Europe's 'Muslim' hoods
washtimes ^ | April 21, 2006 | Lorenzo Vidino
In November, as hoodlums set ablaze the poorest suburbs of Paris and other French cities, government officials and commentators argued over the nature of the riots.
The fact that most of the rioters were Muslims led many to see the events as part of a jihad waged by European Islamists against their own continent, lumping them with the bombings in Madrid and London or the assassination of Theo van Gogh. Others observed that most of the rioters — looking like anything but Islamists — were merely voicing their complaints over unemployment and discrimination, and that therefore the events were caused by socioeconomic factors only, similar to more recent violent protests around French universities. So, was the wave of anti-establishment violence purely criminal or was it part of a religiously motivated confrontation?
The answer is neither and both. While segregation and economic deprivation did play a key role in inflaming the rioters, the fact that the cry of "Allahu akbar" accompanied the nightly throw of Molotov cocktails is symbolic. Europe today is witnessing the growth of a disturbing new subculture that mixes violent urban behaviors, nihilism and Islamic fundamentalism. Many young, often European-born, Muslims feel a disturbingly intense sense of detachment from, if not sheer hatred for, their host societies and embrace various antagonistic messages. While some turn to Salafism, others adopt an indefinite blend of countercultures, ranging from hip-hop to Islamic fundamentalism.
As a French official recently told me, many youngsters from the Muslim-majority ghettoes of France "dress like rappers, smoke marijuana and drink alcohol, yet they watch jihadi videos and have pictures of [Osama] bin Laden on the display of their expensive cell phones." Any individual that attacks mainstream society becomes a hero, be it Abu Musab Zarqawi or the late American rapper Tupac Shakur.
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