With the help of a team of assistants, we interviewed and surveyed more than eight hundred people of Pakistani and Moroccan origin. We could approach some subjects in public areas, while others were referred to us by previous interviewees. They were mostly eighteen to forty years old and a mix of first- and second-generation immigrants. The majority were not radicalized but we did eventually tap into clusters of avowed supporters of jihadist groups and some former members. The political preoccupations of these two ethnicities differed in minor ways. The Pakistanis were far more concerned with the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, whereas the Moroccans focused more on Syria. Pakistanis were far more strongly identified with Islam, Muslim people, Spain, and their country of origin than were Moroccans. An area of agreement was in each group’s perceptions of the other. Moroccans saw Pakistanis as docile and a bit hypocritical when following their religion; Pakistanis saw Moroccans as hot-headed. “We Pakistanis like to talk a lot. The Moroccans, they don’t talk, they just do,” said one Pakistani local. [...]
The process would often begin with a young man being confronted by some difficulty—often the loss of a job, or a sick family member with exorbitant medical bills, or anything that might call into question his ability to fulfill his duty as caretaker of the household. A period of despair would begin, with the young man passing days on end in cafés, on park benches, or sulking with his friends. It was then that, through an acquaintance, the man would be introduced to someone who could provide him with a steady income. The work would be mostly logistical, but all in support of “the cause.” While my informants would admit that they knew they were getting in bed with jihadists, they insisted that their support for the cause was given only minimal vetting by their recruiters. [...]
These stories from Morocco and Pakistan were very different from those of the scores of people I met who were radicalized in Europe. The European youth were drawn in far more by a revolutionary spirit and a belief that they could change the world. For example, one young Pakistani man who grew up mostly in Barcelona began his radicalization over the time that I knew him. When we first met he was a brash youth with dreams of grandeur. Every week he had a different life goal, from wanting to be a professional athlete to being the first Pakistani-Spanish rapper. As every path to fulfilling these dreams was denied by his conservative family, he became more depressed. Until one day, he approached me with anger: “Foreign fighters from Europe were heroes during the Spanish Civil War, but now they’re considered traitors when they go to Syria! This is the hypocrisy of the West.” A radical imam in the area had begun to channel the young man’s stymied lust for glory toward jihad. (Luckily, after I spoke with his family, his parents intervened and he is now pursuing his athletic goals.) [...]
The program puts a large burden on the communities to do more to funnel information up toward the central government, which will then disperse it. The failure of the Catalan official to pass along the alarming email from Vilvoorde to Spanish central authorities highlights the need for this flow of information. However, my investigation into the Ripoll case indicated that the central government also failed to pass information down to the municipality. Had the mayor, social workers, or other community members been notified that Es Satty had previous radical ties, they could have been more vigilant.
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