[Discussion] Zeyno Baran kim bilen var mi?

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 17:38:49 +0300

Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20051101faessay84607/zeyno-baran/fighting-the-war-of-ideas.html?mode=print

Fighting the War of Ideas
Zeyno Baran

>From Foreign Affairs, November/December 2005

Article preview: first 500 of 3,858 words total.
Summary: While radical Islamist terrorist groups such as al Qaeda grab the
headlines, their nonviolent ideological cousins remain little known. But groups
such as Hizb ut-Tahrir play a crucial role in indoctrinating Muslims with
radical ideology. Because they occupy a gray zone of militancy, regulating them
is a diffcult challenge for liberal democracies -- but ignoring them is no
longer an option.

ZEYNO BARAN is Director of the International Security and Energy Programs at the
Nixon Center, in Washington, D.C.

VANGUARD PARTY

Islam and the West are not engaged in a clash of civilizations -- at least not
yet. But the West is being drawn into the clash of two competing ideologies
within the Islamic world. Proponents of the first believe that Islam is
compatible with secular democracy and basic civil liberties. Proponents of the
second are committed to replacing the current world order with a new caliphate
-- that is, a global Islamic state. They are the ones who seek to trigger a true
clash of civilizations, partly in order to force the more moderate Muslims to
choose their interpretation of Islam.

Extremist Islamist organizations such as al Qaeda have become well known in
recent years for trying to accomplish their objectives through terrorism and
political violence. Less well known, however, are the complementary
organizations devoted not to direct action but to ideological struggle. Of
these, the most important has been Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT, or the Party of
Liberation), a transnational movement that has served as radical Sunni
Islamism's ideological vanguard.

HT is not itself a terrorist organization, but it can usefully be thought of as
a conveyor belt for terrorists. It indoctrinates individuals with radical
ideology, priming them for recruitment by more extreme organizations where they
can take part in actual operations. By combining fascist rhetoric, Leninist
strategy, and Western sloganeering with Wahhabi theology, HT has made itself
into a very real and potent threat that is extremely difficult for liberal
societies to counter.

HT's ideology and theology, which are derived from those of other radical
Islamist groups, are simplified to make them more accessible to the masses.
Whereas many other Islamist groups insist that their particular religious
interpretation is the only valid one or are obsessed with a single issue, such
as Israel or Kashmir, HT keeps its focus on the broader goal of uniting all
Muslims under the Islamist banner and thus emphasizes issues of more general
concern, such as the clash of civilizations or the injustices suffered by
Muslims worldwide. Other radical Islamists therefore tend to see the group not
as a competitor but as an ally and often use HT's concepts and literature
(readily available on the Internet) to rally their own supporters.

HT's greatest achievement to date is that it has shifted the terms of debate
within the Muslim world. Until a few years ago, most Islamist groups considered
the notion of establishing a new caliphate a utopian goal. Now, an increasing
number of people consider it a serious objective. And after decades of stressing
the existence and unity of a global Islamic community (umma), HT can take pride
in the growing feeling among Muslims that their primary identity stems from, and
their primary loyalty is owed to, their religion rather than their race,
ethnicity, or nationality.

HT's exact size is difficult to confirm because the group is composed of
secretive cells, but its membership is estimated to number in the hundreds in
European countries, such as Denmark, and up to tens of thousands in Muslim
countries, such as . . .