Why People Join Extremist Organizations

"People join extremists organisations for quite a number of reasons. Some - especially those locally recruited - mostly join for economic benefits." Mahdi Abdile is Finn Church Aid’s Regional Representative for East and Southern Africa. European Institute of Peace.

In countries where opportunities are scarce, weak governments and unprotected human rights, terrorism is an opportunity for destabilizing the status quo. Somalia, 27% joined al Shabab for economic reasons and 15% mentioned religious reasons. Once established 13% were forced to join.


Simon Cottee writes in The Atlantic "Since the 1980s, (the idea it is driven by individual pathology) has fallen into disrepute, and the scholarly consensus now holds that the roots of terrorism lie not in the individual, but in the wider circumstances in which terrorists live and act."

Noam Chomsky warns in an Alternet article, a false flag terror attack could be staged as Donald Trump supporters realize  he can't fulfill his promises.  

Between, inequality, despair and corruption, terrorism is a strategy for those who have power over the masses  to further alienate people from peaceful civil structures to centralize power, further the feelings of powerlessness and create new (or old) scapegoats.

 

We Don't Want Prosperity or Justice

Usually, all it takes is 30-40% of the population to determine the outcomes of our democracy. Less than half the population who have  chosen gadgets and toys above clean water, clean air, or good health. 40% who are not interested in equality, because, if they look closely at their preferences,  what they (we) want is superiority.

Superiority is a fantasy of being part of a tribe, race or nation that is wealthier, more intelligent, of good breeding, who are entitled to control others.

Political parties who claim to want equality have to be so careful how they phrase that. The word itself diminishes the hope of "getting ahead", "being on top", "control". Equality is a threat to the  massaged ego looking for any opportunity to win. How can anyone or anything prove itself in a world that values all?

There are many literary references to this ego. Othello, Death of a Salesman, and countless TV dramas.  George Orwell, Margaret Atwood, among many others, have offered the cautionary tale. Public intellectuals and journalists such as Chris Hedges, Noam Chomski, Naomi Klein, write about the cost of inequality, elitism and abuse of power.

Yet back in the early sixties Tommy Douglas managed to get medicare for the Canadian public, and CBC managed to broadcast the voices of ordinary people across Canada.  This was not too long after WWII where the call for equality and social justice was seen as a way to avoid the horrors of fascism that feeds off the vulnerable isolated people, in a world that values power more than justice and sustainability.

All that we have is under threat because of the ambitions of men and the rising gap between haves and have-nots. The battle is between the personal fantasies of our elite and the masses who have been robbed.

Trump's ability to win an election was because he had money, contacts, and a lack of conscience as he used every trick to divide and conquer the masses who are competing for survival.

To the ego that is so badly damaged through poverty, abuse and neglect, this feels like somebody will fix it all. This is what got Hitler elected and the result was death, torture and the destruction of an entire continent. The cost was millions of lives, herculean battles against despair, humility and cooperation.

Here we are facing this threat again and people can't be reached through facts, reason, justice or debate. As we look upon another election that threatens to return more power to large corporations, in a business climate that shows no conscience, willing to destroy the planet for the sake of profit, it appears as though we are ready to hand the reins again to the exclusive promise of jobs and the economy.

"Jobs and economy" has now moved away from living wages and healthy families, and is now shorthand for selling all of creation to the bottom line, sacrificing humanity to the tricksters of greed. We shall get sick in body and mind, angry and alienated from family and neighbours, in our pursuit of wealth.  We shall be starved of joy and peace, in a continual state of homelessness where violence and crime destabilize police forces, health care and education. And those human values dismissed as naive while politicians and business people think like lizards to compete for your vote.

How can we reach the emotions and integrity of those for whom politics is either an entertainment, irrelevant or a mystery?  How can we get the disenfranchised to care about what is really happening so they can see how their vulnerability is played against them?

For justice to find its voice, we have to care enough to read against ourselves. To find a way of resisting against the swamp like arguments and resurrect hope, compassion and cooperation for the greater good.

It's the worship of power that alienates us from our own power

I grew up believing that, to be a success, I had to emulate the rich and famous people on television and movies, as they presented themselves in public - for surely that is exactly who they are.

An incredible assumption isn't it?

In one of the teen magazines I filled out a questionnaire which told me this was the way to find out who I am.

The conclusion was that I was shallow! I was shocked because the people I looked to for advice said, I thought too much, I was too serious, and the boys would not like me because of that.

At the time I had no idea of how power worked. I thought you had it or you didn't, and if you didn't others would wipe the floor with you. In defence of that I decided to stand strong and not let anyone push me around. What I couldn't see was how others actually saw me.  Many years later, after many mistakes and several bouts of depression, I realized I appeared snobbish and cold.

