Punched in the gut. That is how I felt after hearing of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, the blasts in Yemen that killed over 37, and the massacre of hundreds, perhaps thousands, perpetrated by Boko Haram. If this was the way 2015 was starting, I was ready to crawl back into 2014.
Moments like this can overwhelm us with hopelessness. They can also trigger our anger and condemnation, to the point of wanting to ‘eliminate’ all the ‘bad guys’. We can judge, retaliate, even assassinate, but what do we achieve? Does that bring our loved ones back? And more importantly, does it prevent future acts of violence?
{mosads}Until we make a conscious effort to understand the drivers of violent extremism, and recognize that no one is born a terrorist, we won’t be able to prevent future tragedies.
What we do know is that violence towards those committed to carrying out violent acts does not work. The last 15 years of efforts to combat violent extremism through violent means has neither curtailed such violence, nor prevented the risk of more of it. The only way forward is to understand what leads someone to commit such acts, and prevent them from making that choice.
Driving Factors
No one is born a ‘terrorist’. I believe that there are both push and pull factors that drive a person to choose violence. The first push us towards a mindset that leaves us vulnerable to outside influence; the second pull us towards something that responds to unmet needs.
“There’s a reason that murderous hatred has to be taught – and not just taught, but forcibly implanted“, wrote Zak Ebrahim, the son of one of the planners of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. “It’s not a naturally occurring phenomenon. It is a lie. It is a lie told over and over again — often to people who have no resources and who are denied alternative views of the world.”
Push factors include social, economic and political oppression, humiliation, and marginalization. It’s the feeling that you don’t matter, that you don’t count. Just like the reasons high school students who are relentlessly bullied bring a gun to class. Let me be clear: there are no excuses or justifications for this type of inhuman violence. But imagine how much harder it would be for extremist recruiters to convince you to hurt those who love, accept, and take care of you. Being persuaded to harm someone who ostracizes you is much easier.
This leads me to pull factors. When we don’t find answers to the injustices and double standards in our world and feel powerless to change the ‘system’, we are vulnerable to groups that promise heroism through violence. We want our chance to matter, to be respected, to be a hero. Pull factors offer a sense of community and identity.
And when that identity is based on hatred of another group, who is gradually dehumanized, the stage is set for violence.
Former Islamic extremist Maajid Nawaz refers to a “strange fetish between the hater and the hated” in his book “Radical – My Journey out of Islamist Extremism.” “It is a relationship that the hater will do everything in vain to deny, yet one he cannot quite shed. It is also a relationship that the object of hate will act incredulous to, yet cannot quite help but to douse with fuel on occasion. And what was lost upon us all was that by defining ourselves against something, we were in fact defining ourselves BY it,”writes Nawaz.
When our search for a positive, meaningful sense of self crumbles, leaving us with an identity which seeks only to be against something, the door to violence swings wide open. Tackling these push and pull factors opens a door to opportunity, self-esteem and community engagement.
I know it because I have seen it, through the impact of the organization that I have the privilege of working at, Search for Common Ground. We’ve seen how collaborative approaches yield results, and where adversarial ones fail.
The Proof
Last week for work, I was in Pakistan, where people continue to grieve for the loss of 134 children and ten adults who were killed in their classrooms by Taliban militants in Peshawar on the 16th of December. Pakistanis told me that they knew military solutions alone could never bring about lasting peace. I met with a young student from conflict-torn Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, who told me how he’d been able to bring people together to talk about their conflicts.
“People don’t have the opportunity to hear different points of view,” he explained. “They begin to think that there is only one version of the truth, theirs. It’s important to give everybody a space to express their perspective, and hear others’ truths.”
In Indonesia, terrorism hit the headlines in 2002, when the Bali bombing killed 202 and injured another 204. Over the last 10 years, the government has used various tactics to crack down on terrorist networks and has arrested more than 800 suspects. But sometimes, alleged abuses by the counter-terrorism unit Densus 88 have been cited as contributing to more sympathy for the suspected terrorists.
When terrorists are arrested, there is concern that these prisoners may be further hardening their extremist views and recruiting others. In response, together with the government, our Indonesian team of Search for Common Ground is cooperating with the Correctional Services to facilitate programs which shift people towards greater tolerance and understanding. We are carrying out a similar initiative in Morocco, where we collaborate with the government in 70 percent of the prisons. Part of the program involves religious leaders, who have been through Common Ground trainings and engage with inmates on issues of identity and self-esteem.
You could say we’re using pull factors to our advantage, enabling convicted terrorists and other convicts to find a new source of strength, and to feel proud of themselves in being tolerant to differences. We’ve seen hardened, extremist prisoners abandon hatred and violent intentions, taking up the torch of tolerance.
Behind each and every act of violence, there is a human being who makes choices each and every day. “A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes,” wrote Gandhi.
In Krygyzstan, we address push and pull factors to counter terrorist recruitment and operations before they begin. By convening a Consultative Working Group with key government ministries, the security forces and religious institutions, we explore the roots and potential triggers for violent extremism, and find solutions to prevent it. The group’s recommendations are leading to educational programs, security forces training, and the elaboration of effective policies and laws regulating religious affairs. Not all the parties around the table always agree, but with the support of our facilitation, they’re listening to each other, identifying commonalities, and acting together. That’s progress.
No one is born a killer. No one is born a terrorist. It is a choice, and new choices can be made each and every day.
Slachmuijlder is the vice president of Programs at Search for Common Ground.