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June 3, 2006

France: Techniques Of Islamist Recruitment

We reported on January 13 that the French General Intelligence Agency (RG) had compiled a dossier detailing the scale of Muslim militancy within French jails. Their report stated that 175 militant Muslims were preaching to others.

Of the extremist Muslims in France's penitentiaries, 70% are French nationals, with the remainder hailing from the Maghreb (North Africa), Turkey, former Yugoslavia or Pakistan. Most were under 30 and only 15 of the 175 radicals were aged over 40. 90% came from poor backgrounds, and 25% were blue-collar workers. Less than 10% were either students or "professionals".

Most of the recruiting Muslims in French prisons came from Tablighi Jamaat whose name means "proselytizing group". This group has been active in France since 1972, and has Deobandi influences. The remainder of recruiting Muslims in French jails are Salafists.

Today, Le Figaro revisits the latest findings of the RG, in an article by Jean Chichizola. The following is my translation:

How Islamists Recruit in France

The Renseignements Generaux (RG) have dissected the enrollment techniques of radical Muslim movements in France.

How does one become mad on God in France in 2006? A recent paper by the RG, which Le Figaro has managed to read, entitled "The process of radicalization within the Islamist trends," provides some clues. The RG evokes at one and the same time the players (targets and recruiters), the movements and the places of radicalization. Concerning the players, the report, to avoid stigmatization, underlines that France has around 5 million people of the Muslim faith. Among this group, the radicals target particularly young practitioners, estimated at slightly below 200,000 in number. By comparison, the most dangerous influence, that of the Salafists, does not number more than 5,000 militants.

A good level of studies.

The recruiters are no less present. Within the majority of cases, they are older than their prey (30 years old at least, according to the report). The RG has established that they do not begin with religious discussion, but start with the difficulties of day-to-day life. The recruiters fish to find their longings and their centers of interest. According to the paper, they have often pursued studies and a number of them work on scientific occupations. They often claim to have become successful as a result of Islam.

In the chapter on the means of recruitment, the report lists the young French of the banlieues (suburbs), mostly coming from families originally from the Maghreb or black Africa, afflicted by economic hardship. The RG emphasizes that radicalization strikes "more and most quickly at individuals the more and most young". From which is the necessity to detect such steps as early as possible. Women are play a more increasing role in these procedures of radicalization. The flourishing on the internet of forums exclusively for women is an indicator of this. The converts also provide an interesting breeding ground for the Salafists. According to the RG, a quarter of 1,610 converts, recorded in 2005, are followers of their ideology. In prison, 12% of those who have been identified as proselytizers are converts.

The report maintains that there are two major schools of thought in radical Islamisation. On one side are the pious believers, most notably from the Tabligh, a movement of Indo-Pakistani origin introduced to France since 1972 (10% of practitioners). Several terrorists uncovered in recent years have been to their schools in Europe and in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region. On the other side, Salafism - the enemy of the former - noted for their activism and their praise of Jihad, and as the "kernel of the menace for the Republic". Appearing first in France in 1997, they have no structure, but the RG emphasizes that they are starting to develop this.

In prison, 173 "proselytizers'

The Salafists apply themselves to occupy places where they can preach radicalism. Mosques firstly, which provide rallying points, for propaganda and a source of financing, help in their quest. Next there are prisons, described by the report's authors as "a place of active proselytising and recruitment." There are 173 "missionaries" who have been identified in a prison population of around 60,000 detainees, of which 2,000 are classed as "dangerous". The delinquents who transgress the common law among the Muslim culture are more active than those convicted for terrorism who are closely watched. The "bearded ones" are fixed on a new objective: educational establishments and secret Islamist creches. To support their plans, the report cites the recommendations of the scholars of the Salafist faith: "It is not permitted (to believers) to abandon that which they hold most dear (Islam) to heretical teachings."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at June 3, 2006 12:04 PM

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