My previous post had a dig at an article by Julia Ebner of Quilliam. I still support Quilliam’s efforts, even though they went hyperbolic over Tommy Robinson’s (typo alert) crass stunt, which in turn was a response to the hit job by Julia.
This post might be damning them with feint praise too, but I do agree with Adam Deen’s HuffPo piece:
The Emergence Of Meta-Jihad: Why Defeating Isis Won’t End The Plague Of Terrorism
The first phase began with Al-Qaeda and the rise of Bin Laden. This was the phase of jihad that was primarily carried out in retaliation for the heavy Western involvement in the Middle East, namely in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A quibble: I think you’ll find that a prior phase that precipitated the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that led to that specific first phase was 9/11? Or how about Sayyid Qutb’s return from the fornicating US? I was only just mentioning convenient histories in my post on Julia’s article … “An aside on the point of narrative: when we come to terrorism, have you noticed in the US how ‘since 9/11’ is used to count Islamic terrorist attacks, but Hitler and the Crusades are still pertinent. Funny, isn’t it. Just a passing thought …”
Yes, funny where history starts.
I can’t argue with the rest of the article. However, what does this tell us about current narratives?
Since the message is so stark, don’t you think that this shows that the backlash against Islamism in Europe is actually very mild, with really very few deadly attacks aimed at Muslims, and mostly only vitriolic speech and some personal assaults – and even, a bacon sandwich left outside a mosque warrants jail time, and a police puppy are the measures of Islamophobia.
While Quilliam have every right to point out the rise in interest in far right and its focus on Islam, the message now coming from Quilliam seems to treat the the far right as some existential threat to Muslims, which is actually rediculous.
If anything, the far greater danger is the Regressive left not getting on board with reformers like Quilliam, since they give the Islamist the unhindered right to spread their ideology, while actually shutting down, demonising and shaming as ‘racists’ those that speak out.
The greatest threat to Islam, but no threat to the person of any Muslim, is actually the criticism of it that Quilliam agrees is acceptable.
The biggest threat to actual Muslims is they might come to abandon their religion if allowed to leave it without the existential threat of Islamism and apaostasy hanging over their heads, ready for the chop.
So, that does bring into question Julia’s far right theat narrative, even taking Tommy Robinson out of the article.
With the emergence of this new type of terrorist threat and its undetectable nature, it is more important than ever before to focus our efforts, energies, and resources on primary prevention.
Precisely.
Ramblings 