Europe

Belgium: prevent radicalization

Since the attacks of Paris, Belgium is considered a stronghold of terrorists decried. Some Belgian Sädte try to prevent the worst. Muslim youth should not radikalisert.

Young fighters for the “IS” from Belgium (file picture)

One day after his 18. Birthday in June 2013 traveled to the young man from Antwerp secretly to Syria. There he joined the Terrormiliz of the “Islamic state”. His mother, Fatima, don’t know if her son is still alive. “Every Morning I Wake up and say to myself, my son might be dead. Or is he still alive? Every day I cry. Every day,” says Fatima, in tears.

Fatima: For the camera wants you to smile

“My life is like a horror movie.” The last short message of your oldest son has Fatima two months ago from Syria. “I did not notice it, that he is radical Muslims they are connected to. Nothing!”, says Fatima of the German wave. Only a few days after the Disappearance of her son has Fatima a letter found in the the journey in the alleged Holy war to Syria was announced. “Then I informed the family that my son is after Syria is gone. The Moment was like a funeral for me. I said to myself, he is dead. This is really hard. He goes into the war. I’ll never see him again.”

Excerpt from a Belgian town: 28 Vilvoorder attracted to the “IS” to Syria

Sad record in Vilvoorde

The radicalized young people, according to Syria go, burdening their families and their whole environment is difficult, says the social worker Moad el Boudaati from Vilvoorde, a small town near Brussels. In Vilvoorde have 28 young men joined the “Islamic state” connected. This keeps the place a dismal record not only in Belgium but in the whole of Europe: here are, compared with the number of Muslim residents, most young people radicalized after Syria leave Leningrad. In 2014, the city has then pulled the emergency brake and a project against radicalisation of Muslim youth was launched. Since then, the number of Emigration to Syria has dropped to Zero.

El Boudaati: His friend died in Syria

Social worker Moad el Boudaati explained that it is now to the young people attend to, try to you work and meaningful leisure activities to convey. Besides, going with the young people about the true contents of the Koran are spoken. The leave no longer be the Salafists. “The mosque community has given you has made an error. In the past, you don’t have to young people looked after. Now they are offering Religionskurse. If one admits fault, there is something you can change,” said Moad el Boudaati of the German wave. His best friend is a few years ago from Syria went and there have been killed. Every young Muslim in Vilvoorde know someone, whose families have someone in the war. There are now a tight-knit network for early warning, even the teachers in primary schools.

“This is like a cult”

Somers: You must be close to the people ran

Only if you were very close to the people work, you have a Chance of success, also believes the mayor of Mechelen, a medieval small town between Brussels and Antwerp. Bart Somers has already very early, earlier than Vilvoorde, Antwerp and Brussels, on prevention. “We’ve been lucky,” he says in an interview with the German wave. From Mechelen is until today not a single young Muslim in Syria or in Iraq have gone to radical terrorist groups to join. “You must be in a very early stage of the people find the radical, extreme ideas inclined,” explains mayor Somers his concept. “Then you have people from the surrounding area to find where these people confidence and with which you’re talking about. An Isolation of the people must be prevented. This works similar to a cult, Yes, the tried, the victim to isolate, from your family to foreclose. We want to help restore a connection to the society.”

The police of Mechelen is closely involved in the preventive strategy involved. “Neighbourhood police officers”, the local people to assess problems at an early stage, Yves Bogaerts, the chief of police of Mechelen. At-risk youth every week of the police visits or interviews to the police station asked. “What we lack are policemen from the Muslim population”, says Yves Bogaerts. Therefore, he tries carefully, police officers with an immigrant background in recruiting. In the prevention of radicalization would include not only Islamists, but also to the radicalisation of young people by Neo-Nazis, says police chief Bogaerts.

Opgelegt! Beware! In the town hall of Mechelen, one pays attention to the first signs of radicalisation

Mechelen is fighting against ideologues

You have to make clear why people who are born in Belgium, had been and in the schools democratically educated were still extreme, totalitarian ideology to turn to, believe Mechelens mayor Bart Somers. The fascism of the 1930s and the Islamism or Salafism today could do quite compare. “We need to understand that this is not a fight against Religion, but against an ideology. Danger lurks constantly around every corner. It is a political struggle between humanity and democracy on the one hand and totalitarianism on the other side. We need to get the heads and hearts of our young people to fight.” The city of Mechelen is now a multicultural and multireligious city. The one must simply accept, believe, the long-standing mayor. The mosque-communities have the hazards identified and would well cooperate. “We maintain an open and trusting relationship. The mosques in my city are working very hard, a radicalisation to prevent. Even more: I’m trying, the people not only as Muslims, but as citizens of my city to see.”

“I was very angry”

In other Belgian cities is the avoidance of Radikalsierung not so successful. Almost 500 Belgians are as a “foreign fighter” in Syria. Many also return back to Belgium back. “This is of course a danger,” says the chief of police of Mechelen, Yves Bogaerts. Many gathered then in larger cities such as Brussels and Antwerp. Municipalities such as Molenbeek in Brussels would have the risk will only be detected late, and would now in the fight against terrorists to lag behind. “In Brussels,” said Bogaerts, “it is still easy to go into hiding.”

Fatima, the mother of one of the “foreign fighters” involved two and a half years after the departure of their son to Syria, in programs against radicalization. It tells simply of their history and the history of their family. “This is not easy for me,” she says of the German wave. Although daily life the oldest of three children are afraid, they want to show that your son acted improperly. She was also angry at the now 20-year-old man. In a telephone conversation shortly after his departure, she has him held, what he has done. She was almost dead. “And he answered, he got it done for me. Because if he died, we would be in heaven. I told him, I’ll bring you personally to the hell. In Islam, you have your parents make. You make me very sad.”