COMMENT Attacking terrorism at its
roots By Ehsan Ahrari
The success of British intelligence in
foiling the plot to blow up as many as 10 planes
flying from United Kingdom to the US is linked to
the help it received from Pakistani intelligence
sources. That fact underscores that the struggle
against terrorism is a global fight. It is not
against any religion. Rather, it is about the
inalienable right to practice any religion, and,
above all, the respect for all religions.
The most disconcerting aspect of the
foiled terror plot is that British-born Muslims
are its chief suspects. At least that was what
initial reports have suggested. If true, it
underscores the reality that British Muslims -
especially the young generation that is as British
as fish and chips or the game of cricket - should
be
integrated into British
society, not just economically, but also
politically and culturally. This is something that
the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair has
failed to accomplish. A plan of action in that
direction is sorely needed.
When one
examines the studies covering Muslim alienation
and anger in the British polity, at least three
themes emerge as root causes buttressing those
sentiments.
The first theme states that
the anger of Muslims is related to the "blind"
support of the Blair government for the policies
of the administration of US President George W.
Bush in the Middle East, especially Iraq and now
in Lebanon. As one dispatch in the Guardian noted:
Attacks there [Iraq], as those in
London, are not about hating anybody's way of
life, but straightforward revenge: revenge for
Fallujah and al-Qaim - and for Palestine and
Afghanistan, which have been subsumed in them.
The pictures of Iraq, Afghanistan or Palestine,
with their dust and grime, might be different
from the pictures of the London bombings, but
they represent a continuity. The war of revenge
and collective punishment has arrived in London.
And it has its own rationality. Don't give me
the nonsense about why do they hate us. They
don't.
The second theme identifies
the feelings of "separateness" of young British
Muslims from the mainstream culture as the chief
reason for their anger. A recent report from The
Times of London describes "separateness" as a
collective sentiment of British Muslim youth that
are not just different but also separate from the
rest of the nation. "The issues that bring them
into direct conflict with Britain as a whole
include freedom of speech and the 'war on terror'
that is being fought at home."
The third
theme underscores the growing cultural conflict
and the widening cultural chasm between young
Muslims and British society, which, to them, is a
representative of Western values. A survey
conducted by YouGov in July 2005 reported, "nearly
a third of British Muslims, 32%, are far more
censorious, believing that Western society is
decadent and immoral and that Muslims should seek
to bring it to an end. Among those who hold this
view, almost all go on to say that Muslims should
only seek to bring about change by non-violent
means, but 1%, about 16,000 individuals, declare
themselves willing, possibly even eager, to
embrace violence."
Since Blair has made a
point of publicizing this value conflict, it is
worth noting that the same YouGov survey found
that of "more than half of those interviewed, 52%,
believe British political leaders don't mean it
when they talk about equality. They regard the
lives of white British people as more valuable
than the lives of British Muslims. Almost as many,
50%, reckon the main party leaders are not being
sincere when they say they respect Islam and want
to cooperate with Britain's Muslim communities."
Blair's "complicity" with the US invasion
of Iraq, and his current support of the policy of
Bush not to seek an imminent ceasefire in Lebanon
are regarded as reasons underlying his low
popularity among Muslims.
There is little
doubt that all three themes explaining Muslim
alienation, frustration and even anger are valid
and generally accurate. However, the root cause of
their alienation may be directly related to their
continued economic marginalization - especially
related to a general absence of upward economic
mobility among Muslims in most Western societies,
with the United States being an exception - as
well as the unwillingness of Muslims to come out
of their self-created cultural cocoons.
However, these studies and discussions
wholly miss the fact that Muslim religious schools
in Britain as well as in almost all Western
countries are dominated by teachers who spend a
great deal of their energy and attention
denigrating Western culture and advocating
religious conservatism and primacy of puritanism.
