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BBC NEWS | World | Europe | French jihadis thrive on alienation

Posted on December 13th, 2005 by .
Categories: Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | French jihadis thrive on alienation

Writer Olivier Roy, author of Globalised Islam, says the main problem is not so much social deprivation as lack of a clear cultural identity.

“They have been uprooted,” he says. “They are alienated from traditional Islam and their parents.”

French policeman escorts a suspected Islamic radical in November 2005 in Bourges
French police frequently arrest suspected radicals in the suburbs
The young men who carried out the London bombings did not view themselves as members of the Pakistani community but as members of a radical Muslim Umma, Mr Roy notes.

“The same is happening in France,” he says.

No one knows exactly how many French Muslims have gone down the same route.

Yacine, a 17-year-old from Saint-Denis near Paris, reckons that five “out of more than 100 kids I know” have become radical.

This percentage seems in line with estimates from police, who believe that about 50 of France’s 1,600 mosques or prayer halls are under the influence of extremists.

Of course, not all radicals are prepared to take up arms. Mr Roy says the number of jihadis in France could be around 1,000.

Olivier Roy argues that the government is wrong to regard the global jihad primarily as a religious phenomenon. Some disaffected youths, he says, are attracted to al-Qaeda simply because of its fighting image.

“In the 1970s they would have joined the radical Left. Today they join radical Islam, both because they often have Muslim roots and because it is the main violent ideology available.”

If militants do not draw their force from Islam itself, putting Muslims under suspicion may not be the best strategy, Mr Roy argues.

French Police, however, feel they have no option but to continue monitoring the Islamic pool from which militants draw their recruits.

“In this field, either you are on top on things and then you barely manage to stop attacks, or you are not on top and then it is even harder to avert them,” Mr Berthomet says.

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