The result on stage is shocking, but not for the reasons I expected. Instead of showing the multiple facets of the issue, the overwhelming explanation offered is that we are to blame for losing our children to Islamic State.
This is the message from the mothers of Molenbeek whose sons left to fight in Syria; from Charlie Winter, a senior research associate from Georgia State University; from Moazzam Begg, who was imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay; and from sixth-form students in Tower Hamlets.
To most of the characters, Isis is the creation of the West. Our racism, our Islamophobia, our wars against the Muslim world have, apparently, given birth to it. If we get murdered on our streets by our compatriots it is only because our children who became terrorists felt they had no other option in life. Poor devils.
All those voices are legitimate in a democracy, where they can be heard on the airwaves and read in print. But they need to be challenged, especially when the ambition is to portray the attraction of jihadism for European teenagers, otherwise those voices become the only views deemed acceptable. [The Times (£)] Read more
