Europe and self-criticism

My Maria Katsounaki

Let?s assume that all those voices supporting the theory that this is the beginning of similar events across Europe are correct. Let?s assume that nihilism, an element shared by both Islamism and Nazism, is gaining ground against a dangerously shrinking European Enlightenment.

Let?s assume that violence, as opposed to the rule of law, is a concept embraced by every form of totalitarianism currently enlisting supporters in the heart of the Europe of culture. How are countries and societies supposed to shield themselves against this phenomenon which is seen as one of the most serious of the 21st century? And another thing: How are events such as those that have unfolded in France over the last few days changing us?

These are crucial questions with some easy answers: minimal protection against large-scale change. The heavily armed police officers and soldiers we have been watching on our screens over the last few days are not the only solution. The irrationality of the other side is getting organized and going on the attack, with the element of surprise defining every extreme obsessive or insane variable.

The nature of the climate currently developing across the world numbs political thinking, does not favor opinion exchange, intensifies fear and destroys the social fabric by deepening ideological differences and reinforcing cultural divergence.

Behind each operation set in motion in order to arrest the perpetrators of a terrorist attack lies another, equally fierce and necessary war: that of cool-headed voices which avoid blind and dangerous generalizations regarding ?bad Islam? against all those who take advantage of such events as a means of attracting more voters and gaining more power by simply generating a...