West and Russia must unite to tackle radical Islam, says Tony Blair

2014/04/25 Leave a comment

While it is hard to disagree with Blair’s premise that fundamentalism poses serious risks to security, stability, human rights and prosperity, it is harder to think of ways to engage and influence to reduce the risk in an effective manner. As we have learned from Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt and Syria, there are limits, some self-imposed, some reflecting the complexity of the societies concerned, to what Western countries can do. There is something paternalistic in Blair’s attitude, in some cases we have to let societies work things out themselves and have more policy modesty, while of course addressing our security issues and providing some capacity building where appropriate:

”Consider this absurdity: that we spend billions of dollars on security arrangements and on defence to protect ourselves against the consequences of an ideology that is being advocated in the formal and informal school systems and in civic institutions of the very countries with whom we have intimate security and defence relationships.

”Some of those countries of course wish to escape from the grip of this ideology.

”But often it is hard for them to do so within their own political constraints. They need to have this issue out in the open where it then becomes harder for the promotion of this ideology to happen underneath the radar.

”In other words they need us to make this a core part of the international dialogue in order to force the necessary change within their own societies.

”This struggle between what we may call the open-minded and the closed-minded is at the heart of whether the 21st century turns in the direction of peaceful coexistence or conflict between people of different cultures.”

West and Russia must unite to tackle radical Islam, says Tony Blair – Telegraph.

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Homegrown terrorist: Toronto 18 bomb plotter Saad Khalid recalls his radicalization

2014/04/17 Leave a comment

Good interview with one of the participants in the Toronto 18 bomb plotting case, Saad Khalid, on the radicalization process, with the usual knowledgeable and thoughtful comments by Lorne Dawson:

His [Khalid’s] story in many ways offers parallels with how Lorne Dawson, a professor and chair of the sociology and legal studies department at the University of Waterloo, describes the concept of homegrown terrorism and how individuals are motivated to choose that path.

“These are young people who are mainly men. They are remarkably ordinary,” Dawson says.

“They’re pretty much like most other young people. If we’re going to explain why someone would become a terrorist, particularly a homegrown terrorist, the process of radicalization, then you’ve got to look at individual motivations.

“With each layer of explanation, you’re reducing the pool of potential candidates for who could become a terrorist. So it’s like a funnel.”

Homegrown terrorist: Toronto 18 bomb plotter Saad Khalid recalls his radicalization – Canada – CBC News.

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British government must proceed with caution in reviewing Muslim Brotherhood

2014/04/15 Leave a comment

Interesting commentary on the review of the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK and some of the domestic and international risks that Dr. Hellyer of the Royal United Services Institute in London and the Brookings Institution in Washington DC thinks are significant:

The likely outcome of the review is not a terrorist designation, if the evidence being relied upon is the same that has been available thus far. There is evidence to suggest the Muslim Brotherhood is sectarian, permissive of incitement, and other such unsavoury characteristics, including a willingness to engage in violence for political ends. Such characteristics differ widely across the organization, depending on the country. However, it would be difficult for such evidence to amount to a terrorist designation for the Brotherhood. It is dubious to think that the review will deliver such a verdict unless the Brotherhood changes quite dramatically between now and the time the review is completed. Such a designation, it ought to be remembered, would have to stand up in a British court of law.

The review, therefore, is likely to deliver a rather unflattering picture of the Brotherhood, but not result in a terrorist designation. The timing of its delivery is also quite important to note: it is due to happen in July, which is close to when parliament ends its session in the UK. It is also when the Arab world will slow down owing to the summer holidays, Ramadan and Eid. Indeed, it is entirely plausible the review will be completed, and its results are not even reacted to by very many people at all. However, the UK government will be able to note that it has taken the concerns of its allies in the region seriously, without actually doing very much at all.

British government must proceed with caution in reviewing Muslim Brotherhood – The Globe and Mail.

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The Muslims Are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror

2014/04/05 Leave a comment

Worth reading for an alternate view on the “root causes” of extremism and terrorism by Arun Kundnani, and some of the missteps in the “war against terror.”

