Poverty, not religious ideology, is radicalizing African youth

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• Asiwome 9 years ago

  I am disappointed in this line of thinking. It is reinforcing the stereotype. Poor people are not prone to violence. A religious person looks to his creator for help to eat. He does take matters into his own hands and does no ...
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  I am disappointed in this line of thinking. It is reinforcing the stereotype. Poor people are not prone to violence. A religious person looks to his creator for help to eat. He does take matters into his own hands and does not kill others. By the way, there was a hotel bombing in Kenya before 911.

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• Kofi 9 years ago

  The writer is living on planet Mars! Islam is an intolerant religion. Can the writer explain to us, why poverty stricken countries in South American where Mohammed"s foot soldiers did not reach by the power of their swords do ...
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  The writer is living on planet Mars! Islam is an intolerant religion. Can the writer explain to us, why poverty stricken countries in South American where Mohammed"s foot soldiers did not reach by the power of their swords do not engage in Boko Haram/Al Qaeda type of nonsense?
  Secondly, the bastards who blew up trains and buses in London were UK born and bred with decent houses and benefits including free medical care from cradle to grave.
  Thirdly, the writer should ask himself why "Apostasy" is punishable by death only in Moslem dominated countries?
  Islam in its entirety is a force for no good.
  The Saudi"s never had the technology to build desalination plants or oil rigs,so where is this nonsense of infidels taking the lands coming from? Wealthy Arabs spends billions every year own ostentatious "bullshit" like Gold plated taps on their toilets seats,gold plated plated mercedes, super yachts,planes etc. When did Saudi Arabia or any of the "insanely" rich Gulf States had the equivalent of the US MARSHALL PLAN to assist countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh,Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso etc?. They only send them copies of the "bogus" Arab Cultural Vanity disguised as a religion called Islam and the "Ultimate" poppycock called the Koran in fostering hatred and bigotry. Go to Egypt and see how the "indigenous" Coptic Christians are being treated by the Arabs/Moslems who came from their impoverished homelands in Arabia and settled on their land.
  Better get your facts right before you start distorting them.

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• zola 9 years ago

  An ex police officer in Afghanistan said and i quote "If I see someone plant a LAND MINES and see a police officer coming i will not tell him anything." Mr Kofi I may have to disagree with your point i guess thats why we are ...
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  An ex police officer in Afghanistan said and i quote "If I see someone plant a LAND MINES and see a police officer coming i will not tell him anything." Mr Kofi I may have to disagree with your point i guess thats why we are here. POVERTY IS THE CAUSE OF VIOLENCE AND I am sure you may not like to hear this. Have you ever seen someone stripped of his dignity in the name of bribery and corruption? I am sure you do but you don't understand, because it is the norm of our society that you do not even know what is going on around you. People are being humiliated in all these poor countries, families are being raped every second. Governments are stealing from their citizens everyday. 11 years old was raped in Guatemala, her sister was killed; grandmother was brutally murdered. . 30% of Ghanaians girls said they were sexually molested by their family members. This create a huge vacuum and it benefit these terrorist group we see today. Lets start with Boko Haram you made mention of. The meaning is WESTERN EDUCATION IS BAD. Why would a terrorist group name itself like that? This is how. It was their own citizens who had the privilege of studying abroad, came back home and these poor people voted for them to get position in government. What happened next? the poor people came back to them to work together and elevate ourselves to a better life. It was something you may not want to hear. BAD BAD BAD. They treated them like "shit" and they have no option but to become radicalized. If you go to Nigeria for example if Boko Haram bomb any government building people are happy just that citizens have had enough. Now Al Qaeda. I will leave this open to you for a deep research on them with this clue i gave you about Boko Haram. I also challenge you not to be biased and think deep about what it means to be poor. Also watch the documentary FUELING POVERTY, READ A BOOK CALLED THE LOCUST EFFECT AND FINALLY ANOTHER BOOK CALLED Thieves of State by Sara Chayes.
  Again Kofi you don't get the point. There is something we called self interest. Ask yourself very well why the US is helping those countries. You have no idea what you talking about. I am sure you writing from the United States just like I am but your final assignment is this check on the fact before you come being hard on yourself. You said Quran is fostering hatred. smh. read the bible from cover to cover and you will come to my world. There is no religious book that talk violence than the bible. I think i have to cut this short but i hope you understand me and please do the reading. Thank You

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• Kofi 9 years ago

  First, I do not live in the US. I was in Nigeria in the early 80s and, I travelled and worked in many towns from Ogbomosho,llorin,Lokoja,Abuja [Suleja] right up to Kaduna.So do not give a lecture about Nigeria and corruption ...
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  First, I do not live in the US. I was in Nigeria in the early 80s and, I travelled and worked in many towns from Ogbomosho,llorin,Lokoja,Abuja [Suleja] right up to Kaduna.So do not give a lecture about Nigeria and corruption.There was no bombing then yet there was corruption and poverty.
  In South American countries,they do have corruption and drug related problems but they do not bomb en-mass for the sake of Allah.That is what you fail to understand!Can you give me a list over the past 30 years of Hindus,Catholics/Christians,Jains,Zoroastians,Buddhists etc blowing up people for the sake of their religion? I can give you a long list of Moslems who have done just that! I am eagerly awaiting your response.

