| Summary: | This paper argues that the rise of anti-immigrant and anti-foreigners violence in Europe in the last years, and their consequential labelling as a threat to the citizens’ security, should be seen not only as effects of government practices. Rather, they should be seen as aspects of deeply embedded social phenomena, through which security and violence are generated and shaped from below, at the level of the society. Violence should be seen as a constitutive force of the community. This paper will then focus on the nexus between security, violence and the sacred. The sacred is able to situate the intrinsic violence of a community in a meaningful context, where its destructive force is converted into the generative force that reinforces the bonds between individuals. The work of Rene Girard on the ‘scapegoat’ will be used to interpret how violence and the sacred converge in the security demand of the population.
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