Many media writers and pundits alike are keen, and quick to blame the West for the rise of terrorist organisations like Islamic State and al-Qaeda.
But political commentator Daryl McCann rightly asks: “does this self-abnegatio
n actually bring us closer to understanding the phenomenon of Salafi jihadism and the IS group in particular?”
It does not, as McCann goes on to explain.
McCann paraphrases Bernard Lewis, stating that to blame the West for all of the world’s ills is just as chauvinistic and arrogant as claiming that the West is responsible for everything that is good. This is precisely the same prejudice, but turned “upside down.”
It is this kind of prejudice that tries to find something to blame for the rise of militant Islam, whether it is the United States invasion of Iraq, the existence of the state of Israel, or even the West’s defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I.
And it is this kind of prejudiced and racist attitude that expects less from non-Westerners in behavior, conduct and self-determination.
Furthermore, the reality is that there is enough of a tradition and precedent in Islam to explain the rise of IS without needing to revert to a Western and outside source.
While the West is not responsible for the rise and the actions of the Islamic State, we are responsible for how we respond to it.
The West must remain steadfast in its condemnation of IS, and we must continue to refute its moral and political basis. We also must remain steadfast in our resolve to resist is, to project the innocent victims of its actions, and ultimately defeat it.