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• APONKYE 9 years ago

  How about the hundreds of Western youth who get radicalised a year, is it the result of poverty? So such false spinning should be reserved for the akpeteshie bar conversation.
  
  Osama bin Laden was the originator of radicali ...
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  How about the hundreds of Western youth who get radicalised a year, is it the result of poverty? So such false spinning should be reserved for the akpeteshie bar conversation.
  
  Osama bin Laden was the originator of radicalisation, yet he was a multi-millionaire! Please stop publishing such falsehood on ghanaweb.

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• Altruism 9 years ago

  I think the writer is almost right, if he said poverty is the cause of radicalization. What radicalization of Alqaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram or Al Shabab have in common is the lack of the recognition of their existance in the land ...
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  I think the writer is almost right, if he said poverty is the cause of radicalization. What radicalization of Alqaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram or Al Shabab have in common is the lack of the recognition of their existance in the land of their birth(fore fathers).
  
  This lack of recogntion can sometimes lead to poverty, depending where they came from and their social status. In the case of Osama Bin Laden he was borned in Saudi-Arabia, but he is still a foreigner.
  
  His frustration has to do with the fact that an American is more recognised and has more acces to everything In Saudi Arabia than hem.
  
  Altough he has inherited from his father, but he was poor, because he has never earns his own fortune. But under his nose and watch foreigners are making billions of dollasr with impunity.
  
  What these leaders have in commomn is to use the unrecognised and poor people in the name of religion to vent their frustration on the system which is responsible for the lack of their recgnition, in return to be eventually recognised and consequently gain a social status within the group.
  
  According to Bob Marley( A hungry man is an angry man). A desperate cat makes a strange move.

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• Prof Lungu 9 years ago

  We do not see data in this article.
  
  But, even if we did, we still could not run with that thesis, and leave it at that conclusion.
  
  Why can't it be both (Poverty + Religious Ideology) +n?
  
  After all, on the other side ...
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  We do not see data in this article.
  
  But, even if we did, we still could not run with that thesis, and leave it at that conclusion.
  
  Why can't it be both (Poverty + Religious Ideology) +n?
  
  After all, on the other side are those who actually benefit from "poverty" and "religious ideology".

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• zola 9 years ago

  Because it is poverty and injustice that lead to radicalization.

  Because it is poverty and injustice that lead to radicalization.

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• Prof Lungu 9 years ago

  Great, that is more an improvement on the thinking, zola!
  
  It is not binary!
  
  Even so, if that was the case, we'd expect the leaders of the "radicals" and the "fanatics", and most of their followers to be the poorer and t ...
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  Great, that is more an improvement on the thinking, zola!
  
  It is not binary!
  
  Even so, if that was the case, we'd expect the leaders of the "radicals" and the "fanatics", and most of their followers to be the poorer and the poorest.
  
  But, it has never been so, according to the historical record.
  
  For example, the people absconding from Europe (more "just" societies by most measures), to join that band of murderers in Syria and Iraq are not among the poorest in Europe.
  
  Or, those from Canada, either!
  
  We assume you know a lot about Ghana
  and extent of "poverty and injustice".
  
  Explain to us, zola, the "poverty and injustice that lead to radicalization", that caused that KNUST student to leave the comfort of KNUST to go to Syria to fight, we understand.
  
  So, until you do, we must stand by our original comment, zola.
  
  Greetings!

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• Kofi 9 years ago

  In India there are over 300 million people classified as "untouchables".Their situation is worse than dreadful. Poverty stricken is not even enough to discuss their plight yet they do not go about blowing people up.
  Why is i ...
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  In India there are over 300 million people classified as "untouchables".Their situation is worse than dreadful. Poverty stricken is not even enough to discuss their plight yet they do not go about blowing people up.
  Why is it that only moslems feel the world owns them something? As one Afgan philosopher once said centuries ago, The average moslem is sick,and he has been sick for a very long time.The only remedy is in the koran,unfortunately, the sickness gets worse the more he takes the dose.Pakistan,Mali,Niger,Somalia and Northern Nigeria are a fine example of what he said.

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