The immediate assumption made by some following the murders in Munich was that the killer, Ali Somboly, was typical of the refugees coming from Syria. He was a terrorist, just like all refugees are terrorists, and it serves Angela Merkel right for showing a bit of humanity by letting them in. Anyone with a brown skin escaping islamic fascism was a threat to our way of life. We don’t know the full story about Somboly just yet but would it be possible to reserve judgement until we do and, crucially, to understand that the vast majority of refugees are just that?
The reaction was from the new world of Nigel Farage who blames refugees for all the world’s ills, a narrow Little England mentality of “I’m not racist, but…” (which should be followed by “but I am at least a little bit.”) It’s code for “all muslims are terrorists” too, which is far from the truth. Whilst I have issues with islam, as I do with all religions in varying degrees, it is truly idiotic to tar them all with the same brush. To blame all muslims for islamic fascism is like blaming all catholics for perverted priests going round buggering small boys.
How about another possibility? That Somboly was a crazed loner who had access to an instrument of mass murder and promptly used it to devastating effect? You do not have to be of any particular religion to do that, though it can help. That this gunman was of Iranian heritage hardly fits in with the usual islamist killings. This will probably take some working out.
Some terrorists will slip through the net whilst large numbers of displaced people are on the move, but wouldn’t they have slipped through anyway? If an islamist wants to murder people in the west, do you really think he wait until the next group of desperate refugees get on the move? Don’t be silly. They will do it anyway. If the Daily Mail, Nigel Farage or anyone else tells you refugees are the cause of terrorism, then be very clear that they are lying to you. If you are being forced to leave your home, to leave all your worldly possessions behind; all for fear of your life, attacking innocent people with a Kalashnikov will not be high in your priorities. In all probability, it will not be in them at all.
Merkel and the German people did not “deserve” what happened yesterday, they did not “get what was coming to them.” In uncertain times, the extreme right flourishes and in these uncertain times the extreme right, of hard right newspapers and politicians, poses a far bigger threat than the small minority of murderous fanatics.
Refugees are victims of the same people those who terrorise the west. It’s an awkward fact but a fact nonetheless.
