Radicalism; It spreads like fire
By Rohan Bannerji, Guest Writer
On September 25th 2014, Vice News, a Youtube channel aimed at politically aware youth, uploaded a video. Unlike most of their videos, which mainly featured footage from wherever a notable political happening was taking place- this video was extremely different. It featured a youth of 19 years, who had gone to Syria to fight with the worlds newest, and most barbaric terrorist organization, The Islamic State (formerly ISIS). When this video was uploaded, it was already a known fact that there were thousands of young, vulnerable muslim youth from countries all over the world fighting for the self proclaimed ‘caliphate’. However, no one has ever been able to give an exact number of just how many terrorists there are that have joined the jihadi organization. The 19 year old Canadian national of Somali origin had told his interviewer in a rude fashion that there were upwards of 15,000 foreign fighters in ISIS, and that they came from all corners of the world. The nationalities of these foreign fighters range from Belgium to Brunei, and from Pakistan to the Philippines. In the past, terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and the Taliban have attracted young, impressionable muslim youth-but not on a scale as vast as the Islamic State. Though this is known knowledge, the world is yet to question, just what draws so many fighters to this ‘cause’?
Ever since the rise of the Taliban, foreign fighters flocking to countries in the middle east to join terrorist organizations have been almost commonplace. Yet, in the past, radicalization of youth and other impressionable members of society have only taken place under the four minars of a radical mosque, and not on social media platforms- which is what IS have done. They have used creative, almost intelligent strategies to recruit militants from almost everywhere in the world. Using social media, they have not only radicalized the youth going to the mosque everyday, but also the kid with moderately religious parents that spends too much time on Youtube. IS openly claims ownership of multiple Youtube channels that post videos of muslims being persecuted in countries such as the Philippines, and of course, Palestine. In the background of these videos, usually one can hear radical slogans being chanted in Arabic, or devotional muslim sufi music. Apart from that, IS use Facebook pages the same way that newspapers and football teams use their fan pages. These pages are filled with slogans spewing hate and intolerance for other religions (something not advocated in the Koran), along with multiple images of past crimes against humanity aimed at innocent muslims slaughtered by ‘infidels’ in the sands of the middle east. The owners of these pages target muslim youth in countries in which they are discriminated against by backward thinking, conservative members of society due to their appearance and religious beliefs. These youth, usually between the ages of 15 and 21, are at the most impressionable stages
of their lives.
In a study by an American Psychological Journal, it was found that the most impressionable stage in a males life is when he is in his teens- which is the Islamic State’s desired demographic. On IS’s Facebook page, they post pictures of distorted, inaccurate verses of the Koran, preaching that other religions are all ‘out to get’ Islam and that ‘Jihadis must kill them before they kill us’. They connect with their viewers, and radicalize them by making them feel responsible for the attacks happening on innocent muslims, due to the fact that if they don't join IS’s ‘holy war’ they are not ‘god fearing muslims’ and justifying the Islamic State as ‘allah’s army’ in response to the attacks on their faith. They radicalize these youth by turning the once innocent, irregular-mosque-goer teenager, into the teenager who wants to go to the ‘battlegrounds of Syria’ to fight ‘the regime’. Moreover, various international journalists have pointed out the fact that the Islamic State aims at teenagers that are sometimes just drifting in life-or are simply on a mundane, boring, path. This takes them out of that, and gives them a ‘cause’ to fight for, no matter how warped, or twisted it is. The Islamic State have been almost innovative with their strategy to recruit foreign fighters-by aiming at the most vulnerable and impressionable section of society, especially in countries with a high concentration of muslims, causing the plague of radicalism to spread like fire.
The answer to the question posed at the beginning is one that takes time to arrive at, albeit quite straightforward. The fact that the Islamic State aim to recruit fighters from a section of society that is so immensely impressionable, and so prone to being manipulated by the information given to them, is what is working in their favor, and drawing fighters to their sickening, barbaric cause that their own religion does not advocate. Apart from that, the strategies they use by utilizing social media as such a tool to recruit fighters, is one that draws more fighters to them than any other jihadi organization, which is why they have made such gains in the Iraq-Syria region. To an extent, they have been successful in their goal of recruiting militants to their ‘cause’ who, when they go to Syria, find out that “they are not fighting for anything worthy, and basically take part in gang warfare.”
Although the Islamic State shall continue to radicalize young males and females just a few years older than us, the need of the hour now lies with governments and international bodies, as we ask them the question; What measures will they take to stop foreign fighters flocking to join radical organizations such as the Islamic State?
