International media is quick to condemn an entire religion for the crimes of an individual, especially when the perpetrator is a Black, Brown or Muslim. That’s according to Akala, a British rapper and activist, in a 2016 episode of UK-based Not For the Radio.
He argues Europeans’ crimes are whitewashed, citing the example of Norwegian Anders Breivik, who shot and klled 77 people at a Norwegian summer youth camp in 2011. Akala (@akalamusic) said the media did not describe Breivik as a white nationalist Christian trrorist, but as a ‘lone wolf.’
Yet, when Seifeddine Rezgui k*lled 38 mostly European tourists at a Tunisian resort in 2015, Tunisian authorities cracked down on mosques for supposedly radicalising the youth, blaming Islamists for breeding terrorists in the North African country. However, the core issue for Tunisian youth is economic and political disenfranchisement due to decades of mismanagement. A sad reality that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings was when 26-year-old Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi set himself ablaze in 2010 to protest government corruption.
Do you agree with Akala’s assessment? Let us know.
Video credit: @notfortheradio
Sources:
https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/coup-in-tunisia-is-democracy-lost/
https://www.dw.com/en/tunisia-to-close-80-mosques-following-terror-attack/a-18544478
https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/what-makes-lone-wolfe-terrorists-245316
https://mena.fes.de/blog/e/the-tunisian-youth-in-a-whirlwind-of-uncertainty.html
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305008679_’Lone_Wolf_TerrorismTheCase_of_Anders_Breivik
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/08/one-of-us-review-compelling-anders-breivik
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68310127
https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/exploiting-disorder-al-qaeda-and-islamic-state
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/06/tunisia-sousse-isis-democracy/397169/