CLARION PROJECT
by Elliot Friedland
July 21, 2015

In a first for a Western country, the UK leader clearly named the problem of Islamist extremism as distinct from, but related to, Islam.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron gave a landmark speech yesterday on Islamist extremism, naming, for the first time, the root cause behind international terrorism. He told the audience at a school in Birmingham, “This is what we face – a radical ideology – that is not just subversive, but can seem exciting; one that has often sucked people in from non-violence to violence; one that is overpowering moderate voices within the debate and one which can gain traction because of issues of identity and failures of integration.” This is the first time a Western leader has names Islamist extremism specifically as the problem and terrorism merely as a symptom of the ideology. READ MORE