The roots of radicalization of Islam
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Democrat
Colorado Springs, CO
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With the massacre at Charlie Hebdo and the subsequent hostage situations of yesterday there has been no shortage of opinions by politicians and journalists as to causes of the radicalization of young people to commit such horrific acts. I have listened to opinions on MSNBC by a host of so called experts and have scrolled through Media Matters to see what Fox New pundits as well are saying. Most all of them are very short term in their thinking. Then I found this article by Mark LeVine in AlJazeera this morning that made more sense, at least to me. Mark LeVine, AlJazeera, January 10, 2014: Why Charlie Hebdo attack is not about IslamLeVine goes back 130 years to where it all begin...with colonialism. "It's no mere coincidence that at least two of the Charlie Hebdo attackers are reportedly of Algerian descent and the third from Senegal. France's 1830 invasion of Algeria began a 130-year odyssey of murder, expropriation, racism, exploitation and misrule that only ended after a vicious anti-colonial struggle costing well over one million Algerian lives." The story of the modern Muslim world, with a few exceptions, is one of generations of European rule and the "collective wound of colonialism" in which the western world's thirst for oil resulted in coddling of local despots who were only too happy to cycle trillions of dollars back and forth between them through oil and arms sales, finance and heavy industry...a cycle that has concentrated wealth and power to a very few. LeVine concludes, "If Charlie Hebdo reminds us of anything it is that the arc of blowback can stretch for decades, growing more uncontrollable as the political, economic, social and technological chaos of the contemporary world increases." I have excerpted just a few lines from LeVine's article above, but I recommend reading the entire article. It's the only one that I have found that more accurately describes the deep roots of the radicalization of many in the Muslim world. Blowback is the right word.
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Schmidt Wrote: With the massacre at Charlie Hebdo and the subsequent hostage situations of yesterday there has been no shortage of opinions by politicians and journalists as to causes of the radicalization of young people to commit such horrific acts. I have listened to opinions on MSNBC by a host of so called experts and have scrolled through Media Matters to see what Fox New pundits as well are saying. Most all of them are very short term in their thinking. Then I found this article by Mark LeVine in AlJazeera this morning that made more sense, at least to me.
Mark LeVine, AlJazeera, January 10, 2014: Why Charlie Hebdo attack is not about Islam
LeVine goes back 130 years to where it all begin...with colonialism. "It's no mere coincidence that at least two of the Charlie Hebdo attackers are reportedly of Algerian descent and the third from Senegal. France's 1830 invasion of Algeria began a 130-year odyssey of murder, expropriation, racism, exploitation and misrule that only ended after a vicious anti-colonial struggle costing well over one million Algerian lives."
The story of the modern Muslim world, with a few exceptions, is one of generations of European rule and the "collective wound of colonialism" in which the western world's thirst for oil resulted in coddling of local despots who were only too happy to cycle trillions of dollars back and forth between them through oil and arms sales, finance and heavy industry...a cycle that has concentrated wealth and power to a very few.
LeVine concludes, "If Charlie Hebdo reminds us of anything it is that the arc of blowback can stretch for decades, growing more uncontrollable as the political, economic, social and technological chaos of the contemporary world increases."
I have excerpted just a few lines from LeVine's article above, but I recommend reading the entire article. It's the only one that I have found that more accurately describes the deep roots of the radicalization of many in the Muslim world. Blowback is the right word. Schmidt; yes. However the worst kind of "colonialism" is done right now by the US; like bombing/droning countries where we never had a "colony" like Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan, Mali, Syria, Pakistan border etc etc. Don't you think that this will give an enormous boost to combine the effects of "colonialism with "hatred" and "revenge" because of our "rule the world" actions?
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Democrat
Colorado Springs, CO
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jaredsxtn Wrote:Schmidt Wrote: The story of the modern Muslim world, with a few exceptions, is one of generations of European rule and the "collective wound of colonialism" in which the western world's thirst for oil resulted in coddling of local despots who were only too happy to cycle trillions of dollars back and forth between them through oil and arms sales, finance and heavy industry...a cycle that has concentrated wealth and power to a very few.
LeVine concludes, "If Charlie Hebdo reminds us of anything it is that the arc of blowback can stretch for decades, growing more uncontrollable as the political, economic, social and technological chaos of the contemporary world increases." Thanks for sharing the article. It is a breath of fresh air to actually see some in-depth reporting on something as complex as this tragedy.
The sentence about the blowback stretching on for decades is telling and something we need to prepare ourselves for. The radicalization of Islam is something that will take a very long time to work itself out. I've read more than a few pieces drawing parallels between what is going in the Muslim world right now and the Thirty Years War the Christians fought in the 1600's. Hopefully they will be able to sort things out before 8,000,000 people are killed... Jared, you've got the picture; as well as Schmidt; indeed all our great "meddling" in the world will backfire in a huge way. Hitler found out, Napolean found out Ghengish Khan found out the last Mohicans found out as well the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Maya's, Inca's etc ."L'histoire ce repette"
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Democrat
Colorado Springs, CO
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Jared -- Thanks for the Wiki article on the Thirty Years War. What I found interesting is that although it started out as a religious war between Protestants and Catholics, it eventually became less about religion and more about the continuation of the France - Habsburg rivalry for European political pre-eminence. In other words religious ideology gave way to tribalism. Extrapolating that to current day youth of different ethnicities and religions in Europe (or America for that matter), I really don't see them identifying so much with the strict ideology of the religion, in this case some branch of Islam, but rather the social acceptance that the religion offers. Those youth that feel marginalized by French society (or any other country) will seek out venues for like minded people and that often is a religious institution, but in the case of the USA could also be gangs. I say this because from what I have read, those youth joining up with ISIS, for example, are often totally ignorant of much of the underlying religious basis for their doctrine, which in the case of ISIS is an extreme radical form of Wahhabism that most Muslims abhor. So while we like to point the finger at radical Islam, their ability to recruit actors for their crusade is less about the radical religious beliefs they are selling and more about the recruits themselves not being accepted into the society in which they were born.
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There was "On real time with Bill Maher" a few great pieces. First of all "If you have "bad" apples; then there is something wrong with the orchard.Also he said: There are no "great" religions, all are stupid and dangerous ! Wow. That is why freedom of speech is a fantastic tool. I could not agree more. "Je suis Charly"
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Democrat
Colorado Springs, CO
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Democrat
Colorado Springs, CO
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