MOSCOW, November 18 (Sputnik) — During her speech at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit 2014, Queen Rania said that Islamic State is using media to propagate their images of violence. She said, “A minority of irreligious extremists is using social media to rewrite our narrative and hijack our anatomy, that’s what IS is doing to the Arab world and all of us,” as reported by Al Arabiya.
The Queen of Jordan said it was time to reclaim the identity of the Arab world from a minority of extremists who have filled screens with images of violence and destruction.
She said, “These images don't represent me anymore than they represent you,” reports Arabian Business.
“They're alien and abhorrent to the vast majority of Arabs — Muslims and Christians. And they should make every Arab across this region seethe, because they're an attack on our values as a people. And on our collective story,” she added.
“They say, a story is told as much by silence as by speech. Well, our silence speaks volumes. We are complicit in their success,” said Queen Rania urging the moderate majority of Arabs not to stand by silently.
She said that the fight against extremists, goes well beyond that battleground, and is now a fight between moderates and extremists all over the world, reports Arabian Business.
“We must create a new narrative and broadcast it to the world. Because if we don’t decide what our identity is and what our legacy will be the extremists will do it for us,” she added.
“It's a fight for the future of Islam and the Arab world. So, it's a fight that moderates have to win.” She raised the role of education in preventing the threat posed by extremists: “Winning also depends on our ability to conquer the philosophical battleground as well. Because at the heart of this assault is an ideology,” she said.
She brought up the issue of the rising number of followers and fans of radical groups in the region. She explained that these followers are “from classrooms in which they were never challenged to think for themselves, and where they learned an outdated curriculum. From societies in which a quarter of their peers are unemployed, where there's inadequate social security to afford a life of dignity, and where opportunities to help to change the status quo are few and far between.”
Queen Rania further said that investing in education should be a priority and it should be a long-term commitment to provide quality education for all children. “Because educated girls strengthen their nations’ economies, they prioritize the health and education of their own children and they help to build stable societies more resilient to radicalization,” stated Arabian Business.
