This essay by Shiv Malik in Prospect about the lead 7/7 bomber Sidique Khan is an absolute must read, it is one of the best thing I’ve ever read on the whole subject of what radicalises young British Muslims.
Do read the whole thing but this part of the conclusion gives you a taste of the argument:
“Khan may have felt indignant about western foreign policy, as many anti-war campaigners do, but that wasn’t the reason he led a cell of young men to kill themselves and 52 London commuters. At the heart of this tragedy is a conflict between the first and subsequent generations of British Pakistanis—with many young people using Islamism as a kind of liberation theology to assert their right to choose how to live. It is a conflict between tradition and individuality, culture and religion, tribalism and universalism, passivity and action.
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