Identity

An interesting comment on an article in the Guardian. It just a one of a plethora of debates which have sprung up after the revelation of 'Jihadi John'. Well worth a read. Although the title is a bit misleading, it addresses some pertinent points which young Western Muslims face. 

What do we ask young people to accept when we ask them to accept the norms of our society? We ask them to accept a society in which self-seeking pays. Failed bankers get big bonuses. The very rich continue to get richer at the expense of everyone else. Leading politicians like Straw and Rifkind are clearly on the make. Most Westminster politicians haven't got two political ideas of their own to rub together. Sexuality, especially in its feminine form, is constantly exploited for commercial gain. Politics is more and more vacuous.

That's our world.

Young people, other than the most docile and passive, will have a sense that this can't be all there is (before life has knocked out of them any hope that there can be a better world).

As Kenan Malik says none of this justifies the choice of joining with a group of killers who make a virtue out of their brutality. But it helps us to understand why some young people are looking for something different and why they may have learned to distrust what almost everyone from parents to politicians says to them. In those circumstances even the idiotic claims of a bunch of political thugs can come to seem like an alternative.

The real basis of radicalisation is the death of meaningful politics in our society. Who believes that any result of the election in 2015 will lead to fundamental change? A few tribal party loyalists maybe, but hardly anyone else.