So I re-masked myself, drew in some confidence and went out to learn how the world works and how to be effective in whatever I choose to do.   I thought power came from outside, from society, from friends and peers, from co-workers and managers. But I remained convinced that I had to look tough and never cry. Never, ever cry, for that is the worst thing you can do. Worse than killing birds and spiders. Worse than cheating on your taxes. Worse than letting someone put you down without a brilliant comeback.

As much as I wanted to be well liked, I was simply shallow. My self-esteem was non-existent. To be somebody I sought the approval of those around me. After giving birth to my first child I realized I was not the centre of the universe and that was a good thing. After my second child I learned that love is a more endurable power than fear. After my third child I learned that I was not in control and that was a good thing.

The world was not a series of headlines, television shows, actors and anchors - the world was the family, the neighbours, the friends and supports around me. I learned to think differently about power.

I could see that the headmistress in my last school had power in the way she encouraged me to develop some confidence. The Victorian Order of Nurses had power - for they gave me time to ask difficult questions about caring for my babies and myself without fear they would be taken away from me.

My partner and father of my children had power in all the ways he supported and loved us all. My friends had power in the ways they were authentic, caring people.

The world of power revealed it was an interdependent web. Whenever I sought position for my ego I became fractured and brittle. Whenever I thought of this world as a place where I could contribute my voice, my wisdom, my ideas, I discovered I was often wrong. But that was okay because I learned from mistakes.

My ego was powerless in all its appetites and vanities. This life that I call mine, is not really mine. It is the result of something that began billions of years ago. It is connected, dependent upon and subject to my own conscience. Social responsibility is embedded in all that before and all that will come after this short life.

Now as the human world is revealed through politics, wealth, fame and violence, it  forgets its own embedded opportunities to sustain itself and the planet it lives on, for the sake of power as a zero sum game.  And its this that is destroying us.

We must give up this worship to find our power within the web of life, which is desperately trying to reach us.

The Mycelium Party

I think it might be time to create another new political party called the Mycelium Movement. 

The emphasis of governing principles being about control has turned the best of human nature into a reductionist cruelty. 

Those at the 'top' find ways to restrict freedom, contain life, rather than encourage it. Political leaders must fall into the machinery of external control and use whatever powers they have to win from it. This is like negotiating with a tape worm growing inside you.

Of course the language is prettied up and sanitized by phrases such as "jobs and economy", or even "social justice". These notions imply we must fit into a thing instead of building on an idea. Originally the terms had positive meanings but have been corrupted so much they mean something else entirely.

Hegemony has spread in and over our imaginations. Being well adjusted has meant our own creative ideas take the back seat in a dark corner.

Many great thinkers know that we thrive on love. Great religions have focused on love as a binding  covenant. But love has been ridiculed, reduced and dismissed where all the operative functions of civil society somehow are sinking beneath some form of violence - war, weapons, threats, misogyny, machismo, and the marketing of a proscribed rationality.

How will our spirits grow and branch out to conversations so that we can accept compassion and non-violence as a measure of our "economy".

Evensong for the night before elections

This is the night before an election where we shall choose a future for the people and the planet on which they depend, or corporations and profit.

The future for people is fraught with complexity, darkness, and light. The future for corporations and profit will be a continual move towards death, war and poverty.

May we have the fortitude and insight to choose the former, even as those who are our leaders may not realize the gravity of their positions.

Eyewear: Fortnight Prize for Best Poem Every 14 days

Ends on May 10, 2017

 £7.00 GBP

The Fortnight New Poem Prize is meant to celebrate poetry in a fast-paced digital world,

where too often prizes are entered with interminable waiting times between submission and result. For this prize, any original, English-language poem written by the author is eligible, even one that has appeared in print before (online or on paper, for instance). The poem must be less than 70 lines long, and must have been written or published in the year of submission. All poets are eligible to enter, 18 or over, so long as they do not work for Eyewear Publishing or are related to anyone employed at the company. Poems can be submitted for seven days, and then a shortlist of the 14 best poems is announced on our widely-read website (archived by the British Library). The winner is announced a fortnight from commencement of the prize, and they are paid the same day by PayPal invoice. The prize is £140 and publication on our world-famous blog. All rights remain with the poet. Poets may submit up to 7 poems for the fee of £7.

THE JUDGE: Dr Todd Swift, Writer-in-residence, Pembroke College, Cambridge, and Director of Eyewear.

Only one bear in a hundred bites, but they don't come in order

Video by Bob Bossin and Paul Grignon