“The final messages of the nine lions of the caliphate,” is how the latest gruesome message from ISIL was titled. The 17-minute video contains video and audio messages from the nine militants who took part in the November attack in Paris. In the video, the men are shown threatening western countries and then killing hostages. Like much ISIL propaganda, the video is slickly produced, more reminiscent of a news package or a music video.
The propaganda aspect of ISIL’s recruitment drive is very savvy. The group’s videos are professionally produced – but, perhaps as importantly, they are personal.
The militants are named, although they use noms de guerre. For example, one of those who opened fire at the Bataclan theatre, Omar Ismail Mostefai, is known as Abu Rayyan Al Faransi. These noms de guerre give these murderers a false aura of glamour. In jihadi circles, they are celebrated for their crimes.
The personal aspect matters. Contrast that with the lack of spokesmen and women on the other side. Take, for example, France, where the only person identified as anti-ISIL speaking to disenfranchised French youth is president Francois Hollande. Mr Hollande, for all his many charms, is hardly a role-model for most young French people, let alone those at risk of radicalisation.
A better spokesman would be the youthful Yasser Louati, of the French Collective Against Islamophobia. Mr Louati became briefly famous when an interview with CNN – during which he was asked if French Muslims bore “responsibility” for the attack – went viral and was widely mocked. But activists such as Mr Louati are often anti-establishment figures, and thus the establishment is wary of supporting them too much, lest they say things that embarrass the government of the day.
This is a problem for the broader counterterrorism strategy. Governments will have to start promoting figures such as Mr Louati as personal representatives of the anti-ISIL message. They may not agree with everything the government of the day says, but those governments will have to learn that they don’t have to see eye-to-eye on every matter to be effective on this key issue.
