The radicalisation of young Somalis will now be reinforced by Somali men being stopped, searched and arrested for Khat offences - By Dr. Axel Klein

[Admin]

Dr Axel Klein is a lecturer in Study of Addictive Behaviour at School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research

University of Kent

Email: A.Klein@kent.ac.uk

Telephone: 01227 827466

 

 

 

At last a well orchestrated campaign by a small group of Islamic zealots has succeeded in closing the licit importation of khat, the mild naturally occurring stimulant that has been used in Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen for millennia.

 

Since large number of Somali refugees arrived in the UK in the 1990s, the trade in khat picked up significantly. Several times a week planes fly in from Nairobi and Addis Ababa to supply hundreds of mafrishes – khat cafes – and green grocers all over the country.

 

The trade has provided hundreds of UK Somalis with a livelihood, and their countrymen with a peaceful and agreeable past time.

 

For Islamic campaigners this has long been a thorn in the flesh of the community. Mafrishes are public spaces, where discussion ranges widely and freely, as friends gather to relax and enjoy. At a time of rising hostility and nationalism making the assimilation for even second or third Generation British Somalis more difficult, such spaces come at a premium.

 

In Somali neighbourhoods like Tower Hamlets of Lambeth these mafrishes were the strongest organised opposition to the grip held by Islamic organisations over the community.

 

Different attacks on the health hazards or the social harm all failed to yield a result. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of drugs reviewed the evidence on three different occasions and recommended that it did not merit the status of a controlled substance. What finally convinced the home secretary was the alleged link between khat use and terrorism.

 

The idea was ingeniously floated by Abukah Awale – who signs off as ‘a leading anti khat campaigner’ – a couple of years ago, with stories of Islamic radicals recruiting followers in the mafrishes. When questioned in 2012 by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) subcommittee he had to admit that he knew of a single incidence, and that happened to the son of someone he knew – in Kenya.

 

Undeterred by lack the evidence Awale developed the theme after the Woolwich attack on Lee Rigby, telling the Mail on Sunday that one of the attackers had been a khat chewer.

 

This time he had a national audience and a government crisis to advance his cause.

 

As he has admitted many times, Awale is no expert on pharmacology, medicine or policing, but he is a self proclaimed former addict on a mission.

 

Like many crusaders Awale is undaunted by trivial complexities like missing evidence or distorted facts. Instead he just carried on, complaining about the evils of khat to all who’d listen until a brutal murder in South London provided him with the opportunity.

 

“This is the tool for me, I will put this on the table and say, ‘Now you must act’. When this country hears terrorism, they will act,” Awale admitted to the Independent last year.

 

Precedence over the determination of the ACMD makes a mockery of evidence-based policy making.

 

As serious is how it unwittingly plays into the hands of Islamic extremism and leaves moderate Muslims high and dry. The radicalisation of the young will now be reinforced by two predictable trends: Muslim men stopped, searched and arrested for khat offences by zealous police officers; and the outraged siblings of those, who with no legitimate alternative, will embrace the most indulgent aspects of western culture.

 

Sadly, the slow, painful path towards criminalisation was inevitable once khat had been framed as a ‘drug’. It demonstrates that many policy makers are undeterred by evidence or consequence as long as they fall into line with standard practice.

 

These reflections on malfunctions in the democratic process will not trouble the orchestrators of the anti-khat campaign. A Conservative home secretary with backbench support has just handed radical Islam their first political success in the UK. Let her be remembered in Friday prayers.

 

Dr Axel Klein is a lecturer in Study of Addictive Behaviour at School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research

University of Kent

Email: A.Klein@kent.ac.uk

Telephone: 01227 827466

 

http://www.somaliaonline.com/the-radicalisation-of-young-somalis-will-now-be-reinforced-by-somali-men-being-stopped-searched-and-arrested-for-khat-offences-by-dr-axel-klein/

[ElPunto]

What utter bollocks! To claim that men habitually in a haze of drug induced stupor will now become Islamic radicals as a result of want of khat? And to argue that khat is 'mild' and harmless when every single developed country has banned it really exhibits the poverty of this individual's reasoning skills.

[Khayr]

But, but he has a Ph.D. which is likened to

having become a Wise Sage. So how could a Prof. utter such?

 

 

A Conservative home secretary with backbench support has just handed radical Islam their first political success in the UK. Let her be remembered in Friday prayers.

[YoniZ]

Don't forget the likes of this Dr Kleinkariert is handsomely paid by the Khat exporters' lobby for this kind of bollocks.

[Holac]

Some of the kids who went to fight for Alshabab weren't perfect model citizens before they joined the terrorist group. Many of them were known to chill and hangout the neighborhoods chewing khat.

 

 

[Khayr]

<cite>

@Holac

said:</cite>

Some of the kids who went to fight for Alshabab weren't perfect model citizens before they joined the terrorist group. Many of them were known to chill and hangout the neighborhoods chewing khat.

 

So you follow the same premise - Stay drugged up

to avoid "radicalizationn".

So drugging your people is an excellent way to pacify them and have them zoned out for generations while the next Somali President and his friends

go on an "All you can steal buffets"

[Holac]

Khayr, if eating Khat can stop a young Somali kid from turning into a bomb, wouldn't that be great? I agree with you that we have a corrupt government and we should work hard to get rid of these buffet-eating belly-giants, but we are talking about kids being turned into suicide bombers, not some ideal youth activism.

[Khayr]

<cite>

@Holac

said:</cite>

Khayr, if eating Khat can stop a young Somali kid from turning into a bomb, wouldn't that be great? I agree with you that we have a corrupt government and we should work hard to get rid of these buffet-eating belly-giants, but we are talking about kids being turned into suicide bombers, not some ideal youth activism.

 

Talk about sensationalism. An appeal to fear like none other. With the Khat professor and your reasoning, tranqualizing aka drugging Somali men

guarantees safety for the mass. Kinda like Opium, they won't know what the hell is going around them and will forever be limb and mute.

 

[DoctorKenney]

Well, with the pacification of Somalia/Somaliland being an ongoing process, I expect more and more Somali youth in Europe to start acquiring the skills/education they need to succeed in Somalia. And as time goes on, there'll be more Somali youth emigrating to their homeland.

 

Not like these useless Somali old-men politicians who don't know a thing about economics or business or industry or trade. British Somalis are in a unique position to acquire world-class education and work experience, and then transferring their skills back home to Africa. I hope they use it well. A lot of the I-Block Somalis who live in London can acquire skills and then go into Government in Hargeisa, replacing the useless Somalilander politicians who don't do a thing to uplift their people or improve the state of the country. The same can be done in Somalia

 

Banning Khat was the first step.