To de-radicalise from within

Typically, any de-radicalisation strategy faces obstacles and resistance from within the society. However, the major obstacle to any strategy is the first steps that show the level of determination, seriousness and willingness of the government to achieve the target of having a less radicalised society and save the coming generations from being victims of such ideologies.

Each country has its own model of radicalism that needs to be analysed carefully; short and long-term risks also need to be assessed.

The factors that make any de-radicalisation process somehow difficult are many.

In his masterpiece “The Prince”, Machiavelli described change in society as one of the most difficult missions.

He said: “There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”

It is important to ask why people get radicalised and why a huge number of terrorists comes from specific areas although this is a globally shared challenge today.

Is it a trend in the Arab and Muslim countries? Or is it a global phenomenon?

Numbers show that the number of radicalised individuals who join terrorist groups is much higher in the Arab world.

Analysing the phenomenon would lead to the conclusion that for those who feel that they have no future and no role in the building of their future it is much easier to escape from reality and join a self-made utopian life based on the concept of “life starts after death”.

What Jordan needs today is to focus on giving a better cultural life to people, especially children and youth.

It is time to make people feel more productive and appreciated. Maybe it is time to adopt new models of development, such as “cooperatives”, that might save people from being economically dependent and turn them from being solely consumers to becoming producers.

There is need of microeconomic projects, agriculture and, above all, activities that make people interact positively with the place they are living in.

Being able to give hope to people, make them feel that they are building their future is the real challenge that should be faced courageously.

All decision makers should remember that with the declaration of the caliphate by Daesh, the whole war against terrorism has taken a new dimension, to include the cultural and intellectual war against radicalisation.

Daesh made a global open invitation to followers that is not limited to those who believe in its ideology, but also to those who suffer from political oppression, economic frustration, social problems, failure of an integration policy and even those who have no chance to live their life positively.

Therefore, meetings, talks and slogans alone cannot face this serious problem. What is needed is action that can have a direct impact on people’s life.

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