Religious extremism rears its head where the state is settled and where young people are abandoned to themselves without any structure or possibility of impact. Religious leaders and experts discussed this at a recent conference in Morocco.
Religious extremism rears its head where the state is settled and where young people are abandoned to themselves without any structure or possibility of impact. Religious leaders and experts discussed this at a recent conference in Morocco.
di Jean-Baptiste Sourou (from Rabat)
After Ghana, Sudafrica, Namibia and Ethiopia, the African Association of Law and Religion Studies met this year in the capital of Morocco at the International University of Rabat.
One hundred researchers, teachers and experts from the various African nations took part in the event. Along with some American, European and Middle Eastern colleagues, they are interested in questions related to religion and security on the continent. Among the various dimensions discussed is that of extremism.
In recent years, however, many African countries have been hit by terrorist attacks that kill lives and instill fear in their populations. Armed bands of a sedentary religious bent are putting the already fragile political, economic and social stability of many areas in northern, western and eastern Africa to a severe test.
According to some experts present in Rabat, these phenomena were, in a way, predictable because studies carried out a few years earlier had allowed the attention of the authorities of some countries to be drawn to the risks that could come from social changes, such as the increase in youth unemployment, the marginalization of some fringes of society and the lack of attention to the needs of cultural minorities. "The religious question doesn't really come into it," said a businessman from Niger. "Because - he said - when the state abandons the young people to themselves, or doesn't provide them with the right means for training and impetus, they are easily recruited by bands who live on all kinds of contraband and who send them to flee wherever and whenever they want. They are only criminal bands." "Perché spesso si tratta di giovani che sanno poco della loro religione, qualche versetto del Corano a malapena", ha aggiunto un altro ricercatore.
More often than not - some of the participants have also pointed out - terrorism strikes in Africa where the state is based; where there is a presence of state administrators, a local government in name only, of motivated forces of order endowed with appropriate means. "Allora - lamenta un esperto -, quando c'è quel vuoto istituzionale, le bande armate regnano como signori, mettono paura alle popolazioni, le spogliano, impongono la legge del terrore, amministrano la giustizia a modo loro, rapiscono turisti esigendo ingenti somme di denaro per il risatto. It is difficult for them to have the courage to confront a well-organized and well-rooted state apparatus in their territory."
It has also been pointed out that the state is in a legal vacuum when it comes to prosecuting presumed terrorists, because for many terrorism is a new phenomenon and they are unprepared. And the people arrested can spend years in prison, escaping from their rights.
However, it has been pointed out how important it would be for the state to take an interest in the phenomenon of the radicalization of young people who, not having safe guides, education and the necessary means of support, turn to seditious preachers or religious teachers from dubious backgrounds who do not work for the promotion of the population, but for its preservation.
At this time, collaboration between religious communities of different faiths, as is already happening in some states such as Nigeria, Niger, Guinea Bissau, should be strengthened to facilitate greater mutual and esteemed knowledge, because Africa in many areas has always been a continent of peaceful acceptance, cohabitation and cooperation between people of different faiths. These phenomena of terrorism of a so-called religious nature should not diminish this African specificity by putting the spotlight on the people, but religious leaders should use them to consolidate the legacies of the communities. The "spirit of Assisi", emphasized by Pope John Paul II with the day of prayer for peace among leaders of different religions in Assisi on October 1986, has also been indicated as a road to follow if Africa is to grow in its own secular tradition of respect for religious diversity.
Source: http://www.nigrizia.it/notizia/la-religione-non-centra/notizie 09.06.2017