Portfolio-Problem solution essay

Syria has been associated with Muslim terrorists and their effort to build an Islamic state for decades. However, recent shocking news from Syria states that they are trying to recruit females from Western countries. And the success of ISIS recruitment can be seen from the following news: Two Austrian girls, ages 15 and 16, went to Syria in April (Jihad?, 2014). At least one Canadian woman (Cbc.ca, 2015) and two teenage Somalis from Norway (English.alarabiya.net, 2015) are known to have joined jihadist groups in Syria as well. 

Allured by the terrorist online recruitment, these few Western women, especially the young ones, start to find like-minded followers from social media to build a community. They think coming to Syria and joining ISIS might bring new opportunities or equal rights. However, they are not aware of the actual situation in Syria. ISIS promotes their recruitment using platforms like Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp to reach their target audience in a language they can understand. Their methods include exploiting popular hashtags to disseminate their message, and using their Western recruits to promote the cause to other people in the home country. These militants only promote the excitement and fulfillment breeding a new generation of believers. They neglect the reality of forced marriage, sexual enslavement and women trafficking.

To protect young women from the terrorists’ ploy, Western governments have tightened their control over social media. They censor any sites promoting terrorism and punish those responsible for the existence and growth of such sites. However, it’s easier said than done because social media is becoming an essential part in the lives of many people. Censoring these sites has become impossible as it incurs the wrath of the public. The only solution the governments can resort to is shutting down growing social media web pages and punishing people, who have created, promoted and maintained them. However, there are always new upcoming web pages, and the government censorship becomes a wasted effort.

Another way to protect young women from terrorism is through education. Early education is a more appropriate and effective way to prevent women from joining these terrorist groups. The authority has the responsibility to equip students with more background knowledge of Islam even though they may not see its relevance in a Western setting. The knowledge that is taught to the young women should include the history of Islam and the Muslim views of women as cited in Kur-an. This is to provide young women with a knowledge foundation, enabling them to think, analyze and evaluate when they come into contact with the false information concerning ISIS recruitment. They should possess the ability to discern information that is provided to them before acknowledging it. Context about the knowledge basis should be incorporated into teaching materials and campaigns should be organized in order to raise the awareness among the youths. These efforts could help to train young women to be critical thinkers. This would allow them to be more conscientious and better informed, and would not act impulsively and join the recruitment of ISIS just based on the social media information.

While false information mainly floods the social media, the most effective way to tackle the problem is to post information about the actual situation in Syria on social media. While youth may not pay attention to what is taught in schools about Syria, they may learn more when such information is posted on social media. Youths tend to pay more attention to things posted on social media; therefore, posting the information on social media will be a better way to convey the messages to the youths. Efforts can be made to share about experiences and feelings from girls who already made it to Syria for ISIS recruitment. They are the most effective examples of having false expectation and being lured to Syria due to the misleading information on social media. These girls and their experience are the most persuasive ones to wake up the other Western young women from their female fighter dreams. For example, al-Khanssa, whose Tumblr photo blog is full of guidance for would-be female jihadists, girls like her and their experience can be made use of to alert the other young women and to remind them what the actual situation is in Syria. To any woman who thinks coming to Syria and joining ISIS might bring new opportunities or equal rights, al-Khanssa’s message is clear: “The main role of the muhajirah [female migrant] here is to support her husband and his jihad and [God willing] to increase this ummah [Islamic community].”

In conclusion, this issue deserves more attention as when ISIS starts their Western women recruitment, we should be aware that this is part of their strategy to expand internationally. We may end up helpless when ISIS will be finally extending its control to other countries if this problem is not tackled in time. Awareness should be raised among the Western young women and they should realise what the difference between their expectation on ISIS and the actual situation in Syria is.

(839 words)

References

Cbc.ca,. (2015). The life of a jihadi wife: Why one Canadian woman joined ISIS's Islamic state. Retrieved 19 April 2015, from http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/the-life-of-a-jihadi-wife-why-one-canadian-woman-joined-isis-s-islamic-state-1.2696385

English.alarabiya.net,. (2015). Retrieved 19 April 2015, from http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/12/06/Two-missing-Norway-sisters-are-in-Syria-lawyer-confirms.html

Hui, L. Y. (2010). Fastest growing Asian countries in Facebook. Grey Review: The Social Web Journal. Retrieved from http://www.greyreview.com/2010/06/02/fastest-growing-asian-countries-on-facebook/

Jihad?, T. (2014). Teenage Girls Seduced by the Syrian Jihad?. The Daily Beast. Retrieved 19 April 2015, from http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/21/teenage-girls-seduced-by-the-syrian-jihad.html