Most of these teachers are trained in the highly
traditional religious schools of India, Pakistan
and Bangladesh (and other Muslim countries). They
bring to the West highly pronounced frames of
reference of religious traditionalism that are
incapable of reinterpreting Islam for Muslims who
call Western countries home. Even while
these teachers and preachers reside in Western
societies, they know little about its intricate
features or about its positive traits, especially
of tolerance for religious differences (despite
the fact that tolerance is an integral feature of
Islam, but is being consistently and vociferously
sabotaged by the Wahhabi school) and its tradition
of disagreeing with someone without being
disagreeable. For these Muslim teachers and
clerics, learning anything about Western societies
(which are so "antithetical" to Islam, in their
view), even if it is not a sin, is not worthy of
their effort.
When Muslim youngsters are
exposed to such sources of religious education, no
wonder they evolve frameworks of reference of
their own that are characterized by rigidity,
cultural chauvinism and a lack of tolerance for
deviation from strict Islamic precepts. What also
reinforces that frame of reference is the fact
that those youth see their parents remaining
culturally separate from Western society. This may
have nothing to do with any feelings of alienation
or contempt. More often than not, immigrants are
too busy making ends meet and have little time for
anything else.
Add to these frames of
reference of alienation and religious intolerance
the highly contentious political issues of the era
after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US,
when Islam is under constant scrutiny and
criticism and is frequently a target of derisive
verbal assault, and you have the making of a
person who, if he is not a potential recruit for
al-Qaeda, has ample sympathy for it.
Admittedly, the preceding is a partial
explanation of the feelings of alienation of
Muslim youth in the West. It should be emphasized
in the same breath, that an overwhelming majority
of them are upstanding law-abiding citizens and
devout observants of Islam. At the same time, they
are loyal citizens of the country of their
residency.
However, the alienated ones -
despite their small numbers - must be brought back
into the mainstream. For that reason alone what is
needed is a plan of action developed by Western
governments.
Such a plan, first and
foremost, should be aimed at enhancing economic
integration of Muslims in Western societies. Even
though we know that some of the British-born
terrorists of the July 7, 2005, attacks were
members of the middle class, economic alienation
of Muslim youth is still regarded as one of the
major reasons for their anger and estrangement,
especially in a country like France. Britain is
not doing that much better than France in that
regard.
Second, this plan of action also
must be focused on eliminating the current
religious bastions that promote the denigration of
Western culture and religious intolerance. Both
aspects of this plan are quite intricate and
require strategic plans that should be implemented
at least for a decade or so.
The current
generation of Muslim youth has to be
re-socialized. That, in itself, is a tedious and
an enduring process. In fact, this particular
feature of reform has been emphasized by the
administrations of president Bill Clinton and
George W Bush in relation to Pakistani schools.
The fact that President Pervez Musharraf was
unable (or unwilling) to implement it fully in
that country is a powerful reason why his
government has not succeeded in stemming the tide
of terrorism in Pakistan.
Third, the
promotion of religious tolerance is also a very
important aspect of this plan, since religion,
while it is a framework that is supposed to
promote harmony, may also be used - indeed, has
been used - as an explosive tool for perpetrating
violence.
Fourth, Muslim leaders who are
educated in the West and are socialized not to
have contempt for it or its values must play a
leading role in helping the governments in
developing religious curricula that promote
tolerance and emphasize the need for
reinterpretation of Islam as a Western religion.
This has been systematically depicted as "heresy"
by the Wahhabi schools all over the world. An
equally systematic attempt is urgently warranted
in Muslim schools all over world, but especially
in the West, to reeducate the Muslim youth.
Islam has lived with people of different
faiths for the past 1,400 years. Muslims must play
a leading and, indeed, a highly proactive role in
not only reviving, but also in institutionalizing
that noble legacy of their religion. That might
turn out to be the most potent weapon to fight
global terrorism.
Ehsan Ahrari
is the CEO of Strategic Paradigms, an Alexandria,
Virginia-based defense consultancy. He can be
reached at eahrari@cox.net or
stratparadigms@yahoo.com. His columns appear
regularly in Asia Times Online. His website:
www.ehsanahrari.com.
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