Propaganda war

While it is part and parcel of their job, it is still quite surprising to learn that the country’s armed forces is taking the initiative to hold public dialogues with Muslim leaders to counter the propaganda campaign waged by the extremist Islamic State (IS) group in collaboration with the local Maute Group in Mindanao.

Then again, it is to the benefit of the Muslim communities in Central Visayas and the rest of the country not only to support but sponsor these dialogues along with the military if only to rectify and clear public perception of Islam as a religion of violence instead of a religion of tolerance and love for humanity.

It was Elias, no doubt taken from the biblical character of Elijah, in the novel Noli Me Tangere of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, who pointed out that the Moors were even more tolerant of the Catholics than the Catholics were to those outside of their faith during the Crusades which the Moors eventually won.

That same tolerance also exists in Saudi Arabia, where scores of Filipino workers continue to make a living there and in other Middle Eastern countries which count Islam as their chief religion.

It is the extremists who pose a serious threat to global security, and IS is the latest iteration of that extremism, springing out of Al Qaeda and launching itself with its own crusade to establish a worldwide caliphate dedicated to their own view of what Islam should be.

To that end, they have recruited the youth including those educated in Western countries, who are steeped in advances in social media, to mobilize others to join their campaign and radicalize them in the process.

The recruitment process is done through Facebook and Twitter, two social media platforms that were instrumental in the “Arab Spring” that saw entrenched Middle Eastern regimes toppled through uprisings fueled by netizens in those countries.

As part of the recruitment process and in order to bolster their campaign, these Maute members showed a video of them destroying cathedrals, schools, hospitals and religious images in order to demonstrate their power and contempt for those not of their faith.

That the video had been publicly denounced by Muslim leaders is evidence that the Maute terror group’s stunt had backfired. Instead, Muslim leaders voiced concern that the video would only enrage and spur public outrage over their acts and further deepen the ever-widening rift between Christians and Muslims.

At a time when public sentiment grows against anything associated with the Maute terror group, who failed to secure and mobilize support from the Muslim communities of the country for their twisted cause, it is but opportune for the government through its military and other agencies to build on that advantage and isolate the terrorists away from the citizenry who wants no part of their agenda.