Bob for Jeff—Saturday
Our
mutual buddy, Leighton Gage, is my link to Belgian-Flemish author Bob Van
Laerhoven, and as you’ll see from his biography, Bob is a writer of
extraordinary breadth and experience … all of which comes to bear in this
deeply personal, immediate, and penetrating essay brought on by the Brussels
terrorist attacks.
Bob debuted in 1977 as a
short story writer, and in 1985 as a literary novelist. More than 30 novels followed, some of them cross over between
literature and the suspense novel.
He explored trouble-spots
across the globe from 1990 to 2003: Somalia, Liberia, Sudan, Gaza, Iran,
Iraq, Myanmar, Mozambique, Lebanon, Burundi…to name but a few. During the
Bosnian war, he was in besieged Sarajevo, and in 1995 he sneaked into Tuzla
when the refugees arrived from the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica. His
conversations with them resulted in the book Srebrenica,Testimony
to a Mass Murder.
De wraak van Baudelaire won him the Hercule Poirot Prize for best suspense
novel of the year in Belgium. La
Vengeance de Baudelaire was published in France
and in Canada, followed by Baudelaire's Revenge in the US, and Le
Mensonge d'Alejandro in
France. Baudelaire's Revenge won the USA Best Book Award 2014 in the “mystery/suspense”
category.
Welcome, Bob.
Never before was the
fissure between my past and the present more clear and harrowing than on
Tuesday, March 22nd.
I was busy in our meadows with our three horses,
for me the most precious creatures on this Earth. Like every day, I drank in
their aura of tranquil nobility and goodwill, and felt blessed, when my wife
called me with urgency to the house.
Five minutes later, I was staring at the TV,
showing, in a confused abundance of images, that Brussels, 45 kilometers from
where I live, had been attacked by Jihadist Terrorists. Suicide-bombers in
Brussels Airport and, quickly afterwards, in the metro of Maelbeek, squarely in
the middle of the “European quarter” of Brussels, had detonated three bombs.
Zapping between news stations, I heard the
number of casualties rise quickly: 13 dead – 23 wounded….No, wait, more
casualties…Oh no, a new number is coming in… (When I write this, the macabre
count is 32 dead, 55 people fighting for their life in intensive care, and
hundreds of wounded).
Looking at images of the victims who were
dragged from the entrance-hall of the airport and from the tube tunnel, gaping
at the formidable debris the powerful bombs, loaded with nails to cause ghastly
wounds, had created, I couldn’t help but thinking that this was a dreadful
Chronicle of Suicide Attacks Foretold.
***
In the margin of the euphoria in the world press
when Salah Abdeslam, one of the instigators of the terror attacks in Paris in
November 2015, was captured in Brussels, I had read disturbing analyzes of the complex
Jihadist network linking Brussels with Paris. Experts concluded that Brussels
was no longer only the “diplomatic capital of the world,” but also the capital
of Jihadist activity in Europe. The name Molenbeek, one of the municipalities
of Brussels, went around the world as a hotbed for Islam fanatics. It became quickly known that Belgium had,
relatively speaking, the highest number of Syria warriors in Europe. Suddenly,
frantic articles were published about some districts of our capital in which,
during the last twenty to thirty years, a way of life has evolved that has
nothing in common with ours, that doesn’t want to integrate, that scorns and
belittles us, and likes to see us destroyed.
To cope with this bewildering situation, my
country employs in its State Security Department just about 600 civil servants.
The budgets of the intelligence services are woefully small, and the Belgian anti-terror
agency OCAD can’t even process all intelligence it receives through lack of
capacity.
In short, all the caricatures of Belgium as an
absurd hotchpotch of surrealistic political structures, as a beehive of
Walloons, Flemings and Bruxellois who
can barely tolerate each other, and prefer to guzzle chocolate and beer instead
of countering Muslim terror, seemed to become true.
No wonder, experts blared, that Belgium had been
so ill prepared.
It was a miracle, they trumpeted, that Brussels
hadn’t been attacked sooner.
