, the European country that has taken on the greatest importance in recent years in terms of jihadist attacks, has also become the epicenter of ultra-right-wing terrorism xviii.  

In the United States, especially since the arrival of President Trump, and Canada, a wave of this type of violence has been experienced (39 of 48 deaths come from white supremacism xix). We highlight the anti-Semitic attack by Robert Bowers on a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, with 11 people killed. While on Canadian territory, the attack on a mosque in Quebec in 2017 is underlined, with six deaths xx

We can take as a catalyst for this extremist tendency the birth of Daesh and his expansion in the West through the radicalization and recruitment of individuals for conversion into Mujahideen. These events have shaken Western societies by fostering concern and hatred for immigrants, especially Arabs, and by reinforcing nationalist discourses. A reflection of this is the rise in support for extreme right-wing political parties during the 2019 elections: at the top of the list is the party corresponding to Switzerland with 29% of the votes, in Austria with 26%, Denmark with 21%, and among the most renowned countries, France and Germany with 13%, Italy with 17% and Spain with 10% (VOX Party).   

AFP/DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS Posters and photos on London Bridge in memory of the victims of the 12 December 2019 bombing in central London.

However, in spite of the media coverage of the jihadist attacks in 2018, the data show that the reality is different: 17.2% of attacks by the extreme right compared to 6.8% by jihadists xxi. This type of attack has been and is known as "lone wolf" attacks xxii, something which is not entirely correct, given that they act under the premises established by a certain group, which, although it does not directly target them, does form part of a global ideological movement xxiii. It is at this point that the importance of the Internet in terrorism becomes evident, whatever the cut, as can be seen in the connection between Breivik and Tarrant or between the Social Home and the Lega Nord.   

Among the characteristics shared by jihadists and neo-Nazis, the use of the Internet as the main platform for self-radicalization stands out. Access to an enormous amount of information and theories that adhere to their ideals leads to the conviction that the only useful and effective path is that of violence xxiv. Another point in common, and perhaps of greater relevance due to its dangerousness, is what we can call the "mirror of Afghanistan. As it occurs among the jihadists who at the time participated in the war in Afghanistan or who have more recently fled to Syria and Iraq, on the far right is the focus on Ukraine where the so-called Battalion of Azov welcomes 'foreign fighters' from all parts of the West among its ranks. According to FBI sources, these are some 17,000 ultra-right-wingers from 50 countries. What's the problem? As with the flows of returnees from Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, these individuals will return to their most violent points of origin with a greater desire to attack and, in short, more radicalized. xxv  

AP/VINCENT THIAN - In this archive photo from 18 March 2019, a family puts flowers on a wall in Christchurch Botanical Garden in New Zealand. 

The same is true with the return of propaganda for the fact; left-wing or anarchist terrorism has taken hold especially in Greece, Italy, Turkey, France and Spain xxvi. Movements of this ideology have put the focus on social protest movements as a means of recruitment. As an example, last October in Turkey 93 of the 120 individuals wanted by the Prosecutor's Office were arrested; they belonged to the extreme left terrorist group DHKP-C (People's Liberation Revolutionary Party-Front), which was responsible for the suicide attack on the US Embassy in Ankara in 2013, ending with the death of a security guard xxvii. In the United States alone, there were over 300 attacks on law enforcement officers by extreme left-wing individuals in a single year. xxviii 

In May, the Italian police arrested an anarchist terror cell that was attacking police surveillance networks, television signal transmission systems, and organizing riots against CIEs. Only during 2018 there were 34 attacks by terrorists of this kind xxix

REUTERS/CHARLES PLATIAU - Security forces stand guard at the site of an incident near the former offices of French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France, on 25 September 2020. 

In Spain, the anarchist Gabriel Pombo da Silva was arrested in January, with a criminal record that totals more than 30 years in prison. The operation was made possible by a phone call verifying his appeal to the commission of attacks. He was finally arrested for his alleged participation in crimes of terrorist advocacy, homicide, kidnapping, robbery with force, extortion and simulation of crime, in addition to crimes of drug trafficking and illegal possession of weapons, ammunition and explosives. Pombo da Silva was also prosecuted by the Italian Police for his connections with the FAI (Federazione Anarchica Italiana) xxx.  

Other groups such as Straight Edge Madrid are also disseminators and defenders of "the legality of the active and essentially violent struggle against the constitutional order" and authors of multiple attacks against the Police and various infrastructures, highlighting the placement of an explosive device in the Basilica del Pilar and the Cathedral of the Almudena in 2013 xxxi. In addition to the arrest of another group located in Murcia, self-trained in the manufacture and use of explosives, with members possessing a huge amount of materials for the manufacture of homemade bombs, which had been placed in electrical towers, water tanks, various infrastructures and in the vicinity of the A-30 and residential areas xxxii.   

In this way, it is possible to see who has been and is a real danger to western society, and the dangerousness of the facts based on their authorship. This is an issue that we should reflect on, analyzing what is the real danger that lies ahead of us. 

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