THE ISIS DILEMMA: Lessons Learned From Paris

Nov 29, 2015 News

---

By Jack Warner
The tragedy in Paris is certainly a wake-up call for many of us living in the Western part of the globe. The many responses on social media were very instructive because they raised questions over the legitimacy of ISIS and why it has become such an attractive option for young people around the world. What is rather interesting is the apparent underlying support and in some cases quite vocal too from persons who are far from being radicalised who belong to a demographic, which would express sheer horror at the ruthless and cavalier violence practised by ISIS while at the same time demonstrate an understanding for the way it behaves.
That ISIS is a threat to the world that we know cannot be challenged. It is an ideology that is different from ours and does not share the same episteme that we do. Its value of human life is twisted, its respect for modern and even ancient civilizations does not exist; its desire to inflict pain and fear on its enemies has extended way beyond the reach of human comprehension so one cannot deny that it is a real threat to the world that we know.
The major world powers have embarked on a journey to bomb ISIS out of existence but let me warn them with much sobriety that such a journey would end in horror for those who travel along that path. Such an act is one of simple revenge and not one to bring an end to this evil among us.
ISIS is not a country and does not own enough real estate to be considered one. Its domain is the social media, which it has used to great effect to challenge the status quo and bond with the disenfranchised in communities across the world. It is not Muslim although there is a shared eschatology with the Islamic faith but even if the fundamentals are similar, the radical approach and the violence are not symptomatic of the rise of Islam even during the period of the Crusades. So ISIS is an invisible enemy that can strike at the heart of any nation at midnight and one hour later instill the kind of fear that leaves continents and countries paralyzed.
This is a very mobile ideology that bombs, boots on the ground and economic sanctions cannot destroy or conquer. What is required to beat this ideology is a common sense approach applied to determine the basis for ISIS’ attractiveness and the application of an even stronger but positive counter prevailing ideology that serves as a competitive antithesis to ISIS. The ideologues who descended on Paris were not strangers to each other.
One journalist, describing the area where the lone female in the Paris attack came from described it as “rough.” Generally, the description of “rough” is usually applied to “at risk” communities, “ghettos,” areas where it seems as though the politics and the wealth of a country have conspired to keep in bondage. These are areas generally that one would describe with the nomenclature “rough” regardless of the society in which we live. The other point is that a number of the ideologues were familiar with each other as a result of the penal system. That is where they met and bonded and established shared views that they were victims in the society in which they lived and on their own accord it seemed as though they were impotent to address these wrongs.
ISIS as a dominant of ideology of fear would be attractive to those who experience this sense of hopelessness and these would not be afraid to stand up against the de jure establishment in revenge for what they believe were wrongs effected against them. The fact that a large number of young Muslims have been attracted to ISIS does not make ISIS Islamic. What is required is an exploration into the narratives and conversations since September 11, 2001 and ask ourselves the question whether Muslims as a class were treated fairly within the global village. What is required is an investigation into the double standards practised by dominant world cultures that allow Israel to bomb Palestine and threaten genocide on a race that lacks the military capacity to defend itself and our silence in the face of such action.
Radical Muslims across the world who feel disadvantaged are the ones more likely to align with this militant group. And for this reason you will hear denial from less radicalised Muslims that ISIS is not representative of the Holy Quran from which Islam is directed. So what is known so far is that a number of ideologues who are actively involved in what we selectively call “terrorist attacks” seem to be persons who have been disenfranchised in their communities and identify with the call of ISIS which seems to possess the ability to inflict pain on the societies which caused them much hurt. So this is a starting point. It is the point at which our examination should begin because the first thing that nation states ought to do is to emerge with an ideology that makes ISIS less attractive; in this way the recruitment of ideologues will decline and eventually ISIS will become an aging movement and an unpopular ideology.
From the 1990 Islamic Uprising, we learned nothing. No one sought to understand how Abu Bakr was able to command the loyalty of a large number of young men to execute an attempted coup on our nation state. And I am not referring to the intelligentsia, which was a part of the movement but that large critical mass which is still a threat to our own peace and safety even though Abu Bakr has faded into a more contemporary approach to the treatment of inequality in our society. Abu Bakr then did a very humane thing, which is the provision of a home and meals to the disenfranchised and an Islamic message of hope with which he purchased loyalty and amassed that critical mass. Today, similar young men and women are interspersed in communities across Trinidad and Tobago and no system has replaced the Jamaat al Muslimeen as the haven and respite for these young men and women. As a matter of fact it grew worse under the last administration where food cards which ought to have assisted the disenfranchised with meals were given to friends and family of the PP administration to purchase stock for social gatherings and food and drink for river limes.
It is these perceptions of inequality which must be addressed if ISIS is to be downgraded as a threat in the Western world and specifically in our own home, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Over 70 persons have migrated to fight with ISIS and that should be a reason for concern but who in this country is doing any meaningful research into seeking to find out from which communities the young men and women came from who have migrated to fight with ISIS?

---

---