En tu idioma/In your own language

Eduardo del Buey
Foto: Tomada de la web
La Jornada Maya

Martes 26 de julio, 2016

In 1967, the BeeGees sang, “It’s only words, and words are all I have to take your heart away”.
 
Words coupled with actions are powerful tools that can help to fight bad ideas.
 
And Da’esh (ISIS) is a bad idea.
 
Their actions and goals have divided Muslims everywhere. Some succumb to its seduction looking to give life meaning or gain entry into paradise.

Conversely, others are repelled by what they see as an aberration of their Islamic faith. Indeed, as Jordan’s King Abdullah recently told CNN’s Farid Zakaria, the challenge posed by Da’esh is a fight within Islam. 
 
Strong support from moderate Muslims and those who have left Da’esh is essential to fight this ideology and stem the flow of potential recruits and stop the terrorist acts it carries out around the world such as the recent attack in Nice, France. Moderates, better than anyone, can persuade potential terrorists to reject Da’esh’s extremist views and embrace mainstream Islam and choose to be part of a modern, multicultural, and multi-religious world.

Arie Kruglanski, a social psychologist at the University of Maryland who studies violent extremism says, “There are strong correlations between humiliation and the search for an extremist ideology. Organizations like ISIS take advantage of people who, because of racism or religious or political discrimination, have been pushed to the margins of society”. As well, poor leadership by autocrats and dictators in their own countries who kill / imprison their own perpetuate blaming “the west” for their own lack of socio-economic development.

We must use words and choose our actions wisely to convince Muslims everywhere that this is not the West against Islam, but humanity against terrorism.
 
Words and actions are as important as a military campaign.
 
Da’esh is motivated by a radical, medieval, apocalyptic concept of Islam. In the apocalypse they seek, the Mahdi (the Redeemer of Islam), will return once the world has submitted to the religion. They have exploited their message through the sophisticated use of social media, terror and warfare.
  
All religions, by their very definition, include people who believe that they and they alone hold the absolute truth, as they believe it to be, and that this gives them the right to convert or destroy non-believers.

One need only study the persecution today of Muslims in Myanmar at the hands of the Buddhist majority, or attacks on Sikhs and Muslims by fundamentalist Hindus, to see that violence is not limited to Islamic jihadists. Yet Islam is the only religion being attacked as a whole for the activities of a small minority.
 
We have to use words and actions wisely to ensure that we underscore the difference between Islam and terrorism, and not demonize Islam and alienate moderate Muslims. Lumping all Muslims with Da’esh feeds into its recruitment narrative.
 
We should ensure that Muslims in western democracies feel a part of society by encouraging integration and building hope for their youth. Ways must be found to give them a stake in the western societies they inhabit. But we also have to admit that the extremism is Islamic in its roots and call it by its name - Islamic extremism.

Politicians should avoid the language of hate in order to attract votes. Instead, they should focus on providing opportunities and constructive solutions.

We should encourage and support moderate Muslim leaders to seize their religion back from the radical jihadists.
 
With all this said, Da’esh still has to be defeated militarily and its territory retaken. But its global message and global appeal will not be eliminated through military means alone. Only words, and effective policies can win the hearts and minds of those susceptible to Da’esh’s message.

Fighting an idea requires better ideas, as well as arms and bullets. It takes time and a change in mindsets, and we must be prepared for a long fight.

But as Nobel Prize winner Malala Yusufzai has said, “A bullet can kill a terrorist, but education can kill terrorism.”

Let’s use words and actions wisely and patiently. 

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