Global culture to fight extremism

同じくFresh Airを聞いていたらMaajid Nawazという方が登場していました。急進的なイスラム主義者から穏健派に転向したようで、これまでの経歴を赤裸々に語ってくれています。

How Orwell's 'Animal Farm' Led A Radical Muslim To Moderation
JANUARY 15, 2015 2:05 PM ET

When Maajid Nawaz was growing up in Essex, England, in the 1990s, the son of Pakistani parents, he first found his voice of rebellion through American hip-hop.
"It gave me a feeling that my identity could matter — and did matter — growing up as a British Pakistani who was facing racism from whiter society," Nawaz tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross, "but also confusion about where my family was from and not really fitting into either culture."

At age 16, Nawaz was transformed from a disaffected British teenager to an Islamist recruiter when he joined the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. Nawaz continued his college studies and spent a year abroad in Egypt, where he continued his recruiting. As a result, he was imprisoned for four years, starting in 2002.

It was while in prison, surrounded by several prominent jihadist leaders, that Nawaz realized he wanted to take a different path. He was reading George Orwell's Animal Farm and came to a new understanding of "what happens when somebody tries to create a utopia."

パリの事件を受けて、BBCやCNNのアンダーソンクーパーなどに頻繁に登場しているようです。このままだと極右とイスラム原理主義の両極が空白を埋めてしまうことになるという危機感は大変共感できるものです。



2011年にはTEDで話をしていたのですね。



今回の件で表現の自由はどうあるべきか、BBCで盛んに話し合っていることを知りませんでした。。。。