The Rise of Islamic State Movements And Their Caliphate Concepts

Posted by African Examiner Featured Contributors/Columnists, Latest Headlines Saturday, October 11th, 2014

By Prof. R. A. Ipinyomi, University of Ilorin, Nigeria

In order to better understand the type of weapons to employ in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) it is necessary to examine its origin and factors contributing to its growth. The ISIS was first called the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) and was established during October 2006, and comprised of various insurgent groups. Initially ISI was an offshoot of the original Al Qaeda dreaded organization. The Al-Qaeda was in Mesopotami while the Mujahedeen Shura was in Iraq together with the Al-Sahhaba and they got integrated into the ISI. ISIS members’ allegiance was given to the ISI commander and not al-Qaeda central command. The organization known as the ISIS was formed during April 2013 and has evolved in one of the main jihadist groups fighting government forces in Syria and Iraq. The aim and objective of ISIS is to establish an Islamic Caliphate where there is no land border and to comprise every state with at least one Muslim membership.

Their origin has been the fallouts from several wars in the Arab States involving the Western and Eastern worlds especially taking origin from the cold war. The United States of America (USA) in particular built its model of fighting Russia and its KGB on arming the willing but unassuming and unsuspected militant Arabs. In this way the master-minds of the famous September 11, 2001 in New York, the different brains behind the current ISIS or its umbrella subgroups like Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram or the others, were directly or indirectly trained by the western intelligentsia. It can therefore be said that neither the CIA nor the KGB got the right model to build a future world that would be free of violence and insurgencies. They remain extremely selfish and short sighted both in their views of world politics, economic development and human relationships.

In the same vein China, despite her very poor records on so called human rights, is moving ahead as the new world super power in economic indicators and international investments. We must reiterate our condemnation of China in her barbaric treatments of her own citizens in her effort to control its population growth when it introduced and implemented a one-child policy where abortion clinics were part of the programme, her crackdown on religious freedom and freedom of expression, and numerous others. Her seemingly economic successes might have been the results of these harsh approaches. We would like to warn that such level of successes cannot be maintained or sustained if they were results obtained against natural order. China nevertheless represents a different model from either the west or the opposing Russia models. Whereas the west prefers to invest on what they called Aids as part of her political capitals China would rather invest here and there including giving huge loans to USA and others and hence making others dependants on China. The new world order will not only dictate turning away from so called Aids to perceived poorer nations but getting directly involved in their economy one-on-one for mutual benefits. The field is currently left for China in all areas like mining, small scale factories, farming, oil mining and exportation, exportation of relatively cheaper goods to poorer Africans. China’s goods into Africa are at the bottom prices and Africans like that. On the other hand the West is believing that its so called Aids for political gain is working, arm sales to both the governments and the insurgents is normal, preaching Christianity and Same-Sex marriage is not abnormal, corruption that fuels CIA activities should be accepted whereas every African leaders should be hang for same, etc. These double standard actually fuels insurgency especially when the machineries that are ready to fight have also been trained by the same West. It is sad to think of the USA and NATO as major sponsors of the very violence these same organizations are attempting to put down in Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, Libya, everywhere. There is a need for a re-thinking and a re-modeling of the world politics where all animals are at least imagined as equal.

What would China make of its economic emancipation? I think northing at all, because in order to lead the World out of the current wood of confusion and insurgencies you have to have lead also in the military, Science, Language and communication and on moral issues. It appears to us that China seems only interested in tapping resources of other worlds so that its people, who have been denied natural order of growth and movement, could become richer. Nature would not behave that way. It is not too late for China to open its doors so that her citizens can be free and other nations can participate in China’s success. It is not too late for China to allow its people total freedom of association and where each person may freely choose a religion of choice and their preferred family size. For examples, the most popular artist in that country, named by China as a dissident, that is Mr. Ai Weiwei, (but he remains the most powerful artist in the world) must be set free by China so that Ai Weiwei can operate in the open and unhindered world waters.

What is Ai Weiwei’s offence in China? He is a government of China’s critic but while the same government admires his achievement they refuse to treat him as a master who has transformed the art of his period and our time. He is actually part of China’s emerging success. In today’s China, Mr. Ai Weiwei is a brave and unrelenting critic of the China’s authoritarian regime and has spent many times in jail. He was not allowed by the government to leave Beijing for for a long time and cannot travel without official permission. He has now become a symbol of the struggle for human rights in China. In the context of our writing China is sponsoring an unknown future insurgent against herself knowingly or unknowingly. He is too idealistic a figure to have developed the moral gravitas of the great men of conscience who challenged the totalitarian regimes of past centuries and it is too late for China to now stop him this 21^st century. What is the way forward for China? Remove all the chains and shackles anywhere in any Ai Weiwei that may be known living in or outside China boarders. This would not bring down any Chinese leaders but rather promoting them.

In Africa, in Nigeria or in other lands insurgents came up because of narrow views and attempts to find temporal solutions to a prevailing local situation. The likes of Boko Haram are handy works of inept politicians. They trained most of them primarily as personal security assistants that we would like to call by their right names, thugs. It is true that they could provide some temporal safe havens for their masters but as soon as the masters either losing out in elections and money runs out, or even winning the elections and government security agents take their place, or for whatever other reasons (because these are actually human beings with full human brains much better than their masters) they become freelance and form association with other adjacent thugs to raise a company. This is the simple origin of kidnapping, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, or others who are just learning from them right now to perfect same tomorrow.

Our hope is in the collective world wisdom where the West would come to the realization that their interventions in the Arab countries, or their Aids policy for poor African countries, or their indifference to world economic beyond self, and other narrow views could be so counter productive and producing mayhems rather than comfort. On the other hand Russia intervention in Ukraine is going to cost Russia a huge set back the results of which could be much more than the cold war era. Russia may remain a nuclear power but not economic or communicating powers; at least not in Putin’s era would a Russia participate fully in world arena. In the New world order you need a leader and each leader would need solid followers and the followers would not be results of deceptions and CIA or KGB activities. The need to frankly renegotiate the world politics and world order is becoming very inevitable. These will cause the seizure of the certificates of permanent seat given to USA, Russia, UK, France and China to be review with a view of using ordinary majority at the floor of the United Nations. The focus had been possibly admitting more members to have permanent seats but the ideal is allowing full democracy at the floor of the UN and also in every country. Bad and wrong policies are the main sources of grievances leading to insurgencies.

Prof. R. A. Ipinyomi

ipinyomira@yahoo.co.uk or/and raipinyomi@unilorin.edu.ng