Beirut Although political and cultural motives propel gullible young individuals to join extremist movements, various other reasons exist that, when combined with personal grievances, translate into sheer violence.
If occupation or loss of one’s homeland acts as a perfect crucible to recruit fighters ready to die for lonely political rights, perceptions of injustice or opposition against alleged repressive regimes can also be excellent motivations, even if the latter often requires organized leadership that can mobilize the willing.
In 2014, an estimated 600 British subjects were probably engaged in Syria and Iraq, along with more than 300 Belgians, 100 Danes and, perhaps, nearly 50 Americans. According to Scotland Yard, London’s metropolitan police force that specializes in modern technology detection, a 23-year-old British-born Islamist militant named Abdul Majed Abdul Bary apparently participated in the beheading the American journalist James Foley. The Independent of London revealed on Wednesday that Abdul Bary’s father, Adel Abdul Bary, 54, “was extradited to the US from Britain in 2012” and was awaiting trial for murder along with two co-defendants, Abu Anas Al Libi and Khalid Al Fawwaz. In fact, the US District Attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, has accused these men of membership in Al Qaida, though it remains to be determined whether Abdul Majed Abdul Bary executed James Foley to avenge his imprisoned father.
Irrespective of this putative incentive, extremists advanced a variety of reasons to espouse violence, including opposition to Western foreign policies that concerned the Muslim world. For example, how Muslims in general and Arabs in particular understood unmitigated US support to Israel, colored their outlook towards Washington and its acolytes. Even American support of Arab governments that extremists often accused of oppression, corruption, economic stagnation and extreme poverty, among other ills, stimulated existing frustrations.
Of course, many justified dastardly acts like beheadings and burying individuals alive on religious or cultural grounds, even if doing so diminished the value of their arguments. European extremists who flocked to the Arab World suffered from the added burden of utter cultural confusion because, and this must be stated as clearly as possible, they rejected European liberal values that propelled an entire continent towards human progress in the post-Renaissance era.
What many European governments chose to overlook, or conveniently dismissed, was the crucible phenomenon that intentionally kept Muslim/Arab citizens in carefully controlled ghettos, instead of absorbing residents in their respective societies. Few concentrated on preventive measures to de-radicalize ghetto communities, oblivious to the notion that extremists required financial and religious support, which was readily available in many of these ghettos. After all, vulnerable youngsters were recruited in their own backyards, which was where European extremists currently deployed in Syria and Iraq originated from.
