How IS recruits

IS, or ISIS or ISIL or Daish, is a phenomenon of our time. I find it hard to know how dangerous it is, since our lens into it is probably so coloured by propaganda sponsored by western states or by extreme fears fomented in our media. But it feels real enough. The vacuum that was Syria, Sunni Iraq, Libya, Yemen and a few other places was always likely to lead to various shades of lawlessness and quasi-government. IS has been clever enough, and somehow attractive enough, to bring together the disaffected in all those places under a single banner.

Again, just how unified that banner is gives me grounds for skepticism. It suits our own governments well to conflate the rebels under a single brand since that way the military lobby can argue for an aggressive reaction. IS has purloined some of our own business language, using terms like franchises, to give the impression of commonality. Apart from the core group in Syria and Sunni Iraq, I have my doubts.

But one facet of IS has caught my attention in recent weeks. As well as western business language, IS has seemingly also taken to some other modern inventions, notably the use of media and especially modern social media. IS manage to spread terror in its targets by its horrific actions and threats, but these are somehow magnified, compared with earlier groups such as Al Qaida, by its posting of these things on youtube videos accessible to all.

I can understand this and even grudgingly admire it, in the same way that part of me can’t help but acknowledge the sheer audacity and operational effectiveness of 9/11. But what I struggle with is a statement frequently heard in our own media (propaganda inspired or not): that social media gives IS an edge in recruiting.

This repeated claim has made me think. From my own comfortable, middle class, middle aged lens, I could not square this circle. At least my lens is not a usually a complacent one, so I was able to look beyond the propaganda (or otherwise). Think about it – what does IS seem to advertise for a potential recruit? Probably an early death. A regime of total intolerance, built on physical power and punishment. The chance to partake in the killing and repression of others. Tribal power bases, with no female emancipation whatsoever and a regime of brutal hardship and denial. All of this is crystal clear in the so-called recruitment material in youtube – I think my prospectus is pretty accurate. Who on earth could possible find this attractive?

So I try to get myself into the mind of a target recruit. I will be male, a Sunni Moslem, living in a western country such as France, with ethnic roots in an Arab one such as Egypt. I am probably between sixteen and twenty-two. My parents or maybe my grandparents came to live in the west.

Boys of that age have always rebelled and joined grand causes, from the days of the French foreign legion or the gold rush. Every society has its outcasts. In the US many become cyber-trolls and a few might become serial killers. Society even relies on its young males to be somewhat gung-ho, so the military is attractive to enough of them as an option. In other cultures, rebels can end up in gangs or tied up with drugs.

A bit of rebellion is good, as far as it allows the boy to start thinking and making decisions for himself and beginning to face the consequence of actions. I have a theory about societies that stifle rebellion, such as the Philippines, where many boys are still very close to their parents and acting as altar boys into their twenties. Too often, the rebellion still comes along, and the later it is the more damage it generally does.

So we should not be too surprised by teenage boys choosing actions precisely to annoy their parents and so-called betters. But the IS offer is still pretty extreme, the consequences are plain for all to see, even impressionable kids.

Rebellion often comes from confusion. All teenagers face puberty, with new bodily sensations and societal expectations, while comforts such as parents seem to have lost some credibility and peers encourage new groupings. And confusion may be the key to understanding these kids.

The parents may have come to a new country, yet don’t seem to fit there or to be happy. They talk of the good things back home, but gloss over the bad things. The kids wonder why there are here and not there, especially as peers don’t fully accept them. Where is home?

The mosque is a complete mystery. The preaching talks of tolerance but seems to demand confrontation, even with other branches of the same faith. A lifestyle is recommended that few seem to follow, and those that do follow it don’t often feel like role models. The attitude to women and homosexuality seems to be out of touch with the world outside.

Then there is the school or college. People look askance at Moslems, there is a fear and a lack of due respect. And here the inconsistencies about women and sex are even more confusing to these growing bodies and minds. Women are meant to be demure and covered, yet those of other cultures stride around practically naked, and can deem liberated by it. Social media flirting is a complete mystery in the environment, and can feel shameful. If I am confused, my sisters seem even more so.

Finally there is the world outside. Back home there was a clientist regime holding back ordinary people, supposedly following Islam but buying weapons from the US as fast as it could. Then there was a so-called revolution, but a year later a new regime seems as bad as the old one. Most of the world paint Moslems as uneducated despite the Arab lands being the cradle of civilization and much of science. Politicians in France or the US talk of freedom yet demonstrate something very different. Some distant relatives are starving in refugee camps or trying to get on a boat across the Mediterranean. Another relative was killed, seemingly at random, by a US drone, a continuing practice that is hardly ever mentioned in the west.

All this must scream confusion across a whole generation of kids. Most will find a

relatively harmless way of rebelling and getting through it and emerging as good citizens and parents. But we should not be surprised if some don’t. And now I think I understand it better. The social campaigns of IS at least offer simplicity, a chance to stop the inner screams and confusion.

The kids are like western kids in many ways. They have the benefits and problems of social media. They play thoughtless games on their devices glorifying war and death and heroism, and see Hollywood movies of the same ilk. Fame seems to be available to all.  Some will see a chance to star in their very own movie.

So what does this suggest as solutions? Trying to bar or counter IS social media propaganda would surely be counter-productive. Branding Islam an enemy and using war talk will only goad them on. The goal must be to try to create a more positive alternative narrative for these kids.

That is not easy, but looking at each area of confusion there can be some ways forward. Somehow helping the parents and the mosques to make more sense of the contradictions would be great – Islam could really do with a figure like Pope Francis. Encouraging integration gently, through things like cricket and better- integrated schools, could go a long way. I read that taking lead out of petrol was a driver of reduced hooliganism, since lead made young male brains more volatile – perhaps another such opportunity is out there somewhere.

Best of all would be some more positive prospects, for college and jobs and housing and for the next generation, but that is not easy either. To their credit, many in the UK have spotted these opportunities and are painstakingly working to improve things, and these people deserve our support.

At a macro level, the trade offs are no easier. Syria can only be left to solve itself. The Sunni-Shia split will probably get worse before it gets better. Fewer drones and more dialogue and more support for building institutions will pay off eventually. The deal with Iran is a good start, assuming the cretins in congress don’t block it.

So IS social media is really no more powerful than earlier messages to rebels, be that flower power or Hitler youth. Some boys will want to rebel. The way forward is to provide a more attractive alternative narrative for vulnerable kids, tough as that can seem.

I’m pleased that I took time this week to try to put myself in the shoes of others – it helped me see this issue in a completely new light. I was helped by the movie "Four Lions" that I saw recently, a wonderful, funny, satire about young Moslems in the north of England, which captured the confusion and contradictions beautifully.