Julian Saurin @ Free University Brighton |
IS, ISIS, DAESH and Others ?
Rather than throw our hands up in horror at the actions of the variously named Islamic State, IS, ISIL, Daesh and others, we need to understand how ISIS emerged and how and why it is pursuing distinctive political strategies. Here we'll tend to use the designation ISIS.
So let's study ISIS as we would any other social expression by examining its history and evolution, by investigating the social background and composition of ISIS personnel, by identifying its economic and material character, and by scrutinising its ideological development. In turn we should look at who sympathises and who opposes, how ISIS relates to similar and quite different organisations, and whether ISIS is an aberration, a throwback, a harbinger of things to come, or perhaps even rather familiar and ordinary. |
Class ThreeIS, ISIS, DAESH and Others
Here you will find a set of slides (in .ppt format) that guide the third class.
VIDEOS
The VICE made video The Islamic State, although almost two years old now, is both helpful in describing ISIS' operation but also the difficulties in reporting on it.
Here, with the example of "caliph" we examine a concept which has been appropriated and transformed in recent politics, but which also has no equivalent in the Western political tradition. Arguably movements such as ISIS have used local and international ignorance of history in order to re-fashion a crucial legitimating concept for its own immediate purposes.
This series of videos explains the changing history of "caliph" and "caliphate', as well as providing a useful general history of the development of Islam and Muslim polities in the Middle East. SHORTER ARTICLESLet's first start with the name. Naming things is itself political insofar as naming is an expression of public power. Is it Islamic State, ISIS, so-called Islamic State, ISIL, Daesh or something else ? Here's a helpful short article summarising the reasons for different names and who, how, when and why different names have been used, 'Why We Should Say ‘Daesh’ — Not ‘Islamic State’ or ‘ISIS’
This article by a French journalist and former IS hostage is worth reading for his insights into IS as a political movement, 'I know Islamic State. What they fear more than bombs is unity.' Apart from the insight about ISIS that Henin survived to tell, it is worth noting how in the end he makes an argument based on his authority (argumentum ad verecundiam) as a former ISIS hostage. [Incidentally you might find this site about argument and logical fallacies helpful for any of your courses]. |
( ... shurely shome mishtake ... )
Readings on ISIS and othersThere have, of course, been millions of words written about ISIS the large part of which are recycled speculation, opinion and churnalism i.e, re-hashing press releases from interested bodies such as government agencies, think tanks and even ISIS itself. As yet there have been relatively few academic works produced on the rise and nature of ISIS, although there are a handful of good journalists who have written extended accounts and analysis of ISIS. Here, one of two articles recommended here for you to read by Martin Chulov (in my view, the best anglophone press reporter of the region), reports “the story of why men from all over the world have chosen to fight in a brutal and apocalyptic war; of what drew them to the battlefields of Iraq and Syria; and of what has kept many of them there as Europe and the west have scrambled to stem the flow, first of their own nationals fleeing to join Isis and now of millions of refugees fleeing the other way.” In the second article listed here by Martin Chulov he investigates and explains the how the manner of the occupation of Iraq was crucial to the formation of ISIS and associated movements. Prison is not just the nursery of revolutionary intellectuals but also of numerous expressions of organised resistance, whether good or bad. And here is an informative brief video interview with Martin Chulov in which he speaks about ISIS within the international relations of the Middle East (keep in mind that this interview is from November 2015). Once again I'd strongly recommend articles and media roundup pieces featuring on the Jadaliyya website which is generally a sober and measured sources of information and analysis. Jadaliyya is a website which attracts mainly academic contributors with some journalists and other writers and critics, almost all of whom are conversant with at least one of the regional languages (though almost all articles are in English). Use the keyword 'Search' function or go directly to the monthly media roundup for each country. Returning on a regular basis to these pages will rapidly and reliably inform you of what is going on. The book by the veteran editor and reporter Patrick Cockburn The rise of Islamic State and the new Sunni revolution (Verso, 2015) is well worth reading. Where does IS get its weapons from ? It is easy to suppose that IS collects and seizes weaponry from its battlefield enemies, especially in Syria and Iraq. However reliance on such a method would be risky and uncertain, so IS principally buys and is gifted weaponry from a variety of backers. Here's just one weaponry supply chain as investigated by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Revealed: the £1bn of weapons flowing from Europe to Middle East |