***
Gaping at the TV-screen, I reminisced about a
period in my life in the nineties, in which I had witnessed from close-by the
seeds of a religious-political extremism that would become more virulent with
time.
In 1992, I interviewed a few mid-to-high-ranking
executives of the Palestinian Islamic Organization Hamas (which means fire and fanatic)
during the first Intifada in Gaza. Although Hamas’ violence at that time was mostly
directed against Israel and at Palestinians who were suspected to be
collaborators, it was made clear to me that the ultimate goal of the
organization was world dominance for Islam. “Like any good Muslim aspires,” one
of them said.
In Nabatiye,
a small border town of Lebanon, where the Lebanese-Iranian Islamic militia Hezbollah
(Party of God) and the Israeli army exchanged punctually each night mortar-fire,
Hezbollah-members stressed in 1993 that they viewed not only the US but the
entire West as “The Great Satan,” who had to be destroyed “by all means
available.” It was only a matter of time before the whole world would bow for
Allah, His Name Be Praised. Strange, I was representing “The Great Satan,” but
my presence was tolerated because, in their eyes, by writing about them, I
helped to spread their holy message. “Many Muslims in Europe will read your
words,” one of them said with a knowing smile. (I admit that I’d exaggerated
the influence of Holland and Belgium in Europe a bit, in order to be accepted
for the interviews.)
In those days, suicide attacks in Europe itself were
not in the forefront of Islam extremist activity. In 1995, we had a series of
bomb attacks in France by the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria, but that was
about it. In that period, the US had much more to endure: the bombing of the
World Trade Center, shootings at the CIA headquarters in Langley, and several
attacks on US embassies throughout the world.
Nevertheless, the hatred for Europe, perceived
as an ally to Israel, was there. I asked
a particular fiery member of Hezbollah, who had refused to shake my hand during
a “press-gathering” as they called it – I was the only “press” in the room –
why they hated the West so much. The standard answer usually was a flared
statement about Western exploitation of Eastern treasures - be it gold, spices, and at
long last ‘black gold’ – beginning with the Crusades, followed by the queen of
all insults - the establishment of the Israeli State - and at long last Western
colonization. Normally, there was further dwelling on the “crimes against
humanity” the US had committed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, a generalized
statement condemning the contemptuous treatment of Muslim immigrant workers in
Europe.
This time, the answer was not a jumbled account
of history, but one sentence: “It’s Allah’s Will that those who don’t follow
Him must be annihilated by His faithful worshippers.” I tried to reply that, in
my view, this could not be the standpoint of a god, but the result of the worst
aspects of human nature, but I was cut short.
No discussion possible.
***
The question is everywhere. Not only the media
spread it, but it is written on our suspicious faces, in the angry and
frightened disbelief in our eyes. Why do
they hate us so much? Precisely what makes those mostly young people decide
to sacrifice themselves to kill innocent citizens? Are they brainwashed,
drugged, insane?
It turns out that these clichés are practically never
true. The way to becoming an extremist
willing to sacrifice his life in “holy war,” is complex and has individual and
social roots that are not fully comprehensible for our outlook on life.
A striking example is that we talk about suicide
bombers, while, during my travels, I noticed that Muslims generally view them
as martyrs who stood up in a heroic
and honorable way to “defend the True Faith.”
In Gaza, I was brought to a Palestinian family
of a young martyr who had died recently. The father sat cross-legged in front
of me with tears in his eyes, yet at the same time literally beaming. He was so proud of his son and
the status he as his father was given by the community. The family received
financial support, better housing, and other signs of kindness and admiration.
There are terrorists who have been ordinary criminals
and thugs before converting to the outer limits of their faith, but more frequently,
they are middle-class young people whom friends, relatives, and teachers saw as
normal young guys, often friendly and helpful.
What changed them? In the first place there is
the fervor to “defend” Islam which they see as threatened and abased, mingled
with anger over a perceived low and unjust social status, and, when they live
in the West, feelings of frustration about the political order they live in.
