YET another attack in the heart of Europe and yet another mad rush to tie it to Islam and its followers. The Berlin truck attack last week on a Christmas market, killing 12 innocent shoppers and reminding many of the horrific Bastille Day outrage in France last year, has set off tongues wagging across Europe. Many on the right have pounced on it to blame German Chancellor Angela Merkel's generous welcome of a million refugees last year. UK's Nigel Farage, who apparently advises Donald Trump and has guided his monstrous metamorphosis, tweeted: "Terrible news from Berlin but no surprise. Events like these will be the Merkel legacy." His protégé himself tweeted: "Today there were terror attacks in Turkey, Switzerland and Germany — and it is only getting worse. The civilized world must change thinking!" Mercifully, Trump has acknowledged the gun attack on a mosque in Switzerland the same day, ignored by much of the media. Unlike others, Merkel has been restrained and dignified in her response to the Berlin attack, fighting the temptation to blame the usual suspects. She has been under intense pressure to shut the door in the face of refugees. She is being pushed by the media and politicians to curb civil liberties, as has been the case in France after the Paris attacks. However, doing so would be a great tragedy and would play right into the hands of extremists. This is precisely what groups like Daesh (the so-called IS) want. The isolation and demonization of Islam and Muslims helps and furthers their divisive, nihilistic worldview, offering them ready recruits. In the words of Owen Jones, a well known British columnist, "terrorists and the West's ascendant populist right are now working in tandem. They are feeding off each other. They are interdependent. Their fortunes rise with each other. From Trump to France's Marine Le Pen to the Netherlands' Geert Wilders, the populist right will now be carefully plotting how they will extract political dividends from the horror. Muslims as a whole will fall under ever greater suspicion." Indeed, this has been the pattern on both sides of the Atlantic. If with the election of Trump, our worst waking nightmare came true, it appears on the verge of being visited on Europe. Fascism is on the march, from the heart of Europe to the picturesque Scandinavian climes. A heartening sight for the fringe in our midst of course, which has been busy pushing the apocalyptic worldview that Islam and West are antithetical and must destroy each other to rule the world. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Arabs and Muslims around the world are as distressed over these senseless killings and attacks. Indeed, their pain is even more acute considering these cowardly acts are carried out in their name. Indeed, more than the West and more than anyone else, it's Islam and Muslims who have suffered the most and been the chief victims of extremist violence. Look at the toll it has taken on the region. Entire countries have been destroyed by the chaos unleashed by terrorism, which in turn has been in response to the lopsided policies and systems inherited by the region from the colonial order. From sub-Saharan Africa and Maghreb to the Gulf and South-Central Asia, violence has wrecked millions of lives and many parts of the Islamic world. Since long before Russian ambassador to Turkey was gunned down on live TV by a renegade cop, apparently to protest Moscow's role in the carnage and ruination in Syria, NATO's only Muslim member has been perpetually at the receiving end, witnessing some of the biggest attacks in recent history. Only this past week, 46 people were killed — 36 of them policemen — in an attack in Besiktas, Istanbul. As I write this, there are reports of 16 Turkish soldiers being killed fighting Daesh along the border with Syria. December has been a disastrous month for the country that acts as a bridge between the East and West. Indeed, 2016 has been the cruelest year in Turkey's history, recording at least a dozen attacks, eight of them in its largest and most cosmopolitan city, Istanbul. Who can forget the savage strike on the Ataturk International Airport that killed 45 people and maimed hundreds in June this year besides destroying the airport? Or the one in Gaziantep that killed 57 people in August? Turkey has paid a colossal price for taking on the terrorists and for opening its borders to 3 million Syrian refugees. Frequent attacks have also been driving away tourists. Similar has been the case of Egypt, whose economy has grievously suffered because of recurring attacks, the most recent one being the bombing of Cairo's biggest Coptic cathedral. Libya next door has been torn into bits and pieces by various armed groups. Indeed, the Islamic world has paid an incalculable price for being the battlefront of this war. Look at the havoc wreaked on the ancient cities of Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and other countries in the region. Pakistan fights its own battles as its mosques, churches and even schools are targeted. Yet it's Muslims who are time and again blamed and bracketed with terror. What would it take for the world to understand we are almost as big a victim as anyone else, if not more, of the scourge of extremism? The West and Muslims cannot fight extremism by fighting each other. They must work together to confront the sources and drivers of violence, including the rising specter of Islamophobia in the West. Emboldened by the rhetoric of politicians like Trump, Farage and Le Pen, there has been a sudden spurt in attacks on Muslims everywhere. This in turn feeds the anger and sense of alienation that extremists prey on. We reap as we sow. What unites Muslims and the West is far greater than what divides them. We need to promote greater forbearance and understanding of each other's beliefs, cultures and sensitivities. Our diversity is what makes our world so beautiful. We should celebrate our distinctions, rather than fight over them. This is our shared heritage. Western and Muslim leaders, intellectuals and influencers must work together to build bridges between the two great civilizations, not polarize them further. Do not let a tiny fringe hold us to ransom and destroy our humanity. We are in this together. — Aijaz Zaka Syed is an award-winning writer based in Dubai. Email: [email protected]
