Once Upon a Jihad
Автор: Alex Perry
Год издания: 0000
Published in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo assassinations in Paris in January 2015, Alex Perry's latest book examines the the question of what it is that drives young people to reject the society in which they have lived and been educated, in the name of radical causes.
Perry follows a group of young British muslims, radicalised through contacts made online, and shows how their normal teenage vulnerabilities are exploited with catastrophic consequences. A journey that begins at home with «looking the part» ends in martyrdom in a far away city. Perry shows how the binary positions adopted by jihadis and the countries increasingly frightened by them, have opened up a chasm of misunderstanding in which the truth has been lost. Both sides tell elaborate myths, about themselves and the world, which make any engagement with the other all but impossible. They speak past each other not with each other.
Perry believes it is the purpose of all journalism to pierce the murk, expose the fantasists and elucidate some truth. Mostly that’s a fairly civilised process but, he points out, the Charlie Hebdo assassinations remind us of the seriousness of the task. Because stories can, and do, kill.
Undercover Jihadi Bride: Inside Islamic State’s Recruitment Networks
Автор: Anna Erelle
Год издания:
Previously published as ‘In the Skin of a Jihadist’Twenty year-old “Melodie”, a recent convert to Islam, meets the leader of an ISIS brigade on Facebook. In 48 hours he has ‘fallen in love’ with her, calls her every hour, urges her to marry him, join him in Syria in a life of paradise – and join his jihad.Anna Erelle is the undercover journalist behind «Melodie». Created to investigate the powerful propaganda weapons of Islamic State, “Melodie” is soon sucked in by Bilel, right-hand man of the infamous Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. An Iraqi for whose capture the US government has promised $10 million, al-Baghdadi is described by Time Magazine as the most dangerous man in the world and by himself as the caliph of Islamic State. Bilel shows off his jeep, his guns, his expensive watch. He boasts about the people he has just killed.With Bilel impatient for his future wife, “Melodie” embarks on her highly dangerous mission, which – at its ultimate stage – will go very wrong … Enticed into this lethal online world like hundreds of other young people, including many young British girls and boys, Erelle’s harrowing and gripping investigation helps us to understand the true face of terrorism.