By: V4 Agency
Workplaces have no tools at their disposal to spot or identify radicalised employees. Companies are vulnerable in this regard, which makes them a potential target for Islamist terrorists.
The French have every reason to be afraid that Islamist terrorism may infiltrate the workplace, because companies have no tools to prevent the risk of the radicalisation of employees. Employers and police lack co-operation in this department and there are no counter-terrorism security measures at companies, crisis management expert Michel Olivier warns in his new article published by the conservative French weekly Valeurs actuelles.
The essayist also points out that Samuel Paty, the French teacher slaughtered last October, was not the first victim to be brutally beheaded on a street in broad daylight by a terrorist, a cruel method typical of Islamists. In the summer of 2015, Herve Cornara, the leader of a shipping company, was decapitated by one of his employees, who pinned Cornana’s severed head to a fence.
The murderer said he had a disagreement with his boss, but he refused to provide any additional details regarding his brutal act. He has since died, so the exact circumstances of the incident may never come to light. What is certain is that Cornara was the first victim in France to be executed by the Islamic State’s methods, marking the appearance of Islamic terrorism in the French workplace.
Five years later, another brutal murder took place. On 16 October 2020, history teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded by a 18-year-old Chechen individual on the street. Mr Paty’s “sin” was that he held a class on free speech and showed his students the Muhammad caricatures published by the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Paty’s death has provoked a general outcry, especially after it turned out that many students and parents were also involved and responsible for what happened.
Michel Olivier says he has been examining to what extent radicalisation is present in the French workplace since 2018, highlighting a connection between jihadism and the community approach. In his view, companies are undergoing non-violent radicalisation, which is clearly illustrated by the altered behaviour of certain employees, for instance some male colleagues who are unwilling to shake hands with women.
Michel Olivier spent months observing “radicalisation” at various companies and noticed that leaders and bosses have turned a blind eye to various community demands everywhere, all in the name of combating discrimination. The essayist believes that the reality of the workplace is a reflection of the entire society, adding however that companies have no legal tools to make up for the deficiencies in public policy. Therefore, there is a danger that proponents of radical Islam will target companies, because there are no tools at this point to determine whether a particular employee is at risk of radicalisation.
Michel Olivier projects that, following schools, Islamist terrorism will also come into sight in the French workplace. The question is not whether there will be another attack but where an Islamist terrorist attack will occur, and who will be the target. In this is to be believed, the French workplace might just become the next battleground of radical Islam, the essayist concludes.
