It appears that you are referencing Alison Shaw's journal article in Anthropology Today (Vol 18, no. 1, Feb. 2002), titled Why Might Young British Muslims Support the Taliban?
In her article, Shaw notes that the Islamic fundamentalist message, coupled with revolutionary fervor, is attractive to some second-generation Muslims in Britain. However, it would be unfair to claim that poverty and racism has engendered such enthusiasm for a global caliphate among this younger generation of Muslims....
It appears that you are referencing Alison Shaw's journal article in Anthropology Today (Vol 18, no. 1, Feb. 2002), titled Why Might Young British Muslims Support the Taliban?
In her article, Shaw notes that the Islamic fundamentalist message, coupled with revolutionary fervor, is attractive to some second-generation Muslims in Britain. However, it would be unfair to claim that poverty and racism has engendered such enthusiasm for a global caliphate among this younger generation of Muslims. Shaw states that many young supporters of the fundamentalist message appear to be well-educated and come from privileged backgrounds.
However, the global utopian construct promoted by the Taliban provides a measure of comfort for these young Muslims in the event of anti-Muslim sentiment in Britain after the September 11 attacks in New York City. Muslim fears of prolonged retaliation from the larger mainstream English population, as well as what Muslims view as the secular hedonism of the West, has contributed to Muslim youths supporting the fundamentalist message.
Shaw states that the 'perceived sexual laxity and hedonism of the West...primarily with respect to the behavior of women' has troubled many religious Muslims in Britain. In conversation with one young Muslim woman, Shaw is told how Allah punished three women for immoral behavior. One woman who had refused to veil herself and who had tempted men with her long hair was hung by her hair; another who had exposed her breasts to strange men was hung by her breasts. Yet another woman who had committed adultery was suffering agonies in the fire. According to the young Muslim woman, the prophet Muhammad had begged Allah to free the women from their tortures; however, Allah had refused because of the sins of these women.
Shaw states that the view of the West as a corrupt culture 'is occasionally offered as a partial justification for the actions of a minority of individuals who exploit the 'host' society, sometimes illegally, and in response to considerable economic and social pressures that include the need to support relatives in Pakistan.' Shaw relates how some British Muslims caught selling drugs were viewed somewhat leniently by their relatives, as the youths were selling the drugs to non-Muslims. The belief is that the West is already so morally corrupt that it would make no difference to sell Westerners the drugs.
So, to summarize, there appear to be two major reasons why British Muslims would support the Taliban:
1)covert prejudice and violent retribution from the larger mainstream public after the 9/11 attacks.
2)the Muslim view of the West as a morally corrupt culture which needs to be remade in the image of a Sharia-compliant Muslim caliphate.
Source: Why Might Young British Muslims Support the Taliban? by Alison Shaw, Anthropology Today (Vol 18, no.1, Feb 2002) pp 5-8.
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