Global Terrorism and New Media by Janbek Dana M. Seib Philip & Dana M. Janbek

Author:Janbek, Dana M., Seib, Philip & Dana M. Janbek
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Humanities
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2010-08-11T16:00:00+00:00

Why it matters

Terrorist organizations have no qualms about propagandizing even the very young. Training children is also not uncommon. Using children in operations, including suicide attacks, does happen, although it is opposed even by many clerics and others who may advocate extremist viewpoints.

A quick sweep of YouTube will illustrate the pervasiveness of this abuse. Whether the recruiters are Al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, or others, abundant video evidence shows children—some looking to be no more than 12 years old—carrying real weapons just as casually as their counterparts a generation ago carried toy guns. In one YouTube video, a little girl recites a poem: “Daddy brought me a present/Machine gun and a rifle/ When I grow into a young adult/I will join the liberation army.”13 In another video, a young Palestinian boy, holding an assault rifle, calmly says, “I send this message to [Israeli Prime Minister] Sharon that my father’s blood will not be gone to waste.”14

These are not “just videos” that can be dismissed as having no effect. Child recruitment through new media and other means must be taken seriously. According to a report by elaph.com, Abd Al-Bari Al-Zamzami, a member of parliament in Morocco and head of the Morocco Islamic Law Research Council, declared that minors cannot be used for martyrdom (“free choice”) or suicide (coerced) missions. Al-Zamzami said:

Children are being forced to carry out these operations, and this is in fact murder. Their recruiters are killing them in the name of religion. … Anyone who assigns them to carry out such operations bears the responsibility for their killing. A person who pushes the children into these battles is like someone who kills his sons.

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