Much attention is paid to the extreme,
distressing and sadistic propaganda disseminated
by Isis, who go to great lengths to circulate
violent images and videos of the atrocities it
commits.
Yet little attention is paid to what could
arguably be considered to be the most
dangerous propaganda emerging from the
group – the pictures and videos that attempt to
normalise and even glamorise life within Isis. It
is these pictures that are used as a recruiting
tool for the extremist group.
This week, one Western ‘jihadi bride’ found
herself being chastised by fellow Isis supporters
for going off message with a picture of her and
other women posing around a luxury BMW. The
same woman also posted a picture of a group
brandishing guns in a similar pose often struck
by their male counterparts.
This image suggests power and a sense of parity
with male militants, but it is undermined by the
recent Isis document unearthed and translated
by the counter-extremism think tank Quilliam
telling women their position would be confined
solely to the home and the service of their
militant husbands.
Another Isis fighter, whose account has since
been suspended or deleted, posted a gallery
showing a group of smiling, happy militants
enjoying a day off together in Raqqa, images
devoid of combat uniforms or weapons. With
captions about “brothers enjoying a day in the
sun” and young men shown diving into blue
waters and laughing together, the pictures
would not seem out of place on a friend’s
Facebook page.
Other images attempt to build a picture of a
family life that can continue with some
semblance of normality in the so-called
caliphate, showing young children playing
together outside in the sunshine - when they
are not been pictured in training camps holding
Kalashnikovs almost the same size as them.
Charlie Winter, a researcher at Quilliam, said
propaganda attempting to normalise militants
and their daily activities plays an important role
in constructing an image of Isis as a way of life
as opposed to just a group.
He said: “A lot of propaganda like this doesn't
get noticed in Western media because it’s
content is not very controversial, but it is
important for the group’s overall message – it’s
important within the wider context of the image
that Isis tries to portray of itself and nurture.
“When images and videos are taken together
and understood together, it’s all pretty clear
what they are trying to get across – that Isis is
not just a jihadist group fighting, it is setting up
a state. It’s no longer a group even, its political
machinery.
“When they show children playing in the street
that’s also to try and get across the idea that
the war against the Islamic State isn't disrupting
life that much that kids can’t play, that jihadis
can’t hang out together.
“It is not surprising that there is so many things
that seems pretty insane, like a bunch of
soldiers having a break - there has been a lot of
stuff like that in the past. It is about showing Isis
as a ‘utopia’, what it claims to be.”
Self righteousness speaks doesn't it?