This week, I
looked at an article which examined the story of a Middle-Eastern man named
Ahmad Walid Rashidi who has had several direct encounters with Muslim extremist
groups throughout his life. At the age of five, he lost several family members
to violent acts by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Then, last year, Ahmad claims to
have ventured into ISIS-controlled territory in an attempt to bring back two
young Danish women who had run away from their parents to marry jihadist
fighters. Like almost all other stories that occur in ISIS-controlled
territory, the story is difficult to confirm but most of the details seem to be
corroborated by other parties and Ahmad has several documents which appeared to
be issued by ISIS itself.
Although Ahmad
condemns the group and all acts of terrorism, he raises several points related
to how he can understand how so many young people have been drawn to the
extremist group. Ahmad argues that ISIS’ claim that it is attempting to right
the wrongs of American colonialism and discrimination is a powerful tool in
winning over not only the disenfranchised in the Middle-East but also the
highly educated who are aware of the consequences of colonialism. Furthermore,
Ahmad points to how out of touch the Western world is with the conflicts in the
Middle East as reason for many Middle Easterners to be drawn to extremist
groups as a way of lashing out.
Ahmad’s story,
if it is true, speaks to the way in which long-standing global conflicts can
shape the social environments of various regions in radically different ways.
The effects of American and European colonialism for the West resulted in
significant economic and political gains in the short-term at the price of
long-term social stability for those regions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/25/world/europe/victim-of-extremists-comes-to-understand-the-siren-song-of-isis.html?_r=0
4/25/15 9:39 pm
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