Following the recent terrorist attacks in France and the continuing presence of the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" in the Middle East, many commentators have sought to understand and explain the underlying motives and reasons behind the emergence of this new wave of war and terrorism. Oftentimes, there are claims being made that the "Western world" (especially the USA) is responsible for the radicalization of Islamist groups or even the foundation of ISIS. I strongly disagree with this point of view and believe that the root of the problem lies in the ideology of political Islam.
First of all, I believe there have been several mistakes made by Western states in the recent history of international relations between the "Muslim" and the "Western" world. The Algerian war, where France tried to prevent the country from gaining its independence, was one of them. So were certain aspects of other military operations, like the Iraq war in 2003. In general, the colonial era often signified the oppression of other people. But apologists for Islamist movements see these historic circumstances as a reason why Islam became so radical in parts of the Muslim world over the last decades. Picking up on this, they sometimes implicitly justify terrorist acts like suicide bombing as a "response" to all the cruelties that the Western world has brought about in their home countries. Suicide bombers are sometimes depicted as "desperate" individuals, caught up in a struggle for freedom that leaves them no choice but to resort to these violent means to fight against their evil Western oppressors.
If this was an inevitable causality of world politics, England would be terrorized by radical Indians taking revenge for the colonization of their land. The USA would live in constant fear of Vietnamese terrorists who want to retaliate upon America for waging war in their country for 10 long years. But this is not the case. Reasonable people and governments tend to seek peace, they want to be integrated into the international community and try to ensure that their country can survive and build up a prosperous economy to generate wealth for its citizens.
Moreover, the simplified narrative that says the West would constantly attack and oppress the Muslim world fails to live up to reality. "The West" consists of different countries that rarely act in a coherent manner, but often try to pursue their own interests. In the past, many alliances have been formed with Muslim countries and / or political groups. For example, the people of Kosova (which is a predominantly Muslim country) have a very high opinion of the USA who helped them gain independence in the 1990s (they even put up a statue of Bill Clinton in the city of Priština). The USA also aided in ending the 1956 Suez crisis in favor of Egypt. Many other countries that are considered as "Western" have formed close economic ties with Muslim countries. The age of the crusades is over and reality is much more complex.
The overwhelming majority of Muslims are far from being terrorists. They condemn the cruelties done by ISIS and other terrorist groups. They try to live "normal" lives just as characterized in the above paragraph. This alone proves that Islamists indeed had the choice to not become violent and reject the sanguinary ideology of Islamism. Yet they choose not to do so, and this is where the root of the problem lies. It is the political implementation of radical Islam. This ideology is actually somewhat coherent throughout the extreme parts of the Muslim world. From the Islamic State to Iran, from the Muslim Brotherhoods to Al-Quaeda, from Hamas to Hezbollah, they all follow very similar principles. The rule of Allah is more important than any man-made legislation and the Jihad is the way to fight the infidels who refuse to accept these principles. An important aspect is the inherent hostility towards almost every modern achievement of humanity - be it democracy, equal rights, the rule of law or pretty much any other political concept that distinguished human progress over the last 500 years. This hatred is paired with the willingness to die for the cause. The suicidal attitude to value death over life. Suicide bombings are the peak of this twisted ideology. Carrying out an attack on innocent people in this way symbolizes everything that is inhuman and fundamentally wrong and evil about Islamism.
In my opinion, this ideology needs to be destroyed in order to achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East. It is wrong to ally with Assad or the Iranian regime in the fight against the Islamic State, because they also are part of the problem. States based on the principles of political Islam cannot be part of a long-term solution. The West has failed in keeping the situation in Syria under control because no Western country effectively intervened in 2011 when the civil war broke out. Part of the reason why the situation escalated this much is the Western reluctance to address the ideology of Islamism as the root of the problem. The civilized and democratic countries and people of the world need to be more determined in fighting Islamism in order to give hope for the long-term goal of a peaceful Middle East.
First of all, I believe there have been several mistakes made by Western states in the recent history of international relations between the "Muslim" and the "Western" world. The Algerian war, where France tried to prevent the country from gaining its independence, was one of them. So were certain aspects of other military operations, like the Iraq war in 2003. In general, the colonial era often signified the oppression of other people. But apologists for Islamist movements see these historic circumstances as a reason why Islam became so radical in parts of the Muslim world over the last decades. Picking up on this, they sometimes implicitly justify terrorist acts like suicide bombing as a "response" to all the cruelties that the Western world has brought about in their home countries. Suicide bombers are sometimes depicted as "desperate" individuals, caught up in a struggle for freedom that leaves them no choice but to resort to these violent means to fight against their evil Western oppressors.
