| |
|
Panorama's Peter Taylor has a new series on BBC2 about the New Al Qaeda.
Basically a counterpoint to Adam Curtis's The Power Of Nightmares, Taylor aims to debunk the notion that Al Qeada as an organisation is a little more than a paper tiger, and argue that it presents a very real threat to the West.
The first part - jihad.com - was on Monday night and focussed on the role of the internet as an organising force. There’s some interesting stuff about how a loose coalition of like-minded people can coalesce as a virtual community which can achieve much that a physical community can (as anyone here can appreciate). Exactly what this new landscape does to our definitions of what makes an organisation an organisation has pretty important consequences for our understanding of how terrorists can form a coherent group without the geographical proximity, physical contact, structure etc associated with more traditional paramilitary organisations. All interesting stuff.
He also questioned the other freedoms that most users value about the WWW. Rather remarkably, I thought, he got an interview with a Saudi exile who runs an Islamist website in Britain which carries rousing propaganda for jihadis, including videos of beheadings and suicide attacks, supplied by the insurgency in Iraq. The webmaster made no bones about its objective and efficacy as a recruiting device.
Taylor’s obvious distaste that these images should be so accessible was a little undermined by the fact that he was giving a selection of these videos a BBC2 airing, but it’s still a pressing question. Should we be free to distribute and consume videos of these things? Perhaps there’s another thread in that.
It was a well constructed programme though, I thought. And I hear good things about the next part which looks at takfiris and the Madrid bombings.
Anyway, did anyone see this? Thoughts? |
|
|
