The world shuddered by the violence in France this week.
When everyone was looking forward to the SCO summit under the chairpersonship of India, vicious violence in France shook the world, and raised multiple questions. France is burning and the associated reasons need to be thoroughly analysed at global level so that it does not spread in the other nations of Europe, and beyond. On the other hand, the head of Wagner group, Prigozhin has returned to Russia. If the news is true, it will increase the tensions for Putin.
France Grapples with Rising Violence and Riots Amidst Religious and Political Tensions
What is happening in France is the tip of the iceberg. The killing of 17-year-old Algerian-French teenager, Nahel, recently caused mass upset in France, leading to uncontrollable riots. He was killed by the police after driving into the wrong lane and refusing to stop for police check as claimed by the French officials. Many associated this incident with racism. Indeed, this killing could have been avoided but what happened afterwards is actually a concoction of religious politics, ambitions of the migrants, state policies and more. Those who are considering the reason behind the violence in France as racism, must look back and recall the Charlie Hebdo attacks and associated jihadist violence. It is not only about France, London was also burnt in the fire of violence a few years ago. Despite all the efforts and exercises of the government, the fire of riots in France does not seem to stop. French President Emmanuel Macron appears to be struggling to deal with the situation. He had to leave the European Union summit midway and come to Paris. Behind the increasing violence and riots in Europe including France, propaganda and maliciousness can be quoted as the major reasons. There is a need to go to the bottom of these matters from where the violence is arising. After Charlie Hebdo, fundamentalism can be clearly expanding its feet in France. France is not the only victim of the growing frenzy in the name of fundamentalism. All the countries of Europe are going through this situation. Law and order in the UK, Sweden and Germany is being challenged time and again. On the other hand, the political tussle in these countries has made the situation more difficult. Islam is the second most practiced religion in France after Catholic Christianity. France has the largest number of Muslims in the Western world due to migration mainly from North African and West Asian countries. The Muslim population accounts for almost 8.8 percent of the total population as per the Pew Research report, 2017.
There are research reports that suggest how increasing number of Muslim populations starts asserting fundamentalism and create challenges for the majoritarian government. That’s why, what is happening in France needs to be thoroughly analysed and both the government and people need to find the comprehensive solutions through norms and policies.
India’s SCO Summit: Delhi Declaration Emphasizes Security, Development, and Counterterrorism
Apt norms and policies can indeed resolve many if not all the issues. That’s what the international platforms seem to be doing. In the recent SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) summit, India presented Delhi Declaration including significant points ranging from sustainable development to the fight against global terror to promoting entrepreneurship, youth empowerment, digital inclusion, traditional medicines and more for SCO. This was signed by the member nations. The theme of India’s chairpersonship of SCO is ‘Towards a SECURE (Security, Economic Development, Connectivity, Unity, Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity and Environment Protection) SCO’, which is derived from the acronym coined by the Indian PM at SCO Summit held in 2018. While addressing the summit, Indian PM explicitly spoke about strengthening collaboration to fight the war against global terrorism. In presence of China and Pakistan as the member nations of SCO, Indian PM also insisted the nations must respect territorial integrity. During this 23rd Summit, Iran officially joined the SCO increasing the strength and span of SCO. How it will decode for Russia-Ukraine war remains a question.
Russia’s Internal Crisis Deepens: Prigozhin Returns, Putin’s Reaction Awaited
Russia is not getting a relief from the internal crisis occurred recently. Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has returned to Russia, as per the statements of Belarusian president. As per Lukashenko’s statements, the deal between Putin and Prigozhin seems to be broken as per which Prigozhin stopped the ‘march for justice’ by thousands of his soldiers on Moscow in exchange for safe passage to Belarus. Criminal charges against Prigozhin were also dropped by the Russian government as a part of the agreement. But Lukashenko has now stated that the deal is broken and Prigozhin is back to Russia, although no one knows about his whereabouts. Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov has come up with his statement that they have no idea about these developments, and he also claimed that the deal ‘remains relevant’. How will Putin react? (He never reacts, he responses though!) and what will Prigozhin do remain the two very important questions. Russia-Ukraine war also remains another unanswered question as in why the war is not stopping.
All the nations and the leaders keep vouching by the significant objective of global peace and security. Why peace becomes the first victim of any incident, or for that matter any ambition, and why the so-called flagbearers of peace promote violence is an eternal unanswered question. We can only hope that peace prevails in the world.
The author is Professor, School of International Studies, JNU.