Ένα ακόμα άρθρο, συγγραφέα με αραβικό όνομα, περί του γιατί σηκώνεται κάποιος να πάει να πολεμήσει. Έχω κάποιες επιφυλάξεις με κάποια από αυτά που λέει,
Anyone who thinks Westerners are flocking to Isil because of the Iraq war is a fantasist
Αποσπάσματα:
Radicalisation is a complex phenomenon. There are as many reasons for radicalisation as there are radicalised young Muslims. Each one of them has their own story with a complex mix of reasons, more or less rational, for why they have come to have the radical world view. Nonetheless, we can also observe some strong patterns amongst those radicalised emerging from the increasing body of interdisciplinary research on radicalisation.
For example, most come from unsafe, unstable social environments and have histories of petty crime, as well as drink and drugs problems. It is also notable that this tendency is especially acute amongst white Western converts. They may feel that their lives lack direction, but also feel disempowered and disenfranchised. They feel that they are not in control of their own destinies.
What an organisation like Isil offers them is instant reception. And moreover, a purpose. A direction in life. You can be an unemployed petty drug dealer one day but if you take a flight to Turkey and cross the border into Syria you are instantly transformed into a warrior of God.
Recruits get guaranteed salvation in the afterlife, but also, the opportunity to establish political utopia on Earth. Something that has not been on offer anywhere in the world since the collapse of communism. They get all that and they get free reign to vent their pent up aggression and their sexual frustration – and the research shows that the recruits have plenty of both. Where else can you get a sense of belonging, a purpose of building paradise on Earth, an opportunity to kill bad guys and sexually enslave as many of “their women” as you can get your hands on? Coming from cultures like ours that glorify sexual prowess, violence, and political utopianism, is it any wonder that so many are seduced by what Isil is promising them?
Το απόσπασμα που κάτι μου θυμίζει, κάτι μου θυμίζει. Όχι και τόσο μακρινό.
Isil and its jihadist ideology uniquely exploit and amplify these underlying conflicts and offer the conspiracy theory solution: none of this is your fault. There is a big villain far away who has engineered all your problems. You are good people, and all of this will be magically fixed if we go now and kill the bad people. Who are the bad people? Don’t worry about it, we’ll show you when we get to the battlefront. In psychiatry, we call these denial and displacement respectively. In the real world, we have to call this the instrumentalisation of religion for an ideology of death – and a real tragedy.