Radical Islamism is a growing threat in Europe and all over the world but Islam is not the real problem. What we saw in Paris is just the latest case of an alarming trend that risks alienating more and more youths who feel that they are being denied the access to equal opportunities.
They feel like the doors to mainstream society are shut to them kicking off a self perpetuating process of self alienation from the “rest”, pushing them further apart till a point in which they begin to reject any byproducts from mainstream society.
Probably for them society is not inclusive enough. Its values are no more representatives of what these youths feel, like, believe or think.
It might seem ironic and certainly not a way to justify their methods but the perpetrators of such violent acts are the victims of an increased unfair and unequal way of living.
The real problem is the increasing sense of alienation and isolation faced by youth not only in Europe but all over the world. Wherever there is alienation, youth lack an environment conducive for their own self-empowerment and consequentially they easily fall prey to forms of radicalism and extremism.
When they have no access to local assets, when there is a scarcity of opportunities, no jobs, the overall level of frustration grows. The youth are left with no options but joining new groups that, by offering hope and a new sense of urgency, are pushing them to embrace a new narrative of the world that clashes with the current values and principles at the cornerstone of our societies.
In these situations the role played out by personal identities are paramount as they are continuously kept shaken up by local circumstances and vicissitudes and local realities.
To start with, your belonging plays a very important role in shaping your identity. Your family and the way you grow up are also essential in determining who you are and most importantly who you feel to be and the way you behave and another dimension often neglected, how you want others to perceive you. If you grow in a violent environment either at home or in the streets of your neighborhood, certainly you have fewer chances to emerge and succeed in life.
Identities are not set in stone. They can evolve and change. A changed identity, for the good or for the bad, produces a definitive impact in the way a person lives as you simply end up acting differently.
Radicalism and extremism of all forms and shapes are the cancer through which these youth channel out their new acquired sense of identity or, seen from a different perspective, their loss of identity stemming from an increased sense of alienation.
Different are the platforms you can choose from to express your radical thinking and behaving.
Religion is probably one of the major but not the only medium to transfer people’s frustration and sense of alienation. Interesting, sports offer also another way of channeling your loss of identity often accompanied with a sense of frustration and alienation: just see the huge difference between a basketball or baseball match played in North America and a football match in Europe. In the former, the match is a family celebration a bit like “attending” (not simply watching) cricket matches while in the latter the football arenas have been become a beacon of hatred and racism. In short by attending a football match, you do not spend quality time with your family, you shout out your anger through various forms and acts of vandalism.
If religion offers spiritual and moral relief from isolation and a lost sense of belonging and sport provides more entertaining fanaticism for your team and exaggerated forms of antagonism close to hatred towards the opponents, at the political level populist parties play their own specific role.
Populist political platforms are emerging and getting stronger in most of the EU countries offering new forms for people to vent out their frustration within the political arena.
Populist parties, though often despicable in their aims and ambitions, play out a very important role within the democratic framework as long as mainstream politics either of center right or center left are able to offer suitable and attractive alternatives.
The problem arises when “traditional” parties are unable to offer such a different narrative to those parts of the population attracted by populist parties either because they are in real distress or just because they have a perception of being at risk and losing out.
Radical believing in one faith, fanatic sport attitudes and populism play out at different levels and with different features a cathartic role for people facing different forms of alienation. I would define all of them as offering “negative agencies”.
The problem is not the lack of rights but rather having less and less opportunities to succeed, feeling satisfied about your life and work and being able to emerge, not to become someone “big” but just an active, responsible citizen who lives in dignity and with self respect.
To be continued at http://sharing4good.org/article/volunteerism-against-radicalism-part-ii
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