It does not answer why people in some communities are more drawn to extremism and violence than others. This is not unique to Muslims as other examples, such as previous patterns of violence among some Sikhs or Catholics in Northern Ireland. And many of the people implicated in terrorism and extremism are not the most disadvantaged or excluded in their communities:

This failure to engage with the real roots of violent alienation has ramifications going far beyond security. Both culturalism and reformism neglect what Kundnani calls “the basic political question thrown up by multiculturalism: how can a common way of life, together with full participation from all parts of society, be created?” Those British Muslims who “ghettoised” didn’t do so by choice but as a result of industrial collapse, discriminatory housing policies and the fear of racist violence. Identity politics was promoted and funded by local government in response to a 1970s radicalism (for instance the Asian Youth Movements, modelled on the Black Panthers), which linked anti-racism to anti-capitalism. Home secretary Willie Whitelaw supported “ethnic” TV programming on the grounds that “if they don’t get some outlet for their activities you are going to run yourself into much more trouble”. Multiculturalism, then, was not a leftist plot but a conservative move bringing together the state and community “uncles” against a much more subversive alternative. And in the last decade, while “anti-terror” resources have flowed into Muslim communities, benefiting the usual gatekeepers and provoking the envy of equally deprived non-Muslim communities, young, alienated Muslims, as likely obsessed by the Illuminati as the caliphate, are deterred from speaking – and being challenged – in public.

The Muslims Are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror – review | Books | The Guardian.

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Intégrisme: la «montée» imaginaire – et les Janettes

2014/03/31 Leave a comment

Pretty damning indictment of those warning of a rapid increase in fundamentalism in Quebec. Interesting, most requests for religious accommodation come from Christians.

Dernier indicateur : l’avis des chercheurs qui étudient les minorités religieuses du Québec ou les côtoient. Ceux qu’a interviewés Le Soleil – soit, hormis M. Rousseau, Pauline Côté, de l’Université Laval, et Micheline Milot, de l’UdeM – sont unanimes : il n’y a pas le moindre signe d’une montée de l’intégrisme musulman au Québec. Et les termes qu’ils emploient laissent peu de place au doute : «bonhomme 7 heures», «scandaleux», «propos alarmistes et exorbitants», «création étatique de la peur de l’autre», etc.

Intégrisme: la «montée» imaginaire | Jean-François Cliche | Élections québécoises.

Shame on the PQ for not dissociating themselves from the comments of Janette Bertrand (background here):

La cofondatrice du mouvement pro charte « Les Janette » y est allée d’un exemple pour illustrer la nécessité, selon elle, de se doter de cette législation, qui prévoit notamment un encadrement des demandes d’accommodements raisonnables.

Imaginons, a-t-elle dit, que « deux hommes » arrivent à la piscine de son édifice à logements montréalais, et que la vue de femmes dans l’eau leur déplaît.

« Bon, imaginons qu’ils partent, qu’ils vont voir le propriétaire, qui est très heureux d’avoir beaucoup de, de… c’est les étudiants de McGill riches qui sont là, et puis, ils demandent ‘Bon, on va avoir une journée’, bon, alors ils payent », a-t-elle suggéré.

« Et là dans quelques mois, c’est eux qui ont la piscine tout le temps. Ben c’est ça, le ‘grugeage, c’est ça dont on a peur et c’est ça qui va arriver s’il n’y a pas de charte », a lancé Mme Bertrand.

http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/404117/janette-bertrand-vilipende-les-integristes

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Toronto man told undercover officer it was ‘God’s Will’ for him join terror-group Al-Shabab, trial hears | National Post

2014/03/27 Leave a comment

Revealing words on how the extremist mind thinks:

“Here everything is anti-prayer, anti-Islam … even if it’s a tyrannical place, it’s better than Canada,” he said. “I want to live in a place that’s better than this.” Somalia was better than Canada, he said, “because you can live in a place where there’s Islamic law.”

In his rambling conversations, he decried what he considered Canada’s hostility to his faith, claiming that “all non-Muslims hate Islam.” But he appeared to display intolerance himself, saying that “talking to a non-Muslim about morality and shit, they don’t even know what morality is, Christians.”

