The biggest issue that worries the entire world is that of extremism, violence, and terrorism. Yet, it is the issue that the world deliberately avoids treating its original source and real causes, and goes every time to try to treat the results using lethal weapons.
By treating the issue this way, whether the world knows or does not know, it is sowing the seeds of new extremism and violence and will necessarily lead to bloody terrorism that undermines the gains of human civilization and the values of peace, security and human rights. It also makes the world revolve in a vicious circle that does not reach a safe end.
Many human experiences have proven that extremism and terrorism were never seeds, but were always the rotten fruits of a complex interaction between historical injustices, social and economic disparities, and political interventions that lack wisdom, integrity, and the values of justice and equality.
If the world, which today celebrates the “the International Day for the Prevention of Violent Extremism as and when Conducive to Terrorism,” is serious about eliminating these toxic plants, then it must work to eliminate their roots.
This requires finding out the real causes of extremism and violence, and the role of some countries in the world in sponsoring the same threats that they seek to eliminate. Failing to do so will result in the phenomenon revolving around itself, and the world will witness forms of “plants and fruits” of terrorism that are more extreme and capable of destroying human civilizational gains.
The most destructive extremism emerges from the state of despair that man reaches, and the alienation in his home. This extremism feeds on the grievances of the marginalised and the downtrodden who lose all means of livelihood and dignity due to the absence of true human values and principles of the global system, and find themselves on the margins of prosperity, security and peace, without them feeling it.
The roots of despair and alienation that ignite the embers of extremism and violence are deep and diverse in many societies and go back to colonial periods. And it continues today through economic exploitation, and flourishes amidst contemporary geopolitical strategies that support countries and political entities in the complete absence of the values of justice and equality.
In this context, we can review the reasons behind the emergence of terrorist organisations such as ISIS in Iraq in order to understand the paths of the existence of violence, extremism, and terrorism.
The organisation arose under Western interventions that came under the guise of the illusion of spreading democracy. The difficult circumstances that Iraq experienced in light of the American/British invasion, in which the Iraqis lost all means of living with dignity and all horizons of the future, led to the strengthening of extremism and violence, which over time led to a highly 'extremist' version of terrorism. That version was later fed by various countries of the world and took the path that everyone now is aware of.
What happened in Iraq left scars that cannot be erased from the memory of Iraqis, Arabs and Muslims, scars that perpetuate hostilities and turn over time into cycles of violence and extremism.
Starving people and widening the gap between the rich and the poor within and between countries create a class division that is susceptible to building extremist and violent tendencies at the moment when a person feels that his economic rights have been taken away and he has no hope of obtaining them.
This is not for reasons related to him personally, but rather as a result of the values that were adopted by the society to which he/she belongs. At this moment when he/she feels despair, all they find before them is violence and extremism, and feelings of hatred rage within them leading to terrorist acts.
If the ideological trends and some of the values of globalisation and the modern Western neoliberalism, in which state control is absent in favor of private sector institutions, are trends that sometimes fuel extremism as a result of the absence of justice, equality, and human dignity, they also pave the way for the community of arms manufacturers and dealers to play a fundamental role in stimulating violence, extremism, and terrorism by drowning troubled areas with weapons.
Some developed countries indirectly contribute to perpetuating the conflict for reasons related to the economy and building new geostrategic balances. This is clearly revealing how economic interests often trump the pursuit of peace, which appears in flashy slogans without being present in practice.
At this historical moment when the world is experiencing a digital revolution, social media and artificial intelligence applications are playing a malicious role in fueling violence and extremism and calling for terrorism at a time when they could have played a different role by increasing awareness and disseminating the values of education and enlightenment.
Adopting the idea of ‘us versus them’ which strips the other person of his humanity and justify aggression as presently taking place during the war waged by the Zionist entity on the Gaza Strip where the West supports the aggression stripping the Palestinians of their humanity in search of justifications for the aggression even though it has gone beyond the definition of terrorism to a level worse than genocide.
For many years, Israeli and Western narratives have sought to manipulate information and spread misleading data which contributed to building an atmosphere characterised by fear of others and hatred all of which feed the Western citizen’s view of the Palestinian people.
Addressing the roots of extremism and violence in today’s world requires a multi-faceted approach that surpasses military solutions that failed to eradicate terrorism or remove feelings of hatred but heightened tension instead. Any serious treatment requires re-evaluating foreign policies that prefer military intervention to diplomatic action. The world must move towards enhancing understanding and dialogue between cultures, addressing the lack of social and economic inequality that generates despair, restoring rights to their owners including the right to land, homeland, history and dignity. All those steps can lead to peace.
In today’s world there are many international experiences that deserve a serious pause to study them in depth and to find out how they were able to build a society free of all forms of extremism and intolerance and consequently terrorism.
Among these models, it is possible to study the Omani experience that managed to achieve a society free of any manifestations of extremism and terrorism. This experience is not the result of the past few decades but rather the result of long centuries in which the Omani state endeavoured to establish the principles of justice and the values of equality and to incite a sense of true partnership in the homeland and on the paths of the future.
Therefore, there is no mention in history books of a conflict that broke out in Oman for an ideological or sectarian reason. This matter is deeply rooted in Omani society until Oman became known as a country completely free of terrorism despite being in the middle of a region filled with variables and conflicts and not devoid of extremism, violence and terrorism in many periods of time.
Despite the values established by the Omani society, the matter was not left without legal restrictions.
Hence, all ideas of extremism and violence were criminalised in the Omani laws since the dawn of modern renaissance prior to which they were criminalised by the customs and values of the society and in its religious texts from which it derives these values and principles. Years ago, an independent Omani law was enacted to combat terrorism.
A national committee was formed to combat terrorism and another was formed to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. With the Omanis feeling that their dignity in their homeland is preserved and that they live in a society governed by the values of justice and equality, all causes of extremism and violence are non-existent making Oman a country of zero-terrorism since the onset of the Global Terrorism Index to date.
The Omani experience deserves to be studied globally and lessons should be drawn from it. Although some countries call for combating violence, extremism and terrorism but at the same time water and nourish its seeds and they know how to eradicate it completely and the Omani lesson is clear to them, however they are unwilling to try it for reasons pertaining to their immediate agendas and gains.
The path to eliminating extremism and violence is fraught with challenges and requires a qualitative shift in the way countries interact with each other and with their citizens.
It entails embracing the principles of respect, justice, fairness, and equality so that they become the guiding values for actions taken by the international community and its global system.
The same path requires further understanding of the historical, economic and social factors that fuel the phenomena of violence, extremism and terrorism.
That’s because this understanding alone can contribute to dismantling complex extremist networks and moving seriously towards a more just and stable world.
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