Fundamentalism for Dummies: The Paris Terrorists’ Ignorance and Poverty

Akil N. Awan decries Fundamentalism for Dummies: The Paris Terrorists’ Ignorance and Poverty.

Cherif Kouachi’s lawyer described his client in 2005 as “a confused chameleon.” This is an apt description of the identity crisis commonly experienced by many jihadists, and can be explained through a process I call dual cultural alterity—essentially a double alienation from both minority (ethnic or parental) culture, and majority (mainstream or host society) culture, as a result of being unable or unwilling to fulfill either group’s normative expectations. This can lead to the cultural schizophrenia that Cherif’s lawyer describes, and is likely to inspire feelings of uprootedness and a lack of belonging.

Consequently, in the absence of an appealing cultural paradigm from either parents or mainstream society, religion becomes, by default, the principal anchor of identity. Religion provides an emphatic rejoinder to the identity offered by Western society, which these individuals feel has already rejected them anyway, and it is easy to understand why. In France, Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons reflected a broader palpable rise in anti-Muslim and anti-immigration sentiment. Leaving aside the lampooning of religious figures, many cartoons depicted ordinary French Muslims and other minority groups in a way that was at best, tasteless, and at worst, revelatory of an underlying French racism that is implicitly tolerated. The magazine once depicted French justice minister Christiane Taubira, who is black, as a monkey (although later claiming it was mocking her detractors).

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Capitalist society reduces workers to human resources who are hired and fired at will. Unless an individual fulfils a function within society, they do not exist. Unemployment is oblivion.

This is on top of the alienation that originates in the selling of labour power by the worker: the worker does not own what they create by their labour. Their identity and self-worth is sucked dry by the Capitalist production process. The worker cannot say, “I made this”. Thus even if one were to gain employment, one is spent by the continual demand to produce.

For those who are excluded by racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, disability, etc., the quest for identity through other means than work and cultural participation becomes paramount. They may create a sub-culture like bikies, Goths, Emos, Furries, etc. which satisfies the need for identity and belonging. Or, they may gravitate to crime, or to groups that resist the dominant culture.

Instead, the answer lies in changing the Capitalist society into another that is accepting of all people. People are accepted for being human—not because they are rich, white, male, heterosexual, able-bodied, employed, etc.. This means we have to eventually move away from workers selling their labour-power to something different.