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Nafeez
Please do not read what follows as an attack on you. I value the depth of your research and your commitment to the defence of demonised minorities. Also, I know that to have any chance of being taken seriously by ‘The Establishment’ (for want of a more precise term) you have to at least give the impression of respecting the boundaries of acceptable discourse set by it. Those boundaries may not be promulgated ’10 commandments’ style, but everyone involved in mainstream political discourse in this country understands them as though they were. Step outside and you become persona-non-grata – A Norman Finkelstein to Zionist Israel say – a ‘Conspiracist’, or several other shades of otherwise meaningless ‘don’t pay any attention to him’ pejoratives.
Your piece makes for an interesting academic read – understandable enough considering its original intended readership. However IMHO it suffers from one crippling assumption which, like zillions of well-intentioned left-wing activists before you, risks rendering you and it eminently co-optible by the very forces you rightly seek to expose as stupid, corrupt, vicious etc etc. That assumption (the premise of the entire piece) is implicit in your apparent acceptance of the main plank of ‘The Establishment’ framework for debate about ‘radicalisation’ and ‘violent extremism’ – namely that there is any real and genuine desire to prevent it.
My view, supported by vast amounts of ‘elephant-in-the-room’ evidence, is that ‘The Establishment’ are not stupid in their corrupt viciousness; rather they are purist Machiavellian. They are determined to cultivate, control and use ‘radical extremists’ to precisely calibrate the level of terrorist threat needed to pursue the real and near totally hidden agenda of the Anglo/US/NATO Imperial project.
Please don’t let yourself become an unwitting dupe.