Why do European youth join Daesh? radical movements in Europe (2)

Western Europe witnessed the emergence of more active far right movements than any other geographical area in the world did. During the Cold War, a number of such movements popped up in a number of Western European states to defend national interests and prevent change. Most of these movements appeared in reaction to the success of revolutionary leftist movements that demanded change. Far right movements enjoyed support from social classes that feared the loss of their economic, social and political gains. These classes were threatened by reforms initiated by Western European governments and also by socialist incitement against them. They were also threatened by the flow of immigrants to Western European countries.

Far right movements proved to be able to commit extreme violence, even as they did not possess the organizational capabilities the movements of the far left possessed throughout most of the Cold War. This caused great suffering in a number of Western European societies, such as Italy where far right movements claimed to have received support from renegade Italian intelligence officials.

The fact is that far right movements made their presence strongly felt throughout the 1970s and 1980s because they received support from civilian and military intelligence agencies in Western European states. The Italian intelligence worked to use extremism, blamed most of the time on the far left, to incite the public against the left and also make them call for action to protect law and order against this left (5).

Come the Cold War to an end, the far right lost all justifications for its actions. The might that is communism had shriveled up and died by then, opening the door for the emergence of another might, namely immigration. One of the theoreticians of what was known as the Frankfurt School wrote a book about what he called the "inciters", or more accurately those far right members who incited against immigrants.

By the 1990s, the iron curtain that was wrapped around Europe was removed. This caused immigrants to flock to Europe and the Western world in general. The struggle for better payments and living conditions was set into motion. However, immigration fuelled ethnic conflicts in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union. They also caused wars, famine and endemics to spread like wildfire in Africa (6).

The arrival of immigrants, refugees and political asylum-seekers in Europe has had deep effects on social and economic stability. Western Europeans viewed those foreigners arriving in their countries as direct competitors for jobs, housing, and health services. They also viewed those foreigners as a direct threat to the national identities of their countries and their values. Some people even tried to portray immigrants as criminals, law-breakers, and a menace to the social fabric in their countries. These feelings were exploited by the far right in justifying its crimes. The same feelings brought support to far right parties. This was evident in the appearance of a subculture, backing to neo-Nazism (7).

Anti-immigrant movements appeared throughout most of Western Europe in the 1990s. In Brussels, an anti-immigrant movement appeared and lived several years. This organization stood behind a number of bomb attacks against foreigners. The members of the organization included racist gangsters. In France, there were three Neo-Nazi organizations, namely the European Nationalists, Third Way and the Revolutionary Nationalist Youth Group. Each of these organizations received support from the adherents of the subcultures. These organizations were believed to have been the first to incite attacks on the homes of refugees and immigrant workers in Lille, Brest, Rouen, Marseille, and Paris.

In the UK, Combat 18 organization was considered by police as the main representative of the far right. This organization hammered out arms deals with paramilitary forces in Northern Ireland. It also claimed responsibility for two bomb attacks in central London.

In the Netherlands, two racist organizations, namely the Youth Front and the National Socialist Labor Front, appeared. The latter organization functioned as a branch of the German National Labor Front in the Netherlands. Three of the leaders of this organization were arrested for possessing arms and Nazi materials (8).

On the other hand, leftist movements appeared to target banks, the symbols of capitalism and the offices of international organizations.

In Belgium, the Communist Combatant Cells emerged at the end of the 1970s. This organization staged a number of attacks, including ones on NATO positions and sites of nuclear arms. The Communist Combatant Cells coordinated their actions with other leftist movements, including the Red Army Faction in Germany and the Red Brigades in Italy (9).

The Red Army Faction was founded in 1968 by Andreas Baader (1943 – 1977) and Ulrike Meinhof (1943 – 1976). Faction members got financing for their operations at first from burglaries, including of banks and companies. The movement bombed some of its targets and set others on fire. Most of the operations of the Red Army Faction targeted West German and American companies. It also participated in the kidnap and assassination of politicians and outstanding businessmen in West German.

By the mid-1970s, the Red Army Faction's operations assumed an international dimension. It hammered out alliances with some Palestinian movements. Two faction members participated in the hijacking of an Air France plane flying from Tel Aviv to Paris in 1976. The plane hijacking precipitated an Israeli raid on Entebbe International Airport in Uganda. The two German hijackers were killed in the raid (10).

The Red Brigades is an underground extremist leftist organization that appeared in Italy in 1969. It wanted to create a revolutionary buzz through an armed struggle based on Marxist-Leninist principles. The movement also campaigned against Italy's NATO membership.   

The organization was founded by Renato Curcio who founded the first leftist group at the University of Trento in 1967. This group was committed to the study of Carl Marx, Mao Zedong and Che Guevara. After he got married to Margherita Cagol, Curcio moved to Milan where he started assembling hardliners before he announced his organization in November 1970. Curcio promulgated the birth of his movement by throwing incendiary bombs on factories and warehouses in Miland.

In its second year, the Red Brigades turned to kidnappings. In 1974, the organization carried out its first murder by killing the head of the Counterterrorism Department in Trento. The organization then moved to the kidnapping and assassination of Italian cabinet members and leading businessmen. The organization killed the late Italian prime minister Aldo Moro in 1978. It also kidnapped the retired American army officer James L. Dozier for 42 days in 1981 before he was rescued by Italian police (11).

The members of the organization included Italian thinker Antonio Negri who co-authored the famous book "Empire". Negri was accused of being the mastermind of the Red Brigades. He fled to France where he was given support by the French government. Negri pursued studies at the University of Paris and worked side by side with French philosophers Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida.

Negri returned to Italy when the jail sentence issued him was remitted to 13 years from 30. He handed himself over to the authorities to serve the sentence. He authored his most famous books behind bars.

Extremist movements, both rightist and leftist ones, depend on a dual way of thinking in relation to how they view themselves and how they view their targets and victims. This way can be detailed as follows:

First, view of oneself

The backers of these movements view themselves as an elitist group of enlightened people. Leftists, for example, view themselves as the victims of persecution, not victimizers. They believe that they have no choice but to maintain their struggle. They think they are the force that enlightens the ignorant public. They view themselves as the owners of pure ethics in corrupt surroundings.

Second, view of the enemy  

Extremist movements always look down on, belittle and denigrate their enemies. They view these enemies as killer ghosts who have no humanity whatsoever. To these movements, these enemies are only a bunch of targets, not real humans who have families and children.

Third, nature of struggle

Extremists always view themselves as part of a struggle between good and evil. They believe they are fighting to protect good against evil. This is why these extremists think they are obliged to maintain this fight.

Fourth, view of innocent victims