Deradicalisation won’t work when hatred runs so deep

AS another Muslim teen is arrested in Sydney for allegedly planning a terrorist act, we need to wonder at the endless parade of boys willing to wage jihad, writes Miranda Devine.

Detectives from the Joint Counter-Terrorism Taskforce arrest terror accused Tamim Khaja yesterday. Photo courtesy of NSW Police

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AS another Muslim teenager is arrested in Sydney for allegedly planning an “imminent” terrorist act, we thank counter terrorism police for their vigilance.

But we also have to wonder at the seemingly endless parade of younger and younger men and boys — and increasingly women — willing to wage violent jihad — albeit still allegedly in this latest case.

Is there any way to reverse the ideological trend, or to “deradicalise” young minds already poisoned?

Sadly, according to the wonderful visiting Dutch-Somali author Ayaan Hirsi-Ali, and Sydney psychiatrist Tanveer Ahmed, more than a decade of expensive deradicalisation efforts have not lived up to their hype.

Psychiatrist Tanveer Ahmed. Picture: Simon Chillingworth

Dutch-Somali author Ayaan Hirsi-Ali, author of “Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now”. Picture: Harper Collins

Speaking yesterday at a forum organised by the Centre For Independent Studies, Ahmed said: “There is little deradicalisation that happens in Australia and the broader world. Consensus is that it is too difficult and we don’t know how to do it.”

But the idea that jihadi youngsters are instantly radicalised by social media is a furphy, he says. They are already primed for the message, and fuelled by feelings of grievance and victimhood.

Hirsi-Ali said that deradicalisation can’t be achieved when so many in the West “do not understand religion, let alone Islam.”

We are too afraid to even mention the word Islam when talking about terrorism, and deradicalisation programs don’t take religious ideology as seriously as they should.

To succeed, not just pay lip service to deradicalisation, we need to eliminate the distinction between extremists and moderates, and empower those within Islam who want to reform the religion away from violent intolerance.

Also, she says we need to combat the propaganda campaign waged around the world by Saudi Arabia and powerful Muslim groups such as the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation.

There was no instant panacea for the West, and the Donald Trump policy of banning Muslim migration was no solution.

The West needs to combat the tide of extremism, but Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s proposed ban on Muslim migration is not the answer. Picture: AP

It’s not all bad news. Ahmed said we are fortunate in Australia that our skilled immigration program seems not to have been a seed bed for Islamist terrorism. Unlike the American model of the well-educated, affluent terrorist, ours have come mainly from migrant or refugee families who were already anti-social and criminal. That tells us something about how to tailor future migration.

Warren Brown’s take on the recent arrest by counter terrorism police.