(Few) Jihadis Without a
Jihad? Central Eastern Europeans and their Pathways to Global
Jihad
A presentation of research
findings and a panel discussion on Central Eastern Europeans and
attempts at joining global jihad
(New York, N.Y.) - In September 2015, two months
before the infamous Paris attacks, in which ISIL
terrorists killed 131 people, additional members of the Paris attack
cell, hiding amongst migrants/refugees trekking westwards, were picked
up in Hungary, effectively the first Schengen Area country on their
way. It might have looked as if global jihad came to Central
Eastern Europe. As it later turned out, this had only been a fleeting
visit.
For the last 18 months GLOBSEC
has been researching the issue of criminal-terrorist interconnections
in Europe and built up a database which includes 350 terrorist
attackers and arrestees from 11 countries, mostly
Western European. Currently, in co-operation with the
Counter Extremism Project (CEP), it
has turned its attention towards the Central Eastern European region,
and mapped out how its inhabitants would join global
jihad. Their numbers are low and their journeys into jihad
are rarely successful. In fact, they are wannabe jihadis
without a jihad, individuals who, to some extent,
accidentally stumble upon jihadism. Unlike in Western
Europe, no local jihadi infrastructure of radical mosques,
jihadi veterans or like-minded individuals exists which
could, for example, support their travel to the battlefields of Syria
and Iraq. In such conditions, these Eastern European individuals are
forced to improvise and, are regularly unable to build up a network of
their own, often ending up acting in isolation.
GLOBSEC and CEP's studies of European jihadism reveal its
parochial mask. It is embedded in certain
communities, often in small towns or even villages, in Western Europe
and these in turn e.g. connect to global jihad by sending its
members to e.g. fight as foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) in
Syria/Iraq or other jihadi battlefronts (Somalia, Yemen). At the same
time, however, and despite the seeming lack of logistical barriers,
representatives of the very same European jihad are so far largely
unable or unwilling to connect with the few wannabe jihadis from
Central Eastern Europe, thus condemning them to improvisation in their
jihadi exploits. Consequently, on a strategic level, Europe’s
counter-measures should account for the presence or lack of a jihadi
infrastructure and network in a given EU region, and also focus on
efforts denying the wannabe jihadis from outside Western Europe access
to radical or outright jihadi milieus that already exist in Western
Europe.
Please join us for the presentation of the initial research
findings:
When: Friday, September 20, 2019,
9:00-10:30 a.m. EDT Location: Bohemian
National Hall, 321 E 73rd St, New York, NY
10021 Speakers: Dr. Kacper Rekawek, Head of
National Security Programme, GLOBSEC Dr.
Hans-Jakob Schindler, Senior Director, Counter Extremism
Project Moderator: Ben Makuch, National Security
Correspondent, VICE
To register for the event,
please click here.
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