Today's Islamic Radicalism - True Believers - Granite Grok

Today’s Islamic Radicalism – True Believers

As we all try come to grips with the tragedy of the recent attacks on in Paris, we once again ask ourselves the logical question of what is going on here. Such attacks seem almost inexplicable, so removed are they from our own day to day experience. We struggle to make sense of these assaults and look for patterns to help us understand the nature of what we are seeing. Equally as perplexing is the utter disregard of the attackers for their own safety. Indeed, many seek out their own “martyrdom” and the promise of paradise.

Nor can we understand the appeal of ISIS which is drawing in thousands of young men from around the world and which is launching them forward with such zeal that more traditional armies are melting before them. Even severe American air strikes have yet to fully stop them.

Some say that such incidents are reflective of the nature of Islam. Others say that they are the clash of civilizations as the great sociologist Samuel Huntington called it. Yet neither of these answers are terribly satisfying. We know that, the vast majority of Muslims around the world are peaceful, pious individuals just trying to live their lives. By the same token, most of the casualties in the waves of attacks are themselves Muslims. Indeed, Muslims have born the brunt of the suffering in the violence of the last fifteen years.  But it is increasingly clear that all of these attacks are almost always being perpetrated by highly marginalized individuals young men like the Tsarnaev brothers in Boston or the Kouachi brothers in Paris. Yes, militant Islam is a common pattern. But one senses that there is something deeper at work here.

For me, the most compelling explanation for this tragic phenomena was, ironically, offered up in the 1950s, well before terrorism was one of our daily concerns. Dwight Eisenhower was not a man to incessantly offer up books to his associates, but there was one thin volume that he was so taken with that he bought numerous copies with his own funds and distributed them to his cabinet and friends. The elegantly written book was the work of an obscure, self taught political philosopher named Eric Hoffer and was entitled the “True Believer.”

For Hoffer, the “true believers” are highly frustrated individuals who are driven by guilt, failure and self disgust to bury their own identity in a cause much bigger then themselves and oriented to some future goal. The nature of the goal is almost irrelevant, be it religious, political, nationalistic, or ideological. Over time we have seen true believers arise in many countries and in many different guises, be it communism, fascism, ethnic or religious identity, etc. Mass movements have appealed to such individuals throughout history and around the world and are thus nothing new. It is a recurring phenomena.

The most important element of this condition, however, is that it require faith because the frustrated man can not stand his reality and faith protects him from the facts of the day and his place. It must emphasize hope, because hope allows the frustrated individual to escape from the intolerable present. He achieves self sacrifice (i.e., self destruction) and loses the individual in the unity of the movement and the group. The true believer holds fast to total solutions, however radical.

Certainly, the present day conditions in the Middle East and many Muslim countries have given the youth of those regions much to be frustrated about. Their oppressive governments have stifled free thought, crushed hope, and suppressed self expression. Those countries are awash with young men with no jobs, no aspirations, no futures and thus no families of their own. They have nothing to lose but themselves.

Having destroyed all institutions, the Mosque is the one and only institution that the state has had difficulty suppressing, though surly it has worked hard to so, as in the case of the Muslim Brotherhood. Thus, Islam is the only remaining refuge for the young.

Even in Europe, the Christian societies have marginalized the immigrants from the Middle East who find themselves relegated to the ghettos. Worse yet, they are islands of poverty in seas of relative prosperity. Education often makes the matter worse as was the case with Mohamed Atta and his followers. Indeed, we are also seeing the simultaneous surge of both radical right wing and left political parties across Europe. Syriza looks poised to soon win election in Greece while the National Front is attracting record membership in France. They to, are driven by the same conditions and forces.

In the end, it is not Islam we need to fear. It should be clear that until the underlying economic, social and political conditions which are motivating such passions and actions are addressed, radical politics of all stripes will be with us.

Robert Bestani is a Professor and a Faculty Chair at the National Defense University

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