Muslim
"No-go Zones" in Europe?
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The existence of "no-go zones" in predominantly Muslim areas
in Europe has been a major topic of conversation since the latest Paris
massacre on Nov. 13, primarily due to the assailants' many connections
to Molenbeek,
a heavily Muslim district of Brussels. This discussion brings to mind my
visit to a drug- and crime-infested
slum of 7,000 inhabitants in Marseilles,
France, on Jan. 29, to see the situation for myself.
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A typical housing block
for immigrants in Marseille, France.
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I entered the housing complex in an unmarked but recognizable city-owned
car driven by a city employee who had been tasked with showing me around.
Unfortunately, being mostly a paper-pusher and not experienced in the
field, he got spooked and abruptly turned around to leave, raising
suspicions among the drug dealers around us, who proceeded to set off the
alarm.
A motorcyclist and a truck then zipped ahead of us and boxed us in on a
nearby highway. Sitting in the car's front passenger seat, I was accosted
and threatened by four young thugs. The city rep pleaded with them, telling
them I was a visiting sociologist. They responded first with threatening
comments and then by throwing a piece of concrete the size of a football
through the back window. Luckily no on was injured, and they let us leave
after the intimidating incident had concluded. I provided the mayor's
office with audio, video, and still photographs of the thugs and their
license plates.
I have kept quiet about this incident for ten months in the hopes that
the French judicial system would function. As of today, however no one has
been apprehended, no charges have been filed, and to my knowledge, no real
investigation ever took place.
This incident was the great exception to my 28 other
visits to predominantly Muslim areas in Australia, North America, and
Western Europe. In all of these places – call them ZUS (French: Zones
Urbaines Sensibles, or Sensitive Urban Zones): I "went"
without problems, traveling sometimes alone, sometimes not, in an anonymous
rental car during daylight hours wearing normal Western casual male
clothing – not in a police uniform, a priest's habit, skimpy clothing, or
with a kippa.
In many ZUS, I got out and walked around; nearly everywhere I took
pictures. In some, I stopped and made purchases, had a meal, or visited a
mosque. I did nothing provocative like evangelize, march in a gay pride
parade, recruit for the army, or take pictures of drug dealers. I was not a
threat. I then "left," none the worse for the experience. My
forays into the ZUS suggest that they are in fact go-zones
for innocous civilians. Even in Marseilles, had I shown up in a rental car,
the thugs would likely have welcomed me as a potential drug customer.
In contrast, Brice
De Ruyver, the former security adviser to a Belgian prime minister, has
stated that "We don't officially have no-go zones in Brussels, but in
reality, there are, and they are [found] in Molenbeek." Yet, I drove
and walked about Molenbeek, also in January, freely taking pictures of
people on the street, stores, and whatever caught my fancy, and no one paid
me attention. I felt completely safe.
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A street scene in one
of the heavily Muslim areas of Brussels, taken as I walked solo through
the neighborhood.
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Likewise, I earlier strolled through Rinkeby, a notorious district of
Stockholm, on a November 2014 afternoon without encountering so much as a
hostile stare; yet a local policeman
has testified in reference to Rinkeby that, "If we're in pursuit of a
vehicle, it can evade us by driving to certain neighborhoods where a lone
patrol car simply cannot follow because we'll get pelted by rocks and even
face riots. These are no-go zones. We simply can't go there."
How to reconcile these experiences? My visits establish that non-Muslim
civilians can usually enter majority-Muslim areas without fear. But things
look very different from the governmental point of view. On a routine
basis, firefighters, ambulance workers, and even social workers meet with
hostility and violence. For example, days after I visited the Marseille
slum, its residents shot
at police preparing for a visit by the prime minister of France. Thus
does it and its ilk represent a no-go zone for police, a place which
government representatives enter only when heavily armed, in convoys,
temporarily, and with a specific mission.
The term no-go zone is informal (apparently deriving from
American military argot); dictionaries
ascribe it two meanings in line with my conclusions: either (1) ordinary
people staying away from an area out of fear or (2) the representatives of
the state entering only under exceptional circumstances. ZUS do not fit the
first descripton but do fit the second.
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One of the more
interesting stores I saw in the Paris suburb of St. Denis.
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Whether or not Molenbeek, Rinkeby, and the Marseilles slum are no-go
zones, then, depends on what aspect one choses to emphasize – their
acessibility to ordinary visitors at ordinary times or their
inaccessibility to government officials in times of tension. There are also
no-go gradations, some places where attacks are more frequent and violent,
others less so. However one sums up this complex situation – maybe
partial-no-go zones? – they represent a great danger.
Mr. Pipes (DanielPipes.org, @DanielPipes) is president of the Middle
East Forum. © 2015 by Daniel Pipes. All rights reserved.
Dec. 2, 2015 addenda: (1) This is my third and – I hope – final
assessment of the no-go zone issue. The first was in 2006,
when I translated the official French designation of Zones Urbaines
Sensibles (ZUS) as no-go zones. The second was in January 2015,
when I revoked this term on the basis of personal experience. Now, here, I
find it partially applicable and partially not, where they are no-go zones
primarily for representatives of the state, regardless of religion.
(2) The 28 largely heavily Muslim areas in Western countries that I have
visited:
- 6 areas outside
Europe: Dearborn and Hamtramck, Michigan; Lodi, California; Queens,
New York; Mississauga, Canada; and Lakemba, Australia.
- 7 in Europe outside
France: Antwerp, Athens, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Malmö, and
Stockholm.
- 7 in France outside
Paris: the ZUS in Beziers, Lunel, Marseilles, Montpellier,
Nice, Perpignan,
and Toulon.
- 8 in the Paris
region: Barbès–Rochechouart, Belleville, Clichy-sous-Bois,
Clignancourt, Gennevilliers, Sarcelles, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val
d'Oise.
(3) Some dictionary definitions of the informal terms no-go zone
and no-go area:
- American Heritage:
"an area into which entry is forbidden, restricted, or reputed to
be dangerous."
- Cambridge:
"an area, especially in a town, where it is very dangerous to
go, usually because a group of people who have weapons prevent the
police, army, and other people from entering."
- Collins:
"a district in a town that is barricaded off, usually by a
paramilitary organization, within which the police, army, etc, can
only enter by force."
- Macmillan's:
"an area in a town that is not considered to be safe because
there are high levels of crime and violence there."
- Miriam-Webster:
"an area into which entry is forbidden or dangerous."
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