Paris attacks: 'Let's show the terrorists our common humanity' | Owen Jones talks 

Owen you're more guilty of 'shutting down the debate' than anyone, by labelling anyone who points out the explicitly religious rationale behind slaughtering infidels as an incomprehensible bigot. Probably a mistake we should stop repeating?

Why don't we acknowledge that Islamic extremism is one of the prime culprits of this atrocity, and work restlessly on that. Although I was moved by that Algerian woman, her argument was typically No True Scotsman. Political correctness against genuine criticisms of religions killed off honest conversations which may have prevented this attack in the first place. It is the left, not the right, that should fight against religious extremism in the future.

I blame 50 years of liberalism and globalism.

This is all your fault Owen. The other month you were shouting for them to come to Europe

why dont you go and preach in saudi Arabia Owen?

'Pathetic' is the wrong word. These people are profoundly evil.

Wondering if OJ told them he is gay ...

Owen, do a video discussing how the wage gap is based on women choosing different careers than men and not due to them being paid less for the same work.

Thank you. I truly appreciate your work, Owen.

One of the Jeremy Corbyn PMQS on the 18th Nov 2015 was to seek to cut ISIS funding. The prime ministers reply was this " As I said yesterday, we play a leading role in ensuring that the supply of money, weapons and support is cut off. However, we should be clear about where ISIL got its money from originally. Because we did not have a Government in Iraq that effectively represented all their people, and because in Syria there is a leader who is butchering his own people, ISIL was able to get hold of oil, weapons, territory and banks, and they have used that to fund their hatred and their violence. We cannot dodge forever the question of how to degrade and destroy ISIL in both Iraq in Syria, and that is why I will be setting out my response to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. Yes, we should go after the money and the banks, and cut off supplies to ISIL, but we should not make that a substitute for the action that is required to beat those people where they are." (Hansard) Summerize that as 'we must stop dodging the issue of going after ISIS funding'. Interestingly, later the same day, RT reported that Russian bombs had destroyed 500 oil trucks that ISIS use to export oil for refining in Iraq. So some question spring to mind. Why hasn't the US acted to stop ISIS oil exports before as it would seem a highly effective way to damage their operation. Also the money from these oil sales must go through one or more banks, so why doesn't the international banking community act to locate and freeze these accounts. Being a cynic, my guess is we've been 'dodging' the issue because as with Mexican drug laundering money it probably gets sanitized by the City of London which because of extensive deregulation has become the world Mecca for black money - no pun intended.

Thank you Owen for putting into words my thoughts on this situation - if only someone would explain this to the hysterical politicians.

I feel like the most important part of this video is when the Muslim woman came up to Owen. You could see she was scared. She shouldn't have felt the need to justify how ordinary Muslims feel about all this - but she did.

Denying a faith connection between the terrorists and their religion is a blatant lie. Blaming all muslims for this is not the answer, it's just bigotry, that said, forbidding criticism of Islam for fear of offending or antagonizing is a completely irrational response.

I have to ask is there a filter on the video? Or was it just a cloudy day in Paris? Either way great stuff.

very good video. everyone wants to simplify things, but things are sometimes complicated. and bombing is rarely the solution.

Of course its wholly untrue and offensive to blame ALL muslims for these atrocities and ISIS as a whole. However we must be mature about having a conversation on the extent to which ISIS is influenced by Islamic theology and the impact this may or may not be having on us here in Britain. Its ridiculous and quite irresponsible to just play the racist/bigoted/UKIP card every time the issue is raised.

A key ideological war here is between open borders multiculturalism and unicultural nationalism. The odd bedfellows supporting multiculturalism include big business and the far left who want to see a borderless world. On the nationalist side there are people who want to live in a cohesive society with a government that puts the interest of the nation's people above multi-national corporations and the dreamers who want a border less world. Of course there are racists and xenophobes on the nationalist side too. Militant Islam represents the biggest challenge to multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is a passive ideology too weak to assert itself. Only nationalism is a powerful enough force to defeat militant islam and multicultural nations don't do nationalism well enough. So, I'm afraid that we will muddle through the next few decades of Islamist atrocities until we rediscover a patriotism that asserts itself above all religions. The last Labour government disgracefully allowed civil Sharia law to be introduced under the arbitration act. We must be vigilant in applying universal national laws and also promote national cultural standards of gender equality for example. Nationalism can be progressive.

Very well spoken, Owen, thank you. Thank you also for the images of people's solidarity outside of the Bataclan - moving and heartening.

As a British Muslim I am appalled and saddened by what happened. There is no place in ANY religion for these disgusting acts.

They're evil. They don't care about humanity or kindness. They think it's weak. Give me strength!

Also, you know, that huge cause of our governments selling military equipment to dangerous and extremist organisations and countries past and present: USA and France being two of the largest. ISIS see us as a democracy, and often might just reckon that we voted to go to war and such. Another is the local populace of ISIS territory don't have much to do - simple as that. Boredom and feeling of lack of purpose is a massively overlooked root cause for all these things.

