Europeans and Americans were shocked when they learned that the perpetrator of the Norway massacre, Anders Breivik, was not Muslim. Indeed, the media and the official discourse have consecrated the notion in the minds of Westerners, over the past two decades, that the Muslim other was the terrorist, and that Christian fundamentalist or Nationalist Fascist movements were merely groups of marginal extremists posing no danger to society or to secular governments. On the background of being ignored in this manner, many extremist movements have grown, with some of them reaching parliaments and becoming part of the democratic institutions that plan domestic and foreign policy. The presence of those extremist Right-wing movements is not restricted to one European country and not another. In Germany, Neo-Nazis have turned the grave of Hitler's right-hand man Rudolf Hess into a shrine, forcing the authorities to cremate his remains and scatter his ashes at sea. And those Neo-Nazis have a long history of racism. In Denmark, the extremist Danish People's Party (DF – Dansk Folkeparti) was able to breach the Right-wing centrists and impose a strict anti-immigrant policy. In Britain, the English Defence League (EDL) represents a force of pressure on the government to change its policies towards immigrants, especially Muslim immigrants. Members of the EDL are active in various cities, raising slogans of hatred and attacking Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Indian Muslims, or any foreigner who might try to come close to their neighborhoods or to live in them, especially in East London, where many Asian communities live. In France, Marine, Jean-Marie Le Pen's daughter, has inherited everything from her father, his racism, hatred and extremism, especially against Algerians and people from the Arab Maghreb. Her political party, the National Front (FN – Front National), has become the third political force in France. Extremist, racist Right-wing political parties are spread all across Europe. They all feed on the old Colonial policies that still exist today, implemented by governments that are democratic at home, and extremist and racist abroad. Such governments claim to be spreading humanitarian values while they kill and blackmail those who are supposed to be learning those values. There are many examples of this, among them what happened and continues to happen in Iraq, Palestine and Libya. What is dangerous about this is that the media feeds this hostile trend and builds up a public opinion that provides cover for wars that have not stopped since the Middle Ages, and an environment that embraces all forms of racism. Indeed, racism represents a fundamental part of the history of the West, a part which some Westerners denounce, while others boast of it. Breivik wrote: “I prayed for the first time in a very long time today. I explained to God that unless he wanted the Marxist-Islamic alliance and the certain Islamic takeover of Europe to completely annihilate European Christendom within the next hundred years he must ensure that the warriors fighting for the preservation of European Christendom prevail”. Breivik's words are part of a comprehensive ideology that has been adopted by racist movements. This ideology represents an important part of the West's history which those movements are trying to get inspiration from in order to practice their racism and their terrorism. Did we say terrorism? Yes we did, but the press and the media was very hesitant and did not label Breivik as a terrorist, as the term is restricted to Muslims. He, on the other hand, is a fanatic or an extremist, and some media outlets saw no reason behind his crime except for the fact that he learned from the Al-Qaeda organization. Others asserted that he was mentally deranged and should not be tried for his crime. This is also the argument held by his lawyer. Europe is exposed to all kinds of terrorism, if its democracies do not pay heed to extremist fundamentalist organizations, and if the latter continue to be viewed as merely marginal movements with limited influence.
