What we cannot deny is that there's an association between exclusion, segregation, non-violent extremist thinking, and jihadism.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
American jihadists are generally motivated by a mix of factors, including dislike of U.S. foreign policy in the Muslim world.
Broader social concerns within Muslim communities, such as discrimination, integration or socio-economic disadvantages, should be treated distinctively and not as part of counterterrorism agenda, which has been counter-productive.
Many American Muslims are peaceful and define jihad primarily as an internal struggle to improve.
Non-violent extremism is essentially the increase of intolerant and bigoted demands made by groups seeking to dominate society.
'Jihad' can mean holy war to extremists, but it means struggle to the average Muslim.
The fact is that there is a serious problem of extremism with minority groups within Muslim communities.
Muslim communities themselves, as they expect mainstream society to stand down racists, must do more to also stand down the Islamist extremists.
When at the CIA, I was fond of saying that many jihadis join the movement for the same reasons that young Americans join the Crips and the Bloods: youthful alienation, the need to belong to something greater than self, the search for meaningful identity. But it also matters what gang you join.
The way to tackle Muslimphobia is to tackle prejudice against Muslims. What it is not is to pretend that Islamist extremism does not exist.
Disaffection, alienation and conspiracy theories are commonplace among European Muslims, but dangerous Islamist radicalism and the Islamic State's 'foreign fighter' recruitment successes tend to be specific to certain European towns, districts and ghettos.
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