People do not choose to be blind, however they can choose to be blinkered. Do not blame blind people.

Owen, I think you are quite wrong to scoff at the 'War on Terror'. How do you know it hasn't precluded more atrocities like 13/11 ? I am surprised and grateful that we've had nothing like 7/7/2005 in London for a full decade.

These killers were shown common humanity for decades.

Owen, it appears that you're being bashed for this video which only serves to demonstrate your point further. I could not agree with what you said more, and I'm so sad and sorry that more people do not understand the repercussions of continued warfare or the problems it caused in the first place. Keep safe. (:

All very well, Owen, but Jeremy and John are finding that 30 years on the backbenches has reduced their ability to develop policies that they would have to implement, if they were in office. Both are still playing the game of " I am more virtuous than you" about anything that Cameron or Osborne is throwing at them. Blair admitted that it took the entire first parliament of 1997 -2001 before it got to him that policies do not go away once you have made the speech, you have to implement them. In opposition they do go away. On the backbenches in opposition they often do not even get delivered because the Speaker does not call you. Jeremy and John are not learning fast enough, neither is Diane Abbott, who is still beaming her smile as if she was talking about teddy bears when she is talking about bombing Syria.

What's pathetic is your ignorance on this topic, Owen. Westminster, Manchester.....when will you wake up?

This is the point I was trying to make just today in a conversation... People for some reason view ISIS as a chaotic extremist group with no structure or planning, but in reality their every move serves a purpose and that ignorant mentality only fuels their actions...

Don’t look back in anger….people tell the uk. It’s funny that when the uk is the victim that’s it’s a very specific narrative

"What would happen if the capitalists succeeded in smashing the Republic of Soviets? There would set in an era of the blackest reaction in all the capitalist and colonial countries. The working class and the oppressed people would be seized by the throat. the positions of international communism lost" Yuri Andropov .

I agree with your view. They see themselves as warriors, but warriors do not commit acts of brutal killing against defenceless people. This is pure cowardice, and as you say, they ARE pathetic. I know ISIS are not Muslims, I feel really sorry for Muslims who are afraid, as the lady in your video. We must break their reputation to stop recruitment.

Thank you Owen Jones

Also, the Emperor is naked indeed.

Thank you +owen jones for some rational views on such a difficult situation. I was very disappointed with the government panelists in this week's Question Time in which they shown a completely lack of knowledge on modern warfare and current affairs... they keep applying 1980s solutions to 21st century issues, they keep targeting a geography rather than an idea and so on... I know the best minds dont go into politics these days as there is no room for innovative thinking but we should all have the same level of expectations from those who represent us. People working in the private sector must always be on top of their game if they want to climb the career ladder and I dont see why politicians shouldn't meet the same standards. If you work in technology and believe typewriters is what your department needs, you should probably reconsider your position or someone else will. If you are a member of parliament and think this is the Falklands war and should follow the same playbook... well. And the consequences go beyond the conflict itself, resources that should go to the NHS, Education and others will be re-allocated to weapons, soldiers, more surveillance and other... We as a society should demand 21st Century thinking and solutions from the politicians representing us. Keep the good work.

"People often in Syria & Iraq won;t fight them, they'll flea rather than fight ..." Let's see how Owen get's on with fighting ten people shooting at him at close quarters.

Libya was a failed state when Gaddafi was in power, not only after his demise.

Well said Mr Jones. We need to be very careful when making hasty generalisations about people groups and religions. And even though the refugees may look and sound different to many of us, they are themselves fleeing ISIL, Assad, and the air strikes at home - Syria is a country that has been torn apart by war. We must also ask some serious questions about ISIL’s infrastructure: Who is funding them? Who makes, sells, and provides the weapons they are using? Why was it so easy for them to get hold of automatic weapons in Europe when the threat of terror was already high? and how do we tackle the extremist ideology being used to radicalise young people to prevent similar attacks in the future? If we can stop the supply of arms and money to ISIL and stop the radicalisation of young impressionable men and women, perhaps we can prevent such acts of terror in the future.

Great points Owen, we need to move the level of debate on about ten steps from where our political leaders are right now. The analogy with the rise of the Nazis is spot on. An understanding and awareness of cause is not the same as excusing the effect.

This is a great video but I disagree about how we deal with this situation. You make the point that the campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya have been failures, and you are absolutely correct to say this. However, both Iraq and Libya were illegal and completely unjustified and we should not have been there in the first place. In Afghanistan, no one on the ground had any idea why we were there or what our purpose was. These conflicts had no basis or purpose and no mission. Going into Iraq was the biggest mistake of our generation. Yes, it has undoubtedly led to the creation of ISIS and the 'collateral damage' of these wars has also had a massive impact on radicalisation. However, ISIS is clearly an agent capable of mass killings on European soil and we are frankly now at war with a group that considers themselves a nation sate. They have committed two well planned and well executed attacks killing over a hundred people and injuring hundreds more in France. We all know what they are doing in middle east and how they are massacring hundreds of thