Nigeria’s Boko Haram is about Vengeance, not Islam

http://www.juancole.com/2015/10/nigerias-haram-vengeance.html

Nigeria’s Boko Haram is about Vengeance, not Islam
By contributors | Oct. 8, 2015
By Gregory Alonso Pirio | (Informed Comment)

So many people are scratching their heads as they search for an explanation for the extreme acts of violence meted out by such groups as the Nigerian jihadist organization, Boko Haram, and its now allied Middle Eastern Islamic State or ISIS.

Often in normal conversation, people will pull out an explanation, seemingly out of the air, that Islam as a religion lends itself to violence. The facile reasoning does not synch with historic fact certainly for Violent Extremist Organizations (VEOs) that I am familiar with in sub-Saharan Africa. My research on Boko Haram, for instance, shows that the driver of jihadist violence is a narrative of vengeance that was adopted in response to state violence. Historically, this may be true of several other VEOs in sub-Saharan Africa whose radicalization followed a massacre committed by government security forces against peaceful reform-oriented Islamist movements. Such has been the case in Somalia, Uganda and Tanzania.

Nigeria’s Boko Haram, which earned international notoriety with the 2014 abduction of more than 200 school girls, is a classic example of how state violence fosters a narrative of vengeance. Boko Haram’s founding leader, Mohamed Yusuf, had painted a utopian and fundamentalist vision for his followers, but it was peaceful vision. According to his prophetic vision, the adoption of Shari’a in the form of a strict fundamentalist Muslim law would ensure the achievement of a just society. This promise of a reprieve from the burdensome social and economic inequalities and lack of opportunities that characterize society in northeastern Nigeria earned him followers. Indeed, the moniker – Boko Haram (Western-style “Book” Education is forbidden) – that became applied to Yusuf’s movement reflects the deep-seated disillusionment with the educational status quo. According to reports, the Boko Haram label came from the fact that some of his original followers — high school graduates, so frustrated by the corrupt system of public education and the substandard instruction that they had received – reportedly burned their diplomas in protest.

Yusuf’s vision surely did not conform to the Western prescription of secular democracy and free market opportunities as a cure all for socio-economic malaise. Yet, it was neither an unreasonable response for downtrodden youth, especially disenfranchised and disillusioned young men in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. Yusuf’s message of hope struck a chord with them.