He also complained that “brothers” at Toronto’s Salahedin mosque had been arrested on security certificates (used to deport foreign nationals deemed threats to Canada’s security), and said nobody cared because only Muslims were affected. Asked how he knew, he said, “My imam talks about it.”

“It’s pretty tyrannical,” he said.

Given that Hersi was born in Somalia, he would, if convicted, likely be someone the Government would consider for revocation under the proposed provisions of the Citizenship Act.

Toronto man told undercover officer it was ‘God’s Will’ for him join terror-group Al-Shabab, trial hears | National Post.

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CSIS tracking 80 Canadians who came home after going abroad for ‘terrorist purposes’

2014/03/25 Leave a comment

CSIS doing its job:

But the speaking notes provided to the CSIS director acknowledge that the intelligence community faces challenges identifying and tracking the movements of such individuals, and bringing charges against them.

The number of individuals overseas is constantly in flux and their motivations are not always easy to discern, according to the notes. Their destinations are often in active conflict zones or failed states, meaning cooperation with foreign partners — and getting sound intelligence — can be difficult.

Further, those engaged in terrorist activities often travel on falsified documents and “Canada has not, to date, systematically collected exit information that could be used to reliably confirm an individual’s departure,” the notes state.

“Despite our best efforts it is highly likely there are Canadians we do not know of who are travelling overseas to engage in terrorist activities.”

CSIS tracking 80 Canadians who came home after going abroad for ‘terrorist purposes’.

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Radicalization

2014/03/14 Leave a comment

Some good pieces on radicalization, starting with a RCMP initiative to curb radicalization among at risk youth:

RCMP set to tackle extremism at home with program to curb radicalization of Canadian youth

Secondly, an overview of the case of Damian Clairmont, a Muslim convert from Calgary, who became radicalized and was killed in Syria:

Not His War: How a Catholic Canadian Became an Islamic Extremist

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UK Use of ‘Anti-Social Behaviour Orders – ASBO’ in case of Muslim Extremist

2014/02/18 1 Comment

One application of quasi-anti-hate speech measures, the case of a Muslim extremist calling his neighbourhood a ‘sharia controlled zone’ with vigilante patrols etc:

The Met said: “Waltham Forest is one of London’s most culturally diverse boroughs with almost half of its 235,000 residents being of a minority ethnic origin and from a multitude of religious backgrounds.

“Discrimination and persecution based on a person’s cultural or religious background is something the police or council will not tolerate.

Chief Superintendent Mark Collins – Waltham Forest borough’s commander – said: “The granting of an asbo against Jordan Horner sends a clear message that extremist behaviour will not be tolerated on our streets.”

The asbo will run for five years and be in effect throughout London.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/15/sharia-law-campaign-muslim-groundbreaking-asbo

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New Saudi writers offer form of Islamic liberation theology – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

2014/01/30 Leave a comment

An interesting piece about Saudi Arabia and how some of the new generation of thinkers are questioning Saudi Salafism, a mini-reformation so to speak:

These writers and many others long for a new liberation theology that frees people from political oppression that is deeply rooted in religion. They represent a new generation of Saudi intellectuals who are prepared to challenge Salafist dogma, especially those aspects that have allowed absolute government to pacify society, criminalize civil and political activism and isolate people from the decision-making process. They challenge the meaning of concepts used by official Saudi religious scholars to “domesticate” the population and ensure its acquiescence in showing obedience to rulers and avoiding dissent and chaos.

These Saudis have not abandoned Islam but are searching in its history and interpretations for ways to challenge Saudi Arabia’s political stagnation and religious dogma. They all cherish the freedom to discuss and debate openly and reach out to audiences beyond the limited circles of the educated and intellectuals. Yet, they are denied this opportunity as a result of traditional Salafist resistance and the government’s fear of the new discourse they are attempting to propagate. The Saudi government is frightened by these revisionist approaches to religion and their potential consequences, especially if they empower a young generation tired of rehearsing old religious ideas.

If real political change needs an intellectual framework, then this new generation of writers is definitely contributing to the debate that may in the future lead Saudis to endorse a revisionist liberation theology. All they need at this juncture is a group of dedicated activists who can put their ideas into action.

New Saudi writers offer form of Islamic liberation theology – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

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