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No such thing as a 'European jihadist'

by Eric Hesen*

31-01-2007

Europe's so-called jihadists have very little in common. That, at least, is the main conclusion reached by Dutch terrorism expert Edwin Bakker of the Clingendael Institute for International Relations in The Hague. For his research work - entitled  'Jihadi Terrorists in Europe' - Mr Bakker studied the backgrounds and motives of almost 250 Muslims who have been either convicted on terrorist charges or accused of involvement in terrorism. 
 
Although the people concerned may be completely different to one another, Edwin Bakker (pictured) says one can see some similarities between the different terrorist groups in Europe. In most cases, for example, the Muslim terrorists that make up a group almost all come from the country in which that group is based. In other words, as Mr Bakker puts it himself, they are 'home grown':

"If you look at their background, then you see they are all of North African or Pakistani descent […] but when you look at where they grew up, then you see that the vast majority were born and brought up here and have already lived in Europe for a long time. Of the 244 terrorists I studied, a mere eight came from outside Europe to carry out attacks. The people who carry out attacks thought them up here and want to execute them here, too."Al-Qaeda
Edwin Bakker says there's very little contact between terrorist cells in different European countries. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks in the United States of 11 September 2001, terrorist groups in Europe appeared mainly to have links with, or get their instructions from, al-Qaeda. Now, Mr Bakker says, that's a thing of the past.

In the Netherlands, for example, the group codenamed Hofstad group by the Dutch authorities  - and which included Mohammed Bouyeri, the convicted murderer of Theo van Gogh - actually came into being in isolation. The Dutch AIVD intelligence and security service has in the past labelled such terrorists as 'self igniters' (zelfontbranders), but it's difficult to predict with real accuracy just what kind of person is susceptible to this process of radicalisation. Edwin Bakker explains: 

"You come across Muslim terrorists as young as 16 as well as those in their late 50s, some with low and others with high levels of education. There isn't one single type of terrorist, and therefore it's really difficult to do anything to combat them. What you really need to do is take specific measures to get a true picture of these people - infiltration, for example."
 
Aims
Then there's the circumstance that the aim of the terrorists' activities has actually changed in recent years. Just after 9/11, many jihadists still had it in mind to try and establish some kind of Islamic state in Europe. Now, the aims appear to be determined on a more personal basis. Edwin Bakker explains: "With more recent incidents and networks, one has to wonder whether the aims are indeed still political. It seems more like there's a search for identity involved. Anger also plays a significant role in this - anger at what's being done to Muslims in the world, anger at the position and insulting of Muslims in Europe. Anger is always an important factor behind violence - and that appears to be even more the case with this group."
 
The Hofstad group
In this respect the Hofstad group in the Netherlands fits in perfectly with all the other European terrorist networks. This group, too, didn't appear to have any clearly formulated ultimate objectives. However, Edwin Bakker's research shows that the Hofstad group did set a trend in another respect, for its members were younger than, for example, the terrorists involved in the 11 September attacks in the US or in the attacks in Madrid.

Mr Bakker says the members of terrorist groups in other European countries are also becoming increasingly younger: "In Denmark, for example, youths of 16-17 have been arrested. Radicalisation is often connected with the search for an identity, and that search is beginning ever earlier."
* RNW Internet translation (tpf)

Tags: 9/11, anger, Bakker, Bouyeri, Clingendael, Edwin, Hofstad, identitiy, Islamic, jihad, jihadi, jihadists, Madrid bombings, Muslims, radicalisation, state, terror, terrorism

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