In a truly remarkable and historic speech, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron dealt head on with the issue of extremism today and what underlines it, whilst introducing his national Counter-Extremism Strategy.
"What we are fighting, in Islamist extremism, is an ideology. It is an extreme doctrine. And like any extreme doctrine, it is subversive. At its furthest end it seeks to destroy nation-states to invent its own barbaric realm. But you don't have to support violence to subscribe to certain intolerant ideas which create a climate in which extremists can flourish" said Mr Cameron and continued to also point to "ideas based on conspiracy: that Jews exercise malevolent power; or that Western powers, in concert with Israel, are deliberately humiliating Muslims, because they aim to destroy Islam. In this warped worldview, such conclusions are reached – that 9/11 was actually inspired by Mossad to provoke the invasion of Afghanistan; that British security services knew about 7/7, but didn't do anything about it because they wanted to provoke an anti-Muslim backlash."
He went on to speak about the misconceptions that people have about what causes extremism today, pointing out that it is not "because of historic injustices and recent wars, or because of poverty and hardship". People who use this argument should be reminded that 9/11 happened before the Iraq War and that many terrorists come from affluent families who were University educated, said Mr Cameron. So, it cannot be used as justification. "No, we must be clear. The root cause of the threat we face is the extremist ideology itself."
The British Prime Minister also spoke of the phenomenon of young people being drawn to this ideology and he said that "like any extreme doctrine, it can seem energising, especially to young people. They are watching videos that eulogise ISIL as a pioneering state taking on the world, that makes celebrities of violent murderers." He went on to say that "we must de-glamourise the extremist cause, especially ISIL. This is a group that throws people off buildings, that burns them alive, and as Channel 4's documentary last week showed, its men rape underage girls, and stone innocent women to death."
The speech could not be more honest also about the reality of what underpins this ideology. "It may begin with hearing about the so-called Jewish conspiracy and then develop into hostility to the West and fundamental liberal values, before finally becoming a cultish attachment to death." The British Prime Minister also spoke of the damage that "passive tolerance of practices" does to these communities and how groups and organisations must be confronted "that may not advocate violence, but which do promote other parts of the extremist narrative."
"If you say "violence in London isn't justified, but suicide bombs in Israel are a different matter" – then you too are part of the problem. Unwittingly or not, and in a lot of cases it's not unwittingly, you are providing succour to those who want to commit, or get others to commit to, violence."
"We must demand that people also condemn the wild conspiracy theories, the anti-Semitism, and the sectarianism too. Being tough on this is entirely keeping with our values. We should challenge every part of the hateful ideology spread by neo-Nazis – so why shouldn't we here?"
We are not sure if any other Prime Minister, with the exception of few, would have the bravely and courage to deal with this issue with so much wisdom but also honesty, so we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to Mr Cameron for doing so and for standing up for the truth.
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