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THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
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term terrorist does not always define a specific
player, whose elimination it is possible to plan
and execute, but a way of acting that is elusive
by definition and, though it may pain us to ad-
mit it openly, impossible to eradicate in the me-
dium term.
Alongside the distorted use of the term, and
since the appearance of the “clash of civilisa-
tions” model promoted by Samuel P. Huntington
in 1993, a powerful line of argument has also
sprung up, pointing to Islam as the new enemy
to be defeated. With the aim of reinforcing the
most negative aspects of what had already been
dubbed “the green threat” (green being the
colour of Islam), nor did the promoters of the
idea have any qualms about manipulating the
concepts. A self-interested view has been built
up that lumps together Islamism –the mark of
identity of all Muslim believers–, radical or re-
formist political Islamism –which adds a political
component to define the groups, such as the
Muslim Brotherhood, which mean to win power
imposing Islamic law in all aspects of domestic
life– and jihadi terrorism, which is the term used
to describe the individuals or groups –such as
Al-Qaeda– that choose terrorist violence to
achieve their goals, trying to justify their acts
with a twisted view of jihad. And all too often
we also find that, disregarding the diverse real-
ity and erring once again, the use of the term
“Islamic terrorism” has caught on. It is as inap-
propriate as it was to use “Basque terrorism”
when referring to ETA. Obviously, the Basques
are not terrorists and nor are the vast majority
of the some 1.6 billion Muslims on the planet.
None of that means that jihadi terrorism is an
imaginary or inconsiderable threat. Unfortunately,
it is only too real and as the Global Terrorism
Index 2014 (drawn up by the Institute for
Economics and Peace) reminds us, in 2013 there
were some 10,000 terrorist attacks throughout
the world that claimed the lives of 17,958 peo-
ple (bearing in mind that in half of them there
were no fatalities). It is worth highlighting –in
order to consider its important appropriately–
that more than 80% of those terrorist acts were
reported in just five countries (Iraq, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria), which reinforces
the idea that the chief victims of violent jihadism
are Muslims. In fact, if we take into considera-
tion the data for the period 2000-2013, during
which time some 107,000 terrorist acts were
reported, only 5% of them took place in OECD
countries. Lastly, of the 13 countries that the
document listed as those in which it was possi-
ble to foresee an increase in terrorist violence in
the near term, only Israel and Mexico can be
described as Western.
It is, then, a global threat (out of the total of
162 countries surveyed in the above mentioned
analysis, 60 reported at least one death because
of a terrorist attack last year), chiefly carried out
by jihadi groups (DAESH, Boko Haram, the dif-
ferent groups identified as Taliban and Al-Qaeda
and its associated franchises were responsible
for 66% of the total) that basically afflicts
Muslims and which is responsible for 40 times
fewer dead than homicides (11,133 in 2012,
compared with 437,000 murders).
We are not at war
These preliminary considerations and data ena-
ble us to draw some immediate conclusions that
go against the tide of opinion expressed in vari-
ous circles again in the wake of the reprehensi-
ble Paris attacks. Contrary to what the French
prime minister said following the impact of the
17 dead in the attacks on 7 to 9 January, we
have to insist that we are not at war. It is worth
recalling on this point that Bush too chose to