Then follows a stage in which religious motives and political goals become
intertwined. Such individuals feel treated in a demeaning manner and when they
form a group that feeling is strengthened. In the nineties, I saw Muslim
organizations radicalize in countries as Somalia and Sudan, Nigeria, etc. (BTW,
Africa harbors more Muslims than The Middle East and South East Asia.) Most African Muslims I met, were very proud
of their religion. Islam gave them identity.
Everywhere, they saw denigration towards Islam, plots to destroy their faith,
schemes to weaken them. In Nigeria there was for instance an imam who preached that the recently
introduced polio vaccines were a scheme of the West to sterilize Muslims.
Nuances put aside for a moment, I think I can
say that there was a common streak in many Muslims I talked to, be it
radicalized or moderate: a slight to deep-rooted suspicion of non-believers, a
feeling – mild or outspoken – of moral superiority, and outrage against a vague
concept of the suppression of the West.
Of which Brussels is an important symbol.
***
So, from now on, the newspapers headline, we
“will have to live with the threat.” That may be true, but let’s not forget
that men and women who were born in the seventies in Iraq and Afghanistan have
grown up in constant war-conditions, and, on top of that, in far worse daily
living conditions. If they can cope, why shouldn’t we?
However, this means that we have to learn quickly.
Will Belgium be able to do that?
Not if we continue like we did in the past.
Horrifying mistakes and sloppiness were brought into daylight in the aftermath
of the attacks.
In a confounding series of statements from
Turkish, Dutch, and Belgian politicians, it became clear that Ibrahim El
Bakraoui, who blew himself up in Brussels Airport, had been arrested in Turkey
in June last year, and was deported to Holland (!) before being passed back
over to Belgium. During that strange and cumbersome procedure, with a cat-fight
between Holland and Belgium as a result, the warning that Bakraoui had been a
Syria-fighter and was radicalized, was, well, eh, lost.
International press headlines were clear: “A
Tragedy Of Errors,” “Blunders by Belgium let Bomber slip through the net”…
Further humiliation was on its way. A “March
against Fear” in Brussels, planned for Easter, was cancelled by the organizers when
the authorities warned that they needed all available police forces for the
investigation of the attacks. But on Sunday the 26th, a horde of extreme-right
hooligans stormed into Brussels, disrupted the peaceful mourning rituals on the
Place de la Bourse, sang fascistic
songs, brought out Nazi salutes, hassled passers-by, and made no-holds-barred amuck
when the riot-police charged.
All this in front of press cameras from over the
world.
The day after, the Brussels major Yvan Mayeur, a
francophone, declared that, “Flanders had come to foul my town.” The French minister of Finance released a
statement in which he said, “to deplore the laxity of ‘certain political
leaders.’” Everyone knew whom he meant with those “certain political leaders.”
According to the British philosopher John Gray
in The New Statesman, Belgium
presented itself during this crisis as “a State in degeneration, divided,
paralyzed, a den for Jihadists and a planning center for further bombings.”
Ouch. Poor Belgium.
And wretched European Union. In a moment wherein the EU-members should
stick together and form a resolute front against terror, it becomes clear that
the Union is an institution that claims many of the prerogatives of a
“super-State,” but can’t carry out its most important raison d’être: the protection of its citizens.
***
Two days afterwards, I read Hanan al-Shaykh’s
excellent novel Only in London. What
a delicate, elegant, often funny, and compassionate analysis of Muslim outlook
on life versus the Western way of thinking. The novel is open-hearted, also in
sexual mores, proving what a compassionate and tolerant religion Islam can be.
Hanan al-Shaykh has a keen eye for what binds us together, in spite of all our
differences.
What a striking, even baffling, difference with
the barbarian, power-hungry, and apocalyptic view on the world of Islam
extremists.
***
Three days afterwards. This morning, I came to our
meadow. Bruja, the alpha mare of our
herd, came up to me, and inspected me closely.
Then, she did what she never has done before.
She laid her head on top of my skull.
We stood for minutes like that, motionless.
I sensed this majestic soul thinking: “I mourn
for the craziness of human nature.”
Thanks,
Bob.
—Jeff
