The Power of Labels
Tabsir.net has a great post by Dr. Alan Singer called “How I Almost Became a Terrorist”. Dr. Singer is now Director of Secondary Social Studies in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Hofstra University, but describes his feelings as a Jewish-American boy growing up in the Bronx shortly after World War II and his desire to fight for the survival of Israel. He then turns it around to consider the impact the current war on terrorism may be taking on young men in the Middle East, and how we can reduce the risk of radicalization. He states:
Based on this experience as a teacher, I believe that when Islamic youth believe there is hope for the future, that they have dignity and that their religion is respected, that their lives will change for the better, and that there will be justice in the Middle East, the threat of attack will lessen significantly, although it will probably never end completely. Branding these young people as terrorists will just convince them that their view of the world is accurate and that they need to be martyrs.
It’s my firm belief that the only long-term solution for the problem of terrorism is reducing the risk of radicalization of disenfranchised youth. We may never eliminate terrorism, but we can reduce the success rate of the recruiters for terrorist organization by providing these young men with other opportunities, other possibilities and by offering a view of the world that provides hope.
Long-term security requires long-term solutions for providing hope to all people.
Comments (0)Now, this is how you do a myth-dispelling article!
Edward Hull has a great article in the NYTimes about the prevalent myths about Yemen and how they are incorrect. As opposed to Jessica Stern’s Five Myths about who become Terrorists I posted about earlier, this article is one that you really should check out.
Comments (0)Baghdad Locked Down
Gregg over on The Majlis is reporting that Baghdad is in lockdown. The why is not clear, but it’s certainly causing issues.
Read his post here.
Comments (2)Joining Al-Qaeda is “Haram”
A big statement from the Adviser to the Saudi Royal Court Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Bin Nasser Al-Obeikan says that joining Al-Qaeda is prohibited by Islam.
He said:
“belonging to the so-called Al-Qaeda terrorist organization” is “haram”, or prohibited in Islam.
Speaking to Okaz by telephone, Sheikh Al-Obeikan said that anyone who belonged to the organization belonged to “a group that has left the people of truth and taken up takfeeri thought” and that “affiliation to the Al-Qaeda organization is haram”.
We’ll have to wait and see how much impact this will have, but this is exactly the type of support we need from the Muslim community in our fight against “Islamic” terrorists. The US saying Al-Qaeda is bad isn’t good enough, we need this type of opposition from the leaders of the Middle East to fight against the propaganda that almost ceaselessly pours forth from AQ.
Thanks to Leah Farrell for the heads up.
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