The Paris attacks bring home the reality that the attackers who commit these atrocious terrorist attacks are not young people who are born somewhere far of but home grown within us. This is the change from when 9/11 when the Taliban attackers were all from Middle East.
I was in Brussels at the European Parliament on 20 th November speaking at the World Forum of Ethics in Business. I managed to get away that evening as from the next morning the city was virtually closed. So the impact of these attacks extend beyond the epicentre of the attacks!
What is it that is leading to our young people getting so radicalised such that they not only want to give up the comforts of life that we have in the West but then to turn round and develop hatred against that very community.
Here, the radicals have become so strong in their minds that they believe killing others and killing themselves along with them is a heavenly act. This is unprecedented if we look back at certain minorities who have committed heinous acts against humanity but they would not dedicate their personal lives for the cause. Hitler and his supporters were a minority and killed so many. Idi Amin was a minority and killed over a million Ugandans. Closure to home, there were the IRA bombers in UK. They had no intentions to kill themselves but were sure to want to kill others.
So what is it that is radicalising young people from our own communities in this way?
Yes, the finger is firmly pointed at the Muslim community. This is natural as all the attackers have been Muslims.
A question that I raised with CB in my recent meeting with him was what would be the situation if these attackers were actually Hindu jihadis instead. The media and members of wider public would have developed anti Hindu sentiments. What sort of feelings would majority of us peace loving Hindus be getting? How would we react to such extremists who would call themselves the true followers of Hinduism? Their version of the religion would be different to ours but the wider public and most media would not know the difference. So how would we cope with such feelings?
I would suggest that we would not be comfortable with our lives in such a situation. We would get frustrated and may be helpless. The pleasure and comfort of leaving in this society may deteriorate for us. I put it to you that this must be the feeling amongst the peace loving moderate Muslims in our society.
I would also suggest that we would also not be willing to adopt a ‘quiet no comments’ approach. I believe we would become very vocal and disassociate ourselves from the so called Hindu jihadis.
We would also fully cooperate with the government to assist in catching and punishing the extremists. This ,however, is easily said than done. Would you cooperate if you or your family are threatened with physical attack if you are seen to assist the authorities? Or go against the extreme sentiments?
The government is faced with serious challenges of terrorists born from our own communities and the majority of relevant community not doing or even seen to do anything to correct the bad mistakes from its own community.
This brings me back to asking why is this happening in our own communities. Well, perhaps it is the environment of up bringing of these young people.
Today’s terrorists in their 20s and 30 s are today’s generation that started life in similar years back. Were these not the children who did not get the best exposure to education? Were these not the people who have been kind of neglected when best education, best jobs and best lifestyle were concerned? Muslims suffer from relatively lower education and higher unemployment such that they fall in the lower strata of society. The Muslim prison population is also relatively higher. When you are made to feel neglected, would you not react or do things that will get you more income or attention? Would you not be vulnerable? In these circumstances, if someone starts praising you and gives you that importance that you have never had before, would you not start enjoying this? Would you not start responding positively to this? If this starts early in your age, would you not starting to develop anti establishment feeling?
I believe today’s behaviour arises from generational change that took place a generation back. To change society, one must change a whole generation. This means analysing what was happening in this society 25-30 years ago and then providing society with relevant support mechanism such that the next generation from this society become peaceful and law abiding.
I would give just one example. In South Africa, where I used to travel regularly over last 20 years, there were black teenagers who had been deprived of education, employment and comfort of life when they were small children and right up to when they became young adults. So they did not fit the community when they became adults. The outcome was that these children became thugs and looters.
The South African society has moved on a lot and because of decent education and comforts of life being provided to wider community, crime rates are down as citizens are gainfully employed. Their next generation is better behaved and more fitted to the wider community.
