Sheikh Saif cites ‘progressive patriotism’ as weapon against terror

DUBAI // Terrorism and declining oil prices were two of the main challenges informing public opinion, said Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Minister of Interior and Deputy Prime Minister, on Monday.

Sheikh Saif said terrorism crimes had increased by 60 per cent since 2012, a figure that needed a specific plan of action.

“There are different forms of terrorism, old and new,” he said. “The patterns of the old are known, they are based on explosives. But new terrorism is targeting the minds, households, children and youth, and spreading terrorist ideology has increased the number of victims and targets to thousands and more. It reaches every home today.”

He said its effects were more devastating than weapons and its greatest danger lay in its ability to produce an “intellectually confused generation”. He cited ISIL as an example.

Sheikh Saif said progressive patriotism played a role in raising awareness and understanding, and gave the example of Sheikh Zayed, the UAE’s founding Father, who was filmed lecturing university students more than 25 years ago about the kind of terrorism that would adopt new ways to target minds.

“Countering terrorist ideology or any terrorist threats cannot be undertaken by one individual,” said Sheikh Saif. “It’s a collective responsibility. Facing terrorism and countering it includes the participation of all, not only security institutions alone.” He said society played a vital role.

“I call upon the international community because new concepts of terrorism are different from old ones,” he said. “The international community must reach an outcome and identify those who implement terrorist attacks.”

He said the most dangerous part of terrorism was those who financed it. “There should be laws that are proportionate to this type of crime,” said Sheikh Saif. “Daesh is one of these examples. We see in the media that it is selling 150 to 200 barrels of oil a day. Those who committed the terrorist act can’t eradicate it [so] we need to look at those who change the minds and those who financed such attacks.”

He said if countries stopped supporting terrorist organisations and financing them, “we will be able to fight terrorism, so we need to prosecute those who commit it, those who change the minds and those who bought the oil barrels”.

As for oil prices, he said the UAE’s GDP dependency on oil revenues dropped from 90 per cent in the 1970s to 30 per cent today.

“The UAE has raised the bar for the challenge of 2021, when oil dependency will only be 5 per cent, and this can only be achieved through progressive patriotism.

“If 30 years ago oil prices reached these low levels, we would have been severely impacted but today, it’s a challenge and not a crisis.”