Attacking terrorism at its roots

By Ehsan Ahrari

The success of British intelligence in foiling the plot to blow up as many as 10 planes flying from United Kingdom to the US is linked to the help it received from Pakistani intelligence sources. That fact underscores that the struggle against terrorism is a global fight. It is not against any religion. Rather, it is about the inalienable right to practice any religion, and, above all, the respect for all religions.

The most disconcerting aspect of the foiled terror plot is that British-born Muslims are its chief suspects. At least that was what initial reports have suggested. If true, it underscores the reality that British Muslims - especially the young generation that is as British as fish and chips or the game of cricket - should be integrated into British society, not just economically, but also politically and culturally. This is something that the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair has failed to accomplish. A plan of action in that direction is sorely needed.

When one examines the studies covering Muslim alienation and anger in the British polity, at least three themes emerge as root causes buttressing those sentiments.

The first theme states that the anger of Muslims is related to the "blind" support of the Blair government for the policies of the administration of US President George W. Bush in the Middle East, especially Iraq and now in Lebanon. As one dispatch in the Guardian noted:

Attacks there [Iraq], as those in London, are not about hating anybody's way of life, but straightforward revenge: revenge for Fallujah and al-Qaim - and for Palestine and Afghanistan, which have been subsumed in them. The pictures of Iraq, Afghanistan or Palestine, with their dust and grime, might be different from the pictures of the London bombings, but they represent a continuity. The war of revenge and collective punishment has arrived in London. And it has its own rationality. Don't give me the nonsense about why do they hate us. They don't.

The second theme identifies the feelings of "separateness" of young British Muslims from the mainstream culture as the chief reason for their anger. A recent report from The Times of London describes "separateness" as a collective sentiment of British Muslim youth that are not just different but also separate from the rest of the nation. "The issues that bring them into direct conflict with Britain as a whole include freedom of speech and the 'war on terror' that is being fought at home."

The third theme underscores the growing cultural conflict and the widening cultural chasm between young Muslims and British society, which, to them, is a representative of Western values. A survey conducted by YouGov in July 2005 reported, "nearly a third of British Muslims, 32%, are far more censorious, believing that Western society is decadent and immoral and that Muslims should seek to bring it to an end. Among those who hold this view, almost all go on to say that Muslims should only seek to bring about change by non-violent means, but 1%, about 16,000 individuals, declare themselves willing, possibly even eager, to embrace violence."

Since Blair has made a point of publicizing this value conflict, it is worth noting that the same YouGov survey found that of "more than half of those interviewed, 52%, believe British political leaders don't mean it when they talk about equality. They regard the lives of white British people as more valuable than the lives of British Muslims. Almost as many, 50%, reckon the main party leaders are not being sincere when they say they respect Islam and want to cooperate with Britain's Muslim communities."

Blair's "complicity" with the US invasion of Iraq, and his current support of the policy of Bush not to seek an imminent ceasefire in Lebanon are regarded as reasons underlying his low popularity among Muslims.

There is little doubt that all three themes explaining Muslim alienation, frustration and even anger are valid and generally accurate. However, the root cause of their alienation may be directly related to their continued economic marginalization - especially related to a general absence of upward economic mobility among Muslims in most Western societies, with the United States being an exception - as well as the unwillingness of Muslims to come out of their self-created cultural cocoons.

However, these studies and discussions wholly miss the fact that Muslim religious schools in Britain as well as in almost all Western countries are dominated by teachers who spend a great deal of their energy and attention denigrating Western culture and advocating religious conservatism and primacy of puritanism. Most of these teachers are trained in the highly traditional religious schools of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (and other Muslim countries). They bring to the West highly pronounced frames of reference of religious traditionalism that are incapable of reinterpreting Islam for Muslims who call Western countries home.

Even while these teachers and preachers reside in Western societies, they know little about its intricate features or about its positive traits, especially of tolerance for religious differences (despite the fact that tolerance is an integral feature of Islam, but is being consistently and vociferously sabotaged by the Wahhabi school) and its tradition of disagreeing with someone without being disagreeable. For these Muslim teachers and clerics, learning anything about Western societies (which are so "antithetical" to Islam, in their view), even if it is not a sin, is not worthy of their effort.

When Muslim youngsters are exposed to such sources of religious education, no wonder they evolve frameworks of reference of their own that are characterized by rigidity, cultural chauvinism and a lack of tolerance for deviation from strict Islamic precepts. What also reinforces that frame of reference is the fact that those youth see their parents remaining culturally separate from Western society. This may have nothing to do with any feelings of alienation or contempt. More often than not, immigrants are too busy making ends meet and have little time for anything else.

Add to these frames of reference of alienation and religious intolerance the highly contentious political issues of the era after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US, when Islam is under constant scrutiny and criticism and is frequently a target of derisive verbal assault, and you have the making of a person who, if he is not a potential recruit for al-Qaeda, has ample sympathy for it.

Admittedly, the preceding is a partial explanation of the feelings of alienation of Muslim youth in the West. It should be emphasized in the same breath, that an overwhelming majority of them are upstanding law-abiding citizens and devout observants of Islam. At the same time, they are loyal citizens of the country of their residency.

However, the alienated ones - despite their small numbers - must be brought back into the mainstream. For that reason alone what is needed is a plan of action developed by Western governments.

Such a plan, first and foremost, should be aimed at enhancing economic integration of Muslims in Western societies. Even though we know that some of the British-born terrorists of the July 7, 2005, attacks were members of the middle class, economic alienation of Muslim youth is still regarded as one of the major reasons for their anger and estrangement, especially in a country like France. Britain is not doing that much better than France in that regard.

Second, this plan of action also must be focused on eliminating the current religious bastions that promote the denigration of Western culture and religious intolerance. Both aspects of this plan are quite intricate and require strategic plans that should be implemented at least for a decade or so.

The current generation of Muslim youth has to be re-socialized. That, in itself, is a tedious and an enduring process. In fact, this particular feature of reform has been emphasized by the administrations of president Bill Clinton and George W Bush in relation to Pakistani schools. The fact that President Pervez Musharraf was unable (or unwilling) to implement it fully in that country is a powerful reason why his government has not succeeded in stemming the tide of terrorism in Pakistan.

Third, the promotion of religious tolerance is also a very important aspect of this plan, since religion, while it is a framework that is supposed to promote harmony, may also be used - indeed, has been used - as an explosive tool for perpetrating violence.

Fourth, Muslim leaders who are educated in the West and are socialized not to have contempt for it or its values must play a leading role in helping the governments in developing religious curricula that promote tolerance and emphasize the need for reinterpretation of Islam as a Western religion. This has been systematically depicted as "heresy" by the Wahhabi schools all over the world. An equally systematic attempt is urgently warranted in Muslim schools all over world, but especially in the West, to reeducate the Muslim youth.

Islam has lived with people of different faiths for the past 1,400 years. Muslims must play a leading and, indeed, a highly proactive role in not only reviving, but also in institutionalizing that noble legacy of their religion. That might turn out to be the most potent weapon to fight global terrorism.

Ehsan Ahrari is the CEO of Strategic Paradigms, an Alexandria, Virginia-based defense consultancy. He can be reached at eahrari@cox.net or stratparadigms@yahoo.com. His columns appear regularly in Asia Times Online. His website: www.ehsanahrari.com.