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Islamist groups develop new recruiting strategies
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21 January 2005
Islamist groups develop new recruiting strategies
By Jeffrey Cozzens
Developments in propaganda and recruitment by Islamist groups are having an effect on the composition of new members joining radical movements in the West and elsewhere.
Analysis of recent trends in the recruitment of members into militant Islamist groups suggests several significant developments that are having an impact on the composition of jihadist cells. These developments include the use of passive and active propaganda to spread the idea of jihad, an increase in the number of members 'joining' versus being 'recruited', the strategic importance of Western operatives and the increasing use of female operatives.
Passive propaganda, carried out by groups associated with what Dr Marc Sageman, from the University of Pennsylvania in the US, has called the Global Salafist Jihad, is closely related to the root causes of Islamist violence.
A good example of passive propaganda involves the use of websites to propagate Salafism as a means of countering the ills afflicting Muslim communities worldwide. These ills, both real and perceived, include the relative deprivation and social dislocation some Muslim immigrants attempting to adjust to life in liberal Western democracies have experienced, ranging from abhorrence of Western culture to a loss of collective identity.
They also include global awareness of regional conflicts that pit Muslims against non-Muslims and the resultant globalisation of Muslim suffering - such as that being experienced in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the conflicts in Afghanistan and Chechnya and, especially, Iraq. For many in the Islamic world, the ills also involve alienation from Muslim regimes, whether because of their apparent failure to holistically rule by Sharia law, their often harsh internal security measures, or because of a believed deviance from Islamic piety in favour of excessive lifestyles.
According to these propaganda websites, as well as chat forums and videos, there are two ways to remedy these grievances. The first involves working to re-establish the rule of the Khalifa in order to prepare for the future consolidation of the Islamic state and conquest of non-Muslim Dar al-Harb lands and by participating in jihad in non-Western conflict zones.
The second is violent jihad against all 'enemies of Islam', as advocated by Al-Qaeda. Online videos of jihadists in combat often accompany such a call to arms, whether the conflict is in Afghanistan, Chechnya or Iraq.
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