Jihadis use the internet to wage jihad... or not exactly. A British study found that Western sources continually overstated e-Qaeda fears. Instead offline support is by far the most powerful mobilizing factor.
[Wired:] the study suggested fears about the radicalizing power of the Internet appeared misplaced. Peter Neumann, head of the ICSR, said there had been only four or five reported cases across Europe where the process had taken place wholly online.
The International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence (ICSR) finds that
Self-radicalisation and self-recruitment via the internet with little or no relation to the outside world rarely happens, and there is no reason to suppose that this situation will change in the near future...
The problem is misapplying technological methods to address political problems.
There's more:
there continues to be little evidence to support the contention that the internet plays a dominant role in the process of radicalisation. The case of Younis Tsouli, better known as ‘Irhabi007’ (‘terrorist007’), who joined
a number of popular web forums in early 2004 and quickly emerged as the undisputed superstar of ‘jihadism online’, received so much attention precisely because it represented an exception.
a number of popular web forums in early 2004 and quickly emerged as the undisputed superstar of ‘jihadism online’, received so much attention precisely because it represented an exception.
(thanks to Todd Bryant)
This seems right to me - that ejihadis are a small minority among Muslims online, and it is not the fearsome tool the cyberfearmongers would have us believe. I suspect Muslims online are better represented in this project: http://dancinginkproductions.com/?page_id=80
Posted by: Ed Webb | March 21, 2009 at 14:13