Cool exterior, militant heart

From the numerous reports and media sketches of young men involved in the Gulshan carnage, we see that almost all of them had come to harbour extreme views from a background, which can, in modern day lingo, be termed 'cool' or, in proper language, enlightened and liberal.

But then why, all of a sudden, did they decide to take a route totally dissonant to their upbringing?

I have seen, in the past couple of weeks, several writers trying to understand this sudden change of outlook and, on Wednesday last, an article in a leading Bengali paper caught my eye. The op-ed tries to warn about the possible murky sides of young people who apparently seem innocuous, taciturn and studious. The article finally went on to underline a number of measures parents can adopt to prevent their children, at a youthful crossroad, from imbibing radical thoughts.

While there are several rather ultra-idealistic suggestions, not once did the article mention that parents need to also talk to their young children about the convoluted twists of world politics which sow the seeds of disenchantment.

It's absurd to suggest that Internet usage of a twenty year old should be regulated. Even if the usage of the general home computer is under vigilance, who will control the materials downloaded on the smartphone?

One other suggestion states that children should be encouraged to follow local traditions, meaning they must take part in theatre, music and observe the Bengali New Year. What about countless families with orthodox views that shun these practices and events but at the same time do not encourage the use of barbarism in the name of religion?

In fact the most important step, I feel, is creating an environment where young people will be allowed to ask questions about delicate socio-political issues and get some credible answers.

It's easy to say do not incite or inculcate sectarian values or communal ideas in your children, but when a young individual asks about political events of the past, which have inexorably shaped the skewed dynamics of the modern world, summarily shutting them off will only be counterproductive.

At a certain age, the inevitable rebel in a young person will make very clear divisions about right and wrong. It is at this juncture that their disaffection need to be addressed with skill.

It's only natural that with the world in turmoil politically, the young will search the net for past history, inquiring about imperialism, colonialism and the long period of Cold War from 1946 till 1989, during which most counties in the world were selfishly exploited by the superpowers to uphold either Capitalism or Communism.

Would I be wrong to claim that the evolution of Cold War politics plus the ill-judged invasion of other nations by the super powers in the 70s and 80s triggered the rise of militants?

When we look at the rise of militancy or radicalism today, we cannot but go back in time and trace the roots to the political events of the past. It would be grossly wrong to deem any aberrant event of today as an isolated one, severing links to their antecedents.

The young will ask and we have to answer them in such a way so as to meet their intellectual curiosity and at the same time stem the development of extreme thoughts.

That means, parents need to be educated. Failing that, all educational institutes post high school need to have trained psychologists for regular student interaction.

Very tough job, indeed!

We make so many suggestions for battling militant views but do not ever hear leading powers of the world stating unambiguously that it was their misguided foreign policy which is partly to blame for the scourge of sectarian violence.

After the Chilcot Report underlined that the invasion of Iraq was based on vague information, former British PM Blair went on a garbled self-defensive peroration saying that even if he had not intervened in another country, the monster of extremism would have risen anyway.

Sorry, but this hypothesis hardly provides a satisfactory answer.

In a world of open information highway, modern day youngsters have hundreds of interpretations of global history simply a few clicks away.

When they absorb so much information, conflicts of emotion will rise, leading to development of inimical thoughts.

If the parents have created an atmosphere of openness at home where all social and political issues are discussed, then many disturbing thoughts can be talked about freely.

When that is not possible, a mandatory university session with a psychologist could help.

To state from personal experience, in the late 80s and early 90s, when we were in university, there was a fervent leftist following which vehemently denounced Capitalism, calling for an egalitarian uprising.

While initially this wave of idealism was blissfully ignored by the university authority as just another passing teenage phase, at one time teachers also began guiding students through the machinations of the world with practicality without the blind romance.

Of course, in our case, teachers never directly discouraged us from dreaming of a Utopia. Rather they delicately taught us how the world has transformed with the rise and fall of one empire after the other, impacting global socio-political credo.

One solid praiseworthy suggestion in the Bengali op-ed was allowing the young to read classics and see celebrated films.

However, one has to remember, children will read books when they have seen their parents valuing the importance of going to a library. They will watch decent movies when that culture of appreciating premium cinema is nurtured at home.

Hindi serials thriving on titillation, deceit and skullduggery are hardly the inspiration. As for movies, well, if we look at the three main films released this Eid in Bangladesh, we see that in all of them, the lead actor is playing the role of an underground killer or a top terrorist.

Whether this character shows some redeeming qualities or not is a different issue; the movies are glorifying the 'Don' culture.

Shockingly, the same Bengali newspaper which stated that films with humane, civil messages should be watched had another supplement the following day extolling the Eid release called Shikari, (The Hunter), where the hero is a hired assassin.

Alas! Our society is steeped in contradictions – practically speaking, it won't be possible to stamp out all of them, though minimizing a few may help.