RELIGIOUS-POLITICAL EXTREMISM IN CENTRAL ASIA: WHY AND HOW IT IS SPREADING
There can be no doubt that the most conspicuous event of the last century was the unprecedented revival and spread of extremism and terrorism. Today, the concepts "extremism" and "terrorism" have become the most commonly used terms in the political vocabulary of most people writing about present-day problems and security. People are writing about ethnic and religious extremism and terrorism, about political and state terrorism, about domestic and international terrorism, and so on. It would seem that there is nothing more to be said about these phenomena, and we would do well to agree with the opinion that if we look a little more closely at all that has been written, it becomes clear that most publications contain a merely emotional description of events that once took place. Extremism has many different faces, just as there are many different reasons and sources engendering and feeding it. Religious fundamentalism is often given as the reason for the spread of extremism in today's world. The true meaning of this concept is the striving to adhere to the initial principles of a particular teaching and overcome the deviations that appear during its development. We cannot help but note that today definitions such as "Islamic extremism" and "Islamic terrorism" have become rather widespread. There is an obvious substitution of concepts here, for we are all perfectly well aware that there is in fact no aggression in Islam itself. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the strong emotional load of all the events involving Islam and Muslims is making it difficult to analyze such a complex problem as religious-political extremism and prevents this issue from being dealt with in a calm and level-headed manner. An analysis of the nature of extremism is leading to the rather simple conclusion that this phenomenon is based on a natural clash of interests and political, economic, social, ethnic, and confessional contradictions. In the event that one of the sides is unable to uphold its interests for one reason or another, it is fully capable of resorting to extreme methods to resolve its political, religious, ethnic, and other problems. In so doing, the problem of extremism forms not for some specific reason or factor, but due to a whole set of problems, each of which is making its negative contribution to the overall terrorist potential. Globalization has added new features to extremism and terrorism: they have become even more widespread and turned into truly international phenomena. What is more, precisely due to economic globalization processes, not only does terrorism have greater technical and financial possibilities, but its social base has also significantly expanded. And it is absolutely no accident that the world has begun talking about "Islamic terrorism." In actual fact, it is paradoxical that terrorism is currently widespread primarily in countries where Islam predominates or coexists with other religions and traditions. But Islam is not the reason for and not the catalyst of terrorism; the root of the problem lies in the difficult sociopolitical situation in these states and their involvement in global and regional conflicts. This applies to most of today's conflicts: Iraq, the Philippines, Somalia, Nigeria, Palestine, Macedonia, Algeria, Tajikistan, Kashmir, the Muslim regions of China, and so on. But terrorism, which is spurred on by religious and national convictions, is in no way the exclusive "property" of the Muslims. It exists among Christians, Jews, and Hindus, as well as in Japan, other countries, and the groups of countries. Radical ideas, as well as terrorist violence, are even preached in some confessional and cultural centers in Western Europe and the U.S., and this is tolerated in the name of encouraging cultural diversity. Statements that the roots of terrorism lie in a particular religion are beyond criticism for the simple reason that terrorism is a tool that can be used by a particular ideology. Were it otherwise, we would have to accuse not only Islam of "terrorist inclinations," but also Catholicism, since in North Ireland, for example, religion, among other things, is the cause of the disaccord. We must acknowledge that today the Central Asian region is a territory of high terrorist potential. The manifestation of extremism and terrorism has affected all the republics of the region in one way or another during the entire period of their establishment as independent and sovereign states.