If this was an inevitable causality of world politics, England would be terrorized by radical Indians taking revenge for the colonization of their land. The USA would live in constant fear of Vietnamese terrorists who want to retaliate upon America for waging war in their country for 10 long years. But this is not the case. Reasonable people and governments tend to seek peace, they want to be integrated into the international community and try to ensure that their country can survive and build up a prosperous economy to generate wealth for its citizens.
Moreover, the simplified narrative that says the West would constantly attack and oppress the Muslim world fails to live up to reality. "The West" consists of different countries that rarely act in a coherent manner, but often try to pursue their own interests. In the past, many alliances have been formed with Muslim countries and / or political groups. For example, the people of Kosova (which is a predominantly Muslim country) have a very high opinion of the USA who helped them gain independence in the 1990s (they even put up a statue of Bill Clinton in the city of Priština). The USA also aided in ending the 1956 Suez crisis in favor of Egypt. Many other countries that are considered as "Western" have formed close economic ties with Muslim countries. The age of the crusades is over and reality is much more complex.
The overwhelming majority of Muslims are far from being terrorists. They condemn the cruelties done by ISIS and other terrorist groups. They try to live "normal" lives just as characterized in the above paragraph. This alone proves that Islamists indeed had the choice to not become violent and reject the sanguinary ideology of Islamism. Yet they choose not to do so, and this is where the root of the problem lies. It is the political implementation of radical Islam. This ideology is actually somewhat coherent throughout the extreme parts of the Muslim world. From the Islamic State to Iran, from the Muslim Brotherhoods to Al-Quaeda, from Hamas to Hezbollah, they all follow very similar principles. The rule of Allah is more important than any man-made legislation and the Jihad is the way to fight the infidels who refuse to accept these principles. An important aspect is the inherent hostility towards almost every modern achievement of humanity - be it democracy, equal rights, the rule of law or pretty much any other political concept that distinguished human progress over the last 500 years. This hatred is paired with the willingness to die for the cause. The suicidal attitude to value death over life. Suicide bombings are the peak of this twisted ideology. Carrying out an attack on innocent people in this way symbolizes everything that is inhuman and fundamentally wrong and evil about Islamism.
In my opinion, this ideology needs to be destroyed in order to achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East. It is wrong to ally with Assad or the Iranian regime in the fight against the Islamic State, because they also are part of the problem. States based on the principles of political Islam cannot be part of a long-term solution. The West has failed in keeping the situation in Syria under control because no Western country effectively intervened in 2011 when the civil war broke out. Part of the reason why the situation escalated this much is the Western reluctance to address the ideology of Islamism as the root of the problem. The civilized and democratic countries and people of the world need to be more determined in fighting Islamism in order to give hope for the long-term goal of a peaceful Middle East.
Interesting to read. I think another problem, which I think you try to get at here, is that the West often tries to force democracy upon other countries. However, democracy takes centuries to implement and uphold. When the West attempted to make Algeria a democratic country, it failed in that the civilians actually did not want democracy or elections. One of the reasons our interventions are so unsuccessful is because of this forcing of an egalitarian regime. Therefore, it is important that surrounding Arab nations work to create peace among their neighbors.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point. I think many people in Muslim countries might be reluctant towards political ideas that come from a different culture, such as democracy coming from the West. On the other hand, there are often democratic ideas and movements inside the countries themselves, yet they are often subject to oppression by the authoritarian leaders. I believe that Western countries could support these groups / movements more in order to further the roots of a democratic culture.
DeleteMorten,
ReplyDeleteA question I got from your post, is: how do we fight this, how do we destroy a deeply rooted religious ideology that is part of a lot of countries' cultures? While I can see where you are coming from I think that it is crucial to recognize that there are different forms of Islamism. All forms want an Islamic state, however, there are some versions of Islamism that are more extreme than others, who want to set up an Islamic state through peaceful means. While I obviously agree that it is important to speak against the violent, extremist versions of this, the danger becomes that we group all Islamic beliefs into one category and end up doing what these violent Islamists are doing to us, condemning all people who believe in Islamism, even those who practice peace.