Religious extremism is no longer the sole factor that drives youth to terrorism and into the arms of the world’s current most dangerous organisation. While ISIS can be considered as a threat for many reasons, it is distinct primarily because it targets young recruits who might not be particularly religious or extremist to begin with.
For this reason, it is imperative that societies address the factors that lead moderate youth in today’s Arab world to venture towards religious extremism. This should not be too difficult, especially given that new data suggests that many middle class youth suffer from loneliness and alienation and it is primarily these factors that drive people to join extremist groups. The economic situation and rampant poverty in the Arab world need to be addressed and eradicated so that young people do not feel that their only option is to turn to extremism for a way out of their dire situation.
This is what can be deduced from the situation in the Arab world as the stories of two young Egyptians, Islam Yaken and Mahmoud Ghandour, are getting media attention. There have also been a number of surveys conducted by Western news media outlets the results of which suggest that in many parts of Iraq and Syria controlled by ISIS, the young people who have been recruited come from very diverse backgrounds and have left their home countries to join the group.
It is important to note that many of these individuals were not aware of the levels of extremism and intolerance that exist within ISIS; ultimately, though, they felt liberated socially. This, at least, was definitely the case for Yaken and Ghandour, who could not have imagined that they would one day join a terrorist organisation regardless of their families’ economic situation.
In fact, Yaken was the rather spoiled son of a well-off family who attended a French school, joined the faculty of law at university, participated in several sports and was even involved in romantic relationships before his life was turned completely upside down.
His story is not very different from his friend and colleague in the faculty, Mahmoud Ghandour, a young man who loved music as well as sports. In fact, Ghandour’s uncle is world-renowned football referee Gamal Al-Ghandour, who Mahmoud more or less idolised. In fact, he had plans to become like his uncle and actually qualified as a second-class referee.
The story of these two young Egyptian men seems to suggest that Ghandour cut ties with his friend Islam Yaken because of the latter’s multiple relationships with women, before later surprising him by revealing the decision that he had become a jihadist. A lot can be said about the urgency of the threat posed by ISIS when such young people from the middle and upper middle class, with their own hobbies and their own ambitions, can be absorbed into a terrorist group.
These are examples of the youth who demonstrate the level of emptiness, worry and alienation that occupies much of their minds to such an extent that something like ISIS can give them a sense of belonging and the belief that they can change the world. As a society, we should not underestimate the level of influence that such alienation can have on a person’s life and how they can adopt a cause in order to get rid of the emptiness and feel that they have a purpose in life. We need a strong international coalition to confront ISIS and its ability to deceive the youth into thinking that they will find a sense of community within the group.
The youth who join ISIS often feel the placebo effect of joining an organisation with this amount of power, especially when they were often neglected by their own communities. It should not surprise us that such youngsters turn to the likes of ISIS for a sense of empowerment as they seek to fill a social and sometimes educational void in their lives. ISIS is an organisation that teaches its members a certain ideology but does not encourage them to question it or think independently; instead, it arms them to defend the group’s ideological purpose.
If the voids in our society encourage our youth to turn to extremist groups then we must ask ourselves what we must do to improve our educational systems and improve our societies in such a way that they feel included. We have to provide the environment in which they can bloom as individuals with a sense of belonging and an important place in the world.
Translated from Alittihad (UAE) newspaper, 4 March, 2015.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.