An online war for hearts and minds
BBC NEWS | Magazine | An online war for hearts and minds
This week a British Muslim website discussed how worried they were about how disenchanted young men can turn into “Wahaboys”, a term derived from Wahabism, the strict Saudi Arabian interpretation of Islam.
That came days after the killing of controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a suspected Islamist radical.
The events are entirely unrelated – but both point to a continental struggle for the direction of Muslim identity.
And, says Professor Gilles Kepel, the internet is playing an increasingly central part, if not the most important part, in this battle for hearts and minds.
“I think things are changing here and in Holland. There is anxiety that multiculturalism has given leeway to radical groups to build enclosed citadels, totally contrary to what the multiculturalists wanted.”