For the third time in the last year and a half, the whole world is shocked to hear news that France was the target of appalling terrorist attacks. On the first occasion, which took place on 7 January 2015, 12 people were killed after extremists linked to al-Qaeda terrorist organization broke into the newspaper satirical Charlie Hebdo in Paris, and opened fire on the publication's staff.
The second occasion focused a series of attacks carried out by extremists linked to the Islamic State, and also happened in Paris on the night of November 13, 2015. The attacks resulted in the deaths of 137 people (including 7 terrorists), and the largest number victims, 89, was registered in room Bataclan shows, which took place a presentation of the band Eagles of Death Metal.
mage recorded during the series of attacks carried out in November last year
The third time, as you know, happened yesterday when a man of Franco-Tunisian origin drove a truck into a crowd in Nice, southern France. The people were gathered to watch the fireworks in celebration of Bastille Day and, according to the latest updates, 84 lost their lives.
Of the total victims confirmed so far, at least 10 were children - and for the moment, no terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, despite not they had concrete information about what led to yesterday's attack, there are strong suspicions that the author of the massacre was an Islamic extremist.
Terrorism in Europe
In fact, several European countries have been the scene of attacks linked to terrorist organizations linked to religious extremism. In 2004, for example, 191 people died in Madrid in an attack perpetrated by an organization connected to Al-Qaeda - the group that also orchestrated the attack on the London Underground in 2005, which totaled 56 victims.
Attack in Madrid, Spain
More recently, Belgium (May 2014 and March this year, with 39 victims in total) was also attacked by Islamic terrorists, but France certainly seems to have become the epicenter of European attacks - adding more than 240 killed only in the last four years. And why is it that the extremists (apparently) decided to focus their hatred against the French?
Target: France
A lot of people are trying to understand why France has become the target of Islamic extremists - and the issue is very complex and full of setbacks. Some experts point out that the reason is related to the fact that the country is an icon of Western philosophy and have the flags freedom, egalitarianism, democracy and social values - principles that terrorists basically abhor and which they believe are being imposed on Islamic world.
Military triggered after the attack in Nice
Another reason relates to the question, in recent years, the French government has adopted several measures that were not very well received by jihadists. Among them is the ban - in 2010 - the use of veils over the face or garments that covered the entire body in public places in France, so the military actions abroad, especially in Libya and Mali, where French troops conducted a major offensive against the Islamic State out of Syria and Iraq.
Thus, in 2014, the Islamic State released a message in which he encouraged his followers to kill American citizens, Australian, Canadian, European or nonbeliever, including countries that were part of the coalition formed to fight ISIS, and was especially emphatic in threaten the "unclean" French.
Solidarity after the attack on the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo
In the same year, the group also released a video in French focused on Muslims who speak that language to urge them to conduct terrorist actions - and they, unfortunately, answered the call. Incidentally, the French, by the way, was identified in a study conducted by a group of analysts at the Brookings Institution, as one of the factors that also relate to France to attack.
According to this survey, the countries where it is spoken - or has been said - the French became the biggest radicalization outbreaks in the world and, indeed, the greatest concentration of extremists in Europe is in France and Belgium. But to understand why these European countries are producing so many radical Islamists, it is necessary to look at the past.
Ties with Islam
In the late 19th century, France conquered Algeria, and with it, ended up getting a huge amount of Muslim immigrants of this African country. Later, after the First World War, France gained control of Syria and Lebanon - and many French citizens ended up settling there and in northern territories of Africa.
This situation just opening the door to that occurred a strong migration of Muslims to France and, after World War II, many moved to the European country. The vast majority of immigrants took jobs in French factories and settled in poor areas of the suburbs of Paris and other industrial cities.
Demonstrations in protest to terrorist attacks
The problem is that, over time, many of these factories were closing and even unemployed, immigrants were staying. The children and grandchildren of those Muslims face major economic problems and social exclusion today, and have spoken (violently) on numerous occasions.
To make matters worse, unlike other European colonial powers, France never fully severed ties with the countries it occupied over many wars, and even today interferes militarily and economically in these countries to defend their interests. For groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS take advantage of the discontent of the descendants of immigrants living in Europe to plant the seed of extremism and foster hatred.
Not that all these factors justify such violence and death of innocent - on both sides! - Or help us to understand actions simply have no explanation.