A new generation of young Muslims can counter the jihadi.
The recent ascent to power of ISIS and its leader Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi in various parts of the Middle East as well as North Africa is worrying many Middle Eastern states along with the majority of Western nations.
The first military attack last September by the newly formed anti-ISIS alliance, comprising the Unites States and five Middle Eastern Arab countries, has triggered a mixed bag of reactions in Middle Eastern circles.
Despite approving the attack, the Israelis have criticised President Barack Obama for intervening in Syria much too late, while the Arab countries with Sunni majorities have welcomed Washington’s new strategy.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, considered the center of the Shiite world, maintains its ambiguous position by condemning the military attack on the territories of Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad while letting it be known that they have nothing against the Americans striking out at the Sunni ISIS jihadist groups.
Even Turkey has announced its intention of backing the anti-ISIS front, thus somehow granting its seal of approval to the new strategic alliance.
All the main regional players in the Middle East would therefore seem to have a shared interest in fighting the ISIS forces, which they perceive as a threat to national security and territorial integrity. Iran and Saudi Arabia, for example, worried by the rise of ISIS, have put their long-standing differences behind them and have relaxed the tensions between their opposing camps, joining in an alliance that has no precedent in the Middle East.
Thus, it seems that the presence of ISIS is partly responsible for the creation of a Middle Eastern front, which sees the participation of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds aligned with the West, led by Washington with the backing of Great Britain and France.
On an international level, the alliance should stand the West in good stead at the expense of an Eastern alliance that primarily comprises Beijing and Moscow. In actual fact, any attempt to analyse the Middle Eastern conflict in an objective way must necessarily take into consideration the new global conflict underway between West and East.
The Middle East, like other strategic areas such as the Caucasus and Ukraine, is part of the territories disputed by the world’s two dominant and competing forces: the West, which is spearheaded by Washington, and the East, led by China and Russia.
Although the Obama administration’s foreign policy has so far been unsuccessful in containing the growing Russian and Chinese influence in the Middle East, the new anti-ISIS stance of the White House could lead to a shift in the Middle Eastern scenario and take it to a new level. Meanwhile, in Europe the ISIS phenomenon seems to attract at least two social categories: the second- and thirdgeneration Muslims who live on the continent and Westerners who have converted to Islam.
Clearly, this is a sweeping generalisation, and of course no one is about to claim that all members of the aforementioned groups automatically go on to join a jihadist organisation. However, the members of these social communities are more susceptible to the arguments put forward by ISIS’s persuasive communication campaigns.
Within the first category, the phenomenon mainly garners support thanks to the movement’s two guiding ideological principles: anti-imperialism and social justice, both of which are at times pursued with extremely violent and heinous actions. In particular, ISIS seems to have a marked influence on those who have failed to be successfully integrated in the European societies in which they live and are essentially marginalised.
These people who have developed antagonistic and rebellious feelings against the society of which they are a part are searching for a new political and cultural identity. ISIS, which somehow manages to be seen as being on the side of the world’s ‘disenfranchised’ against the arrogant West, has succeeded in gaining the trust of many within these communities, which are often comprised of everyday residents or citizens of European countries.
The second category that is susceptible to the call of ISIS’s political and religious rhetoric is European converts to Islam. Some of them have a particular aversion towards Western socio-political models and thus nurture feeling of empathy for Islamic culture. ISIS effectively channels this defiant sentiment that is increasingly harboured by a minority of these European converts.
However, in Europe as in the Middle East, there’s a strong possibility that a counterpower might rise up against ISIS: the young people who fuelled the Arab Spring movements before they were quashed by Islamic and military forces. These groups view democratic models as an important stepping stone towards political progress and the obtainment of civil liberties.
These indigenous youngsters, unlike their peers who have emigrated and grown up in Europe, are trying to introduce a new secular model that incorporates political plurality. And it is this social force – provided it is granted sufficient political and economic support – that could be the true antidote to ISIS and bring about a Middle Eastern renaissance.
A new generation of young Muslims can counter the jihadi.
The recent ascent to power of ISIS and its leader Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi in various parts of the Middle East as well as North Africa is worrying many Middle Eastern states along with the majority of Western nations.
