大象传媒

A special Europe-wide police unit was launched this week to track and close down Islamic State social media accounts. It's been launched in response to concerns not enough is being done to prevent IS propaganda. Thousands of young European men, including an estimated 700 Britons, have travelled to Syria to join the group. Are they just victims of seductive propaganda? Or is IS pushing at an open door? According to Prime Minister David Cameron parts of some Muslim communities have to share the blame for young Britons joining IS forces because they've "quietly condoned" extremist ideology instead of confronting it. The accusation comes at a sensitive time for Muslims during the festival of Ramadan and has been condemned for focusing on a very small minority and feeding a divisive "us and them" agenda. But is that what this is? A battle of ideologies? Is it enough to just put forward a negative critique of extremism, or does that play into the hands of the terrorists? Are we in danger of expanding the word "radical" to mean "too religious"? And what if, despite it all, people do want to go and fight for a cause with which we profoundly disagree? Should we just let them go and defy international law and strip them of their British citizenship to make sure they can't come back? Is there a moral difference between those going to Syria and the 4000 or so British and Irish who travelled to Spain to fight with the International Brigades?