"Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hate, hate leads to violence. This is the equation."
- Ibn Rushd - influential Islamic philosopher who integrated Islamic traditions with ancient Greek thought.
Violent extremism is, more often than not, an expression of fear.
It is an accepted axiom of military strategy, that attack is the best form of defence. It provides the element of surprise, and usually makes for a situation of good tactical advantage. It is also, usually, the approach taken by the weaker of the protagonists, who seeks to exploit the element of surprise.
The extremists in Charlottesville, Barcelona, London, Manchester, and a myriad of other places where violent outrages have been committed, whether they are right wing or left wing, religious or secular, have a common view of the world. They fear that their way of life, their beliefs, and often their heritage, is under threat.
In some isolated corners of the world this view may be justified, however, in the vast majority of countries, this element of their frustration is simply not present.
Islamist extremists point to a suppression of their faith, and the freedom to practice their religion, as a key driver of their justification for engaging in violent acts; while right wing neo Nazi’s cite the threat posed by “the Jews”, as a key driver of their concerns. In both instances, it is apparent, that neither of these justifications can be considered accurate.
In the case of the so-called suppression of Islam, this is simply not the reality in the vast majority of countries, where liberal democratic values lie at the heart of the political system. In these countries, the right to the freedom of religion, and the separation of church and state, are concepts enshrined in their constitutional arrangements. In fact, in many cases, it is this very freedom, which is exploited by Islamist violent extremists, to facilitate the spread of their hateful narratives. The fear that the freedom to practice the tenets of Islam, is or will somehow be denied, is simply not based on fact.
In the case of the alt-right neo Nazis in the United States and elsewhere, “the Jews”, and in some cases other minorities, are held up as the justification for their violent behavior. The alt-right protesters in Charlottesville chanted “the Jews will not replace us”, while marching with flaming torches and channeling the Nazi rallies of Nuremburg in the 1930’s. The notion that 4 million American Jews, representing less than 0.01% of the population of the US, represents a plausible threat, is simply not credible by any measure. Even more numerous minorities, such as African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics have some way to go in terms of population growth and political influence, before they could realistically challenge the established white, Anglo-Saxon norm of the United States.
It is this, apparently, irrational fear of suppression and marginalization that drives the rank and file of these groups, to lash out at their perceived enemies. The distinction between the leadership, and the rank and file is deliberate, because one must believe that the leadership of these groups, are smart enough to recognise that the ideology of suppression and marginalization is entirely false and without merit.
It seems clear that the leadership of these groups are engaging in a leadership tactic as old as time itself. By creating a common enemy, they are preying on the insecurities and the ignorance of their followers as a means of building a political, and power base.
The response of any sensible society to such threats, is not to further demonise these groups, or to simply dismiss their fears as stupid or irrelevant. This will simply serve to further entrench their views. Rather, the solution lies in education. Education which emphasises the liberal democratic values of acceptance and inclusion, and which have been the foundation of the greatest era of sustained growth and development in human history.
It is no accident that the re-emergence of Nazi style ideologies has paralleled the decline in investment in education in western democracies, and that the conflict in the Middle East has got worse as liberalism has declined in the west. Franklin Delano Roosevelt said “we have nothing to fear, but fear itself” and he was right. What he did not say though, was that in order to know and believe that, it is necessary to have a sound and educated understanding of liberal democratic values, that lead us to understand that inclusion and tolerance are the precursors of a healthy, wealthy and wise society.
To defeat violent extremism, we must defeat fear, and to do that we must invest in education that inculcates into our societies a fundamental respect, and tolerance of those who are different to ourselves, but who have the same ambitions for their future.
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