Individuals are using manga to drown out ISIS propaganda. The birth of ISIS-chan (Japanese: ISISちゃん, Aishisu Chan) took place in January to damage ISIS’ image SEO. ISIS-chan’s popularity increased after hacktivist group Anonymous targeted and exposed sympathetic ISIS Twitter accounts. The use of ISIS-chan comes with its own set of rules: do not insult Islam, avoid Islamic iconography and avoid naming Allah or the Prophet Muhammad. Alongside a strict no-gore, no-porn policy. At the turn of 2015, an alleged ISIS account attempted to spread propaganda on unrelated Japanese hashtags. Examples included ‘Daikan’ (a term to describe the coldest day of the year) and ‘Zuwaigani‘ (queen crab). A hashtag dedicated to Hitoshi Saito, the two-time judo Olympic gold medalist, who died on January 20, after a battle with cancer, became a target. The propaganda depicted the impeding peril of hostages Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa. Some created the hashtag #ISISクソコラグランプリ (ISIS kusokora guranpuri or ISIS crappy collage grand prix) to invert fear and ridicule the terror group. #ISISクソコラグランプリ pic.twitter.com/PR3BwpJevL — temmo kun (@temmo5) January 20, 2015 ISIS had threatened to murder both men unless Japan paid a $200m ransom – the same amount President Shinzo Abe donated to countries fighting the [...]
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Continue ReadingThis Tuesday marks the 10th anniversary of the London bombings done by four men who professed to be Muslims, and carried out this attack in the name of Islam. Yet, the words of George Gordon Bryon could never have been truer: “History, with all her volumes vast, hath but one page.” The notion that history all too often repeats itself is both sad and shameful. Looking back a decade later, it is hard to indulge the fact that although our efforts may have increased, the violent ideology that caused the death of 52 people, has evolved and spread. Where there was just Al Qaida and the Taliban, we now have a so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Boko Haram, Al Shabaab and many other smaller death cults. The sad truth is that a decade on from the July 7 bombings, we are none the wiser as to what attracts Muslims, in particular young people, to travel abroad, and engage in some of the most brutal acts of violence under the guise of worthwhile deeds. In countering violent extremism, we have heard academics, security experts, political commentators, politicians and community activists take vastly different views on what are the drivers [...]
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