A COMMON ENEMY DOES NOT MEAN COMMON VALUES
Look at France.
Fires. Vandalism. Clashes. Attacks on public buildings. It started as a protest about students and conditions in schools, and now there is serious unrest in several parts of the country.
Yes, the problems in the education system need to be taken seriously. But a teacher shortage does not explain why people set buildings on fire, trash shops, steal and attack other people. It just doesn't.
We have to talk about the forces that use the frustration. Because honestly, I think this goes much deeper than one protest.
I see a merging of frustrations, activist circles and ideologies that has been building for decades. That's why I don't think France stands alone.
These movements don't have to emerge in other countries first. They are already there.
The same activist circles exist across large parts of the West. Protest activity has grown globally over several years, and the pro-Palestine demonstrations have shown how big an international mobilization can get.
The UK has its own problems with activism, demonstrations and clashes too. The countries are different, but I see the same dynamic. Movements finding each other in their opposition to the existing social order.
They are not one organization. But they can absolutely link their struggles, inspire each other and rally around common enemies.
What triggers the next escalation, I don't know. An international conflict. A political decision. A confrontation with the police.
But the spark doesn't explain why it burns.
My assessment is that decades of Marxist and socialist-inspired system critique have helped undermine trust in Western institutions and cultural foundations. Especially when people learn to see their own society first and foremost as a system of oppression.
And then we have a failed immigration and integration policy. The importance of shared values was underestimated, and there was far too much reluctance to demand language, participation and respect for the rules of democracy. Parallel societies and Islamist circles were allowed to challenge the very freedoms our society is built on.
The responsibility lies with the politicians who made that policy, and with those who actively work against integration. But it hits all of us. Including the immigrants who cherish freedom and want to be part of the community.
Social critique is necessary. But there is a difference between wanting to improve a society and wanting to tear down its foundation.
When history, the nation, Christianity, the family and authority are repeatedly portrayed as suspicious power structures, it becomes hard to explain what is worth preserving.
And what do they want to build instead? You rarely get an answer. Because there is no place in the world where Western people have more freedom than here. That doesn't mean everything is perfect. But it means that if you tear this down, you have nowhere else to go.
It is in that vacuum that ideologies find each other.
They don't have to agree on the future. They just have to agree on being against the present.
We see parts of the pro-Palestine movement, climate activism, queer activism, antifa and the far left link their struggles. The causes are different, but in some of these circles they are read through the same core narrative:
The oppressed versus the oppressor.
That framework can absolutely describe real injustice. But when it becomes the answer to everything, you stop thinking for yourself. Then there are just fixed roles.
The West is the oppressor. Its opponents are the oppressed. And what they do themselves, and what they want themselves, fades into the background because they stand on the "right" side.
Antifa is a good example. The name means anti-fascist, and who isn't against fascism? But in practice, parts of the movement use violence and intimidation against people they disagree with, and label them fascists to justify it. Once your opponent is a fascist, anything goes.
That is where it gets dangerous. A queer activist or a left-wing activist may see an Islamist movement as an ally against Western imperialism. But an Islamist regime can be a direct threat to their freedom, their rights and their safety.
That contradiction doesn't disappear because you stand side by side, each with your own sign.
That is how you end up a useful idiot. You help authoritarian forces forward because you are more occupied with their enemy than with their goal.
So we have to be sharp about who wants what, and make demands of those who call themselves our allies. Will they defend our freedom when we disagree with them? Accept an election loss? Protect the rights of women and gay people? Defend the right to believe, doubt, criticize religion and leave it?
The answers show whether you share values or just an enemy.
Calm on the streets until the next time is not enough. We have to solve the real problems and defend the foundation our freedom rests on. Violence must have consequences. Authoritarian movements must be met with criticism. And our freedoms must be defended, even when those who attack them call themselves freedom fighters.
This is the sickness of our time. And it is why I don't see what is happening around us as a problem in each individual country. Different flags, same fight.
It is something we have to unite around fighting, no matter what nationality we have.
That is also why I started writing in English and not only in my mother tongue. I saw the bigger picture early. This will not be solved separately. It will be solved as ONE UNITED TRIBE.
A common enemy does not make us allies.
Stand up, please.❤️🔥