How Violent Extremism can be countered by simple preventive means
Col Alok Asthana (retd)
Can a few lines of a bollywood song encapsulate critical wisdom for counter-terrorists? Indeed. The lines are — ‘Har koyee chahtaa hai, ek mutthi aasmaan, har koi dhoondhta hai, ek mutthi aasmaan. Jo seene se lagaa le, ho aisa ek jahaan’ (Everyone seeks his place in the world; someone who will embrace him). Simplistic? Maybe, but it works. I speak from 26 years of experiences in the army, several of which were spent dealing with insurgents and terrorists. But rather than present this as my intuitive opinion, I’ll show its validity as presented by highly respected psychologists.
Arie Kruglanski , a social psychologist, professor of psychology at the university of Maryland and co-founder of the National Center for the study of terrorism is a god guide. He tells us that when feelings of self worth are deeply damaged and you’re given unambiguous signals that ‘you do not matter’, your get predisposed to join groups which say ‘We’ll tell you how you’re going to matter’. They get you to ‘matter’ by making headlines through blowing yourself up using a suicide belt, or driving an explosive laden truck in a hotel or simply barging in the camp of army soldiers, determined to die there. Suddenly, the person with no power, no status, who has been kicked around all along, becomes an important person. He beats the system that had beaten him all along.
Arie tells us that radicalization starts with groupthink. People are vulnerable to Groupthink when they are struggling and failing. To prove this, he setup an experiment in Maryland in which people were to play a computer game, shooting ducks on the monitor. It was possible for him to vary the degree of difficulty of the game. Those who were given an easy game scored many hits, while those with a difficult game scored much less. In the subsequent debriefing, the first group clearly recorded happy feelings with no desire to interact with others, while the second group feeling frustrated and keen to listen to others. This creates a sense of dependency on the group.
When people are humiliated and feel that group-approval will meet their need for ‘ Ek mutthi aasamaan (they loving embrace of acceptance), they are prepared to make personal sacrifices in order to be rewarded by approval of the group. So, what about the motivation of self radicalized, suicidal lone wolves who act on their own? Arie Krugman tells us that they too seek approval — of the virtual group! The lone wolves imagine the virtual group to be approving their actions.
There I this very revealing story of Omar Hammami, the author of book ‘The story of the American Jihadist’, who later started calling himself Abu Mansoor Al Amriki. Born of liberal mixed parentage, an American Protestant mother and a Syrian-born Muslim father, , he was a happy child in America, mainly following Christianity. Once he happened to visit Syria where he came close to Islamic teachings. Back in America, he started practicing Islam. Immediately, he found himself shut out of his earlier school group, sort of ostracized and humiliated. This drove him closer to Islam. Online search of Isalmic literature brought him in contact with the Jihadi network of Al Shabab. Finally, he turned a full time Jihadi.
Arie tells us that Jihadi networks look out for such frustrated people, needing group approval in order to ‘matter’. They address this basic need, also providing the facilities and skills to make it possible. And soon you have a terrorist ready with his suicide belt.
Psychologists Ted Robert Gurr and JC Davios also remind us that frustration lends itself quite easily to aggression. On this issue, there is an Erikson theory which talks of negative identity. ‘Honge agar badnaam to kyah naam na hoga?’ (So what if If I am notorious, at least I am now well known).
How then do we explain the actions of educated, affluent, well cared individuals like Burhan Wani joining a terrorist group? Well, there are several outward motivations to joining a terrorist organization e.g. the perks of afterlife, vengeance, or even anti-feminism (even women can do it) but the underlying motive always is ‘the need to matter.’ Also, we need to differentiate between leaders who direct and also fight, and fanatics who are prepared to literally throw away their lives.
This effort is known as CVE (Countering Violent Extremism). Ideas and ill-feelings are best countered by counter ideas and removal of the ill-feeling. If someone has provided a narrative to address the needs of those disempowered, the CVE team has to provide a counter narrative. Return to a respectable life should seem not only desirable but also possible. States normally spend very high to counter terrorism but very low to prevent it taking root. In a terrorist ridden area, one local administrator famously quipped ‘Give me the budget equal to one modern helicopter and I’ll ensure you no insurgency in my area’.
Lt Gen DS Hooda, the highly acclaimed former Commander of Northern Command, India, has hinted at his dissatisfaction with the weak rehabilitation policy of surrendered militants in J&K. Why is the insurgency under much better control in the North East, than in J&K? Among other things, it is the weak and poorly implemented rehabilitation policy of the J&K government. He pointed out that ‘The new surrender and rehabilitation Policy (of J&K) remains mired in political differences between the PDP and BJP. Two months ago, a new policy for the Northeast, with enhanced incentives, was announced by the government. There were no murmurs by any political party’. He also says ‘The success of any policy is not dependent on the financial incentives for surrender but the successful rehabilitation into the society. This is where the current policy is silent. With the increase in locals joining terrorist groups, it is absolutely essential to break this cycle.’
There will always be aggrieved in any society. However, it is not true that all aggrieved always must feel that the situation is irrevocable. Once that happens, they ‘cease to matter’, pushing them firmly in the arms of radical groups. The Hindi movie ‘Haider’ has a scene wherein a young man is standing in front of his own house, unable to enter even when his mother asks him to come in. Someone then explains the reason. In an atmosphere where citizens were routinely brutalized at every corner of their street by security personnel, the young man was no longer able to enter his house until kicked. Now, that’s real humiliation. No one can undergo such humiliation without at some time considering joining some group which might provide him support to make him ‘matter’.
Arie tells us that people need cognitive closure which can only come from clear cut answers in a chaotic world. The CVE specialist knows how to spot people lacking this cognitive closure and provide for it, even if in small doses. Countering violent extremism takes time, but is possible. Arie represents impressive results in this in his work with ex-terrorists of LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) of Sri Lanka.
Arie Kuglanski runs a course on Coursera, ‘Radicalization and the quest for significance.’ The course has been designed by National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), a Department of Homeland Security, looking at the who, what and how of Terrorism Studies It introduces the students to cutting-edge research from the social and behavioral sciences and the experts investigating these topics.
What are the direct implications of this in India? Again, ideas of Arie Kruglanski can be used extensively, though he articulated them in a general context. He spoke of the critical need to frustrate the psychological effects of intolerance, discrimination, dis-empowerment and disenfranchisement in society. That need has to be addressed in constructive ways, by social movements. Nazism was defeated in Germany as much by the German society and state as by the German police. The society was determined to remove even the roots of violent Nazism from its midst. Structures and sub groups were created within Germany, with help from sociologists, psychologists, social workers, legal experts, funded by the state.
Arie further reminds us that all acts leading to the idea of ‘otherness’ in any society must be countered. Otherwise the discomfort of being ‘the other’ will eventually result in the victim seeking to fulfill his need ‘to matter’, by violent means. Only a sustained movement, partnered in by the society and the government, can help. If we make it possible for a person ‘to matter’ within the society, he is unlikely to seek death to achieve it.
