On the Economist vs Al-Qaeda
A few weeks ago the Economist outlined a few points on what it believed are the next steps in the ideological battle against Al-Qaeda's brand of terrorism. These are curiously similar to the situation to the situation that was occurring in Algeria and Egypt in the mid 1990s. The overall concept is to distinguish between the military roles of 'the West' (on the fronts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq) and the ideological roles of Muslim countries. The Economist puts forward the idea that the next breakthrough will occur when prominent Muslim countries are able to ideologically discredit Al-Qaeda and de-thrown them from their self appointed position of guardians of the future of Islam.
Ideas:
- Highlight views of jihadists who renounce violence
- Publicise stories about jihadists atrocities against Muslims
- Enlist Muslim religious leaders to enounce jihadists as heretics
- Back Islamic movements that emphasise politics over jihad
- Discredit and neutralise jihadist ideologues
- Play up personal or doctrinal disputes among jihadists
posted by Westy at 5:00 PM
1 Comments:
I'm ignorant. I haven't read the article actually.
I honestly thought Al Qaeda's "brand" is the strongest among unemployed youth in the Mideast. And this "target market" is huge as 25% of the Mideast population is under 30 years old. And unfortunately, there aren't as many employment opportunities for these kids. Which is why Al Qaeda seems like a good answer for their agonies.
We can't just "neutralise" the ideology of jihad, or "Publicise stories about jihadists atrocities against Muslims", or "Enlist Muslim religious leaders to enounce jihadists as heretics". In my view, jihad and terrorism on the basis of "jihad" are different, and should be treated differently.
One of the weaknesses of Islam is that we don't have a unifying organisation like the church. Many Muslims, many sects of Islam, many clerics of Islam can have different arguments about different things. It can be confusing to be a Muslim :D
But then again, I also see us Muslims not having a unifying organisation is a good thing...
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