Radicalisation sans borders

Radicalisation sans borders 

By: Naseer Memon (The News, Political Economy section: 1st Sept 2013)

If anything that has gripped the whole world with alarming intensity, it is nothing but a rapid rise of radicalisation. It is no more confined to Islamic countries of Asia, Africa and Middle East. The so-called free world is emerging as a hotbed of radicalisation.

The post-9/11 war against terrorism has in fact provided it a new impetus and the world has witnessed a far more violent form of radicalisation in the recent years. It would be unrealistic to trace the genesis of this phenomenon in a single incident. In fact, an assortment of complex historical and socio-political factors has shaped and nurtured the current wave.

In its current form, radicalisation is no more a localised issue of tribal areas of Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. Although these areas are believed to be epicenters of Islamic radicalisation, Europe and the US cannot be fully absolved of their role, specially in the context of Pakistan that was chosen as a surrogate battlefield for their wars in Afghanistan.

The US and its allies even circumvented their much avowed affection for democracy and human rights by underpinning unconstitutional military regimes in Pakistan during 80s and 2000. Their myopic and strayed foreign policy has actually done a disservice and culminated in a global whirlpool of extremism. The US and Europe are now facing a serious internal challenge of containing extremism in their own countries. Thickly populated Muslim cities and neighborhoods in these countries engendered various forms of extremism that occasionally erupt into violent incidents.

Dream city of London can be a pertinent example to cite. Visiting the salubrious city as a tourist is a feast but peeping into lives of Pakistani community dampens the verve of recreation. Pakistani immigrants’ neighbourhoods paint a grim picture, where one finds all reasons of consternation. Retrogressive social milieu prevails even after decades when first generation of Pakistanis arrived here. During those heydays, Pakistani community earned respect for their hard work and amity.

Pakistani students were known for their stellar performance. Gone are those old good days and almost everything has degenerated. Pakistanis are now besmirched and stigmatised with social and political ills. Youth delinquency has surged, religious extremism has skyrocketed, women fenced in four walls, education attainment on rock bottom and social integration is unraveling at alarming pace. Seminaries are multiplying and formal schooling is being eclipsed by substandard teachings. A generation is growing in social seclusion of Pakistani and Muslim enclaves where identity crisis looms with all perils. Equally appalling is the situation in other cities like Bradford, Manchester etc.

France has the highest Muslim population among European countries, where some six million Muslims are living, mostly with North African origin. Social indicators of French Muslim are believed to be a major cause of disgruntlement. From education to employment, Muslims are disadvantaged. As a consequence, Muslim identity is proliferating with an alarming vengeance.

The post-9/11 developments have globally demarcated new borders between Muslims and the rest. Uncanny strategic shift of super powers between 1979 and 2001 wars triggered ideological tremors. The jihad espoused by the US and West coddled during the cold war era and patronised more vehemently in 80s refused to wilt with the demise of socialist Soviet Union.

As Allies failed to produce one right out of two wrongs, extremism found new legitimacy among the faithful in the wake of post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even second and third generation of European and American Muslims obviously could not remain insulated from the tide. Gradually a piqued Muslim identity started obscuring other domains of social fabric in these countries. Organic process of assimilation rapidly reversed over the years and now vanishing with the speed of light.

A survey of British Muslims conducted in October 2006 found that 82 per cent of respondents believed that the British Muslims have become more politically radicalised and 81 per cent believe the war on terror is really a war on Islam. Several other surveys confirm a similar trend among British Muslims. An abominable carnage of 7/7 that claimed more than 50 lives sent shockwaves throughout the Europe that did not fully recover from the nightmare of 9/11. The gruesome incident proved that security shields alone can’t clamp religiosity and the Britain is infested with radicals whose machinations could outsmart its fastidious systems.

Radicalisation among Muslim youth is not confined to Britain only; it has straddled across other European countries. According to a recent report of the International Herald Tribune, a large number of young Muslims with Western passport are sneaking into Syria to reinforce rebel crusaders who have waged a war against the government of Bashar al Assad. Some European and American Intelligence officials claim that more Westerners are fighting in Syria than have fought in Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen. Various sources estimate that the number of fighters from Europe, North America and Australia fighting in Syria is more than 600. French Interior Minister Manuel Valls termed it a “ticking bomb”.

The phenomenon of radicalisation in Europe is not so simple and does not have single complexion or a linear trajectory. A research report “Radicalisation of Muslim Immigrants in Europe and Russia: Beyond Terrorism” (PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo No. 29) challenges the notion that radicalisation is merely an outcome of social disintegration among various ethnic communities in Europe. In fact it implicitly berates the approach and quotes examples where well-integrated second and third generation citizens were found involved in terrorist acts.

The report postulates that the issue is intertwined with global political panorama. The report reads “while some of their own socio-cultural experiences may prepare them to advance what they believe is the cause of fellow Muslims suffering around the world, violent Islamists frame their actions in a quasi-religious, politicised, and almost “neo-anti-imperialist” discourse of global confrontation with the West, shaped and visualised, above all, by what they see happening daily in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.”

These factors are creating a new gulf among Muslims and other communities, which leads towards a precarious disintegration and friction. A radical Muslim identity is snowballing with every passing day and Nato’s exit from Afghanistan in 2014 would inculcate a sense of triumph and bestow it with a new pinnacle.

Islamic extremism is also breading a reciprocating anti-Muslim extremism. According to surveys, perceptions about Muslims among non-Muslims have grown. In 2008, 52 per cent in Spain 50 per cent in Germany, 38 per cent in France and 23 per cent in the UK felt negative about Muslims, considering them a threat to Western civilization.

Vagaries of the US and European foreign policy have resulted in this unmanageable global chaos. For decades, religiosity was eulogized as a bulwark against communism. Muslim countries were made a dumping ground of religious obscurantist elements, without realising that it will not remain in endless hibernation. It resurrected with ferocity of inconceivable proportions and now refuses to recoil.

In a globalized world, it is impossible to preclude tenacity of such congenital sentiments. In fact post-cold war follies of the West have revived the Pan Islamist fervour with a profound gusto. Religious radicalisation seems to have dwarfed all barriers and poses far reaching ramifications for posterity. 

(The author is an analyst and civil society activist: nmemon2004@yahoo.com)