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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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 Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 1:54 pm Post subject: Drop in muslim support for terrorism |
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I noticed this in the Washington Post the day it came out and thought I'd wait to see if anybody would post it. No, not yet. Maybe I'll post it now. Notice it took place before the London bombings, and that over 17,000 people were surveyed so this was no small questionnaire.
There's a lot more in the survey though than just a drop in support for terrorism, so look at the numbers carefully. Unfortunately anti-Jewish sentiment is still as endemic as ever.
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Poll Finds Drop in Muslim Support for Terrorism
By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 14, 2005; 5:24 PM
Osama bin Laden's standing has dropped significantly in some key Muslim countries, while support for suicide bombings and other acts of violence has "declined dramatically," according to a new survey released today.
In a striking finding, predominantly Muslim populations in a sampling of six North African, Middle East and Asian countries also shared to "a considerable degree" Western nations' concerns about Islamic extremism, the survey found. Many in those Muslim nations see it as threat to their own country, the poll found.
"Most Muslim publics are expressing less support for terrorism than in the past. Confidence in Osama bin Laden has declined markedly in some countries, and fewer believe suicide bombings that target civilians are justified in the defense of Islam," concluded the Pew Global Attitudes Project.
Compared with previous surveys, the new poll also found growing majorities or pluralities of Muslims surveyed now say democracy can work in their countries and is not just a political system for the West. Support for democracy was in the 80 percent range in Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco; in Pakistan and Turkey, where significant numbers of respondents were unsure, it rated 43 percent and 48 percent respectively.
"They are not just paying lip service. They are saying they specifically want a fair judiciary, freedom of expression and more than one party to participate in elections. It wasn't just a vague concept," said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center and director of the project. "U.S. and Western ideas about democracy have been globalized and are in the Muslim world."
At the same time, however, most Muslims surveyed believe Islam is playing an increasing role in politics, which they view as a positive shift in response to economic problems, growing immorality and concern about Western influence. Jordan was the only exception to the trend.
The survey results indicate that growing numbers of Muslims differentiate between the peaceful influence of Islamic values in politics and the use of religion to justify attacks. "The people who see Islam playing an important role in political life are the ones most worried about extremism," Kohut said in an interview.
Yet solid majorities in five of the six Muslim countries surveyed -- Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Turkey -- also now have unfavorable views of the United States. In the sixth, Morocco, views are divided. The governments in all six countries are allied with the United States and recipients of U.S. aid.
The survey, conducted from April through mid-June and before the London bombings, polled 17,000 people in the six Muslim-dominated countries as well as 11 major Western and Asian nations, including the United States, on attitudes toward Islam, Muslim nations and extremist violence. The nonpartisan project is co-chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Republican Sen. John Danforth. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks, the Pew project has measured attitudes in the Islamic world.
The survey found only 2 percent of people surveyed in Lebanon and 7 percent in Turkey expressed confidence that bin Laden would "do the right thing regarding world affairs," while confidence in the al Qaeda leader dropped from almost a half to about a quarter of those surveyed in Morocco and from 58 percent to 37 percent in Indonesia. Bin Laden's standing went up slightly in Pakistan to 51 percent and Jordan to 60 percent.
At least three factors have contributed to the notable shift in views about bin Laden and suicide bombings -- incidents of terrorism in Muslim countries, an increase in positive feelings about events at home, and passage of time since the 2003 survey conducted after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, said Kohut. In early 2003, many Muslims "saw a worldwide threat to Islam and [bin Laden] represented opposition to the West and the United States," he said. "Tempers have since cooled."
The decline in support for suicide bombings was the biggest in Indonesia, which has witnessed deadly bombings at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta and a Bali tourist hotel that seriously crimped tourism and foreign investment. Lebanon, Morocco and Pakistan have also experienced particularly bloody attacks since they were last surveyed. Jordan was the only country where the majority of those surveyed -- 57 percent -- still support terrorist acts in defense of Islam, possibly because the majority Palestinian population is emotionally tied to the conflict with Israel, Kohut said.
One of the starkest findings was the divide in views on religions. Most of those surveyed in nine Western countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada, France and Russia, say they have favorable views of Muslims. But Muslims surveyed have mixed views of Christians, and anti-Jewish sentiment is "endemic," the survey reported. Views in the two Asian countries -- China and India -- were less stark, although roughly half of the Chinese surveyed view Muslims and Christians unfavorably.
In contrast to Muslim countries, the Pew poll found the majority of those surveyed in Britain, Canada, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain strongly believe Muslim minorities want to maintain a distinct identity in these non-Muslim countries. |
Now, since I always look at the report itself when reading articles like this, here's the url:
http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=248
And some images involved:
Take note of Morocco in particular.
WTF is wrong with Turkey?!
Jordan and Lebanon, WTF?! Note that France has the highest favourable rating towards Jews here.
Turkey and Lebanon have good numbers here. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 2:34 pm Post subject: Re: Drop in muslim support for terrorism |
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| mithridates wrote: |
Jordan and Lebanon, WTF?! Note that France has the highest favourable rating towards Jews here.
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Makes sense since Israel invaded Lebanon and the two countries haven't made peace. Sharon's actions there don't help Jews' image either. As far as Jordan goes, the majority of the population is Palestinian, so that's no big surprise either. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 2:44 pm Post subject: Re: Drop in muslim support for terrorism |
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| mithridates wrote: |
WTF is wrong with Turkey?!
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Maybe minorities remembering the old adage "Democracy is 3 wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch"? |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 3:07 pm Post subject: Re: Drop in muslim support for terrorism |
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| bucheon bum wrote: |
| mithridates wrote: |
Jordan and Lebanon, WTF?! Note that France has the highest favourable rating towards Jews here.
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Makes sense since Israel invaded Lebanon and the two countries haven't made peace. Sharon's actions there don't help Jews' image either. As far as Jordan goes, the majority of the population is Palestinian, so that's no big surprise either. |
I was just surprised by the 100%. I knew it was high but 100% is 100 out of 100. Wow. Like Dokdo. |
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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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| Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 3:36 pm Post subject: Re: Drop in muslim support for terrorism |
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| Bulsajo wrote: |
| mithridates wrote: |
WTF is wrong with Turkey?!
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Maybe minorities remembering the old adage "Democracy is 3 wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch"? |
Yeah, once again, democracy is confused with freedom, its opposite. |
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igotthisguitar
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
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| Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 6:09 pm Post subject: |
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| >. If in fact true, one can't help but wonder whether this purported "drop" may in any way coincide with a similar reduction in western imperialist ambitions ??? |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 2:30 pm Post subject: |
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Well Lebanese must not hate Jews too much since they let one write an op-ed. It's from the Lebanese paper "The Daily Star." He's upset that Israelis and Jewish leaders didn't speak out against those that beat up a couple Palestinians last week in Gaza and wrote, "Mohammed is a Pig" on a wall.
Where is the denunciation by Jews of Israeli zealots?
Interesting how us in the west are asking the same of Muslim leaders when any terrorist attack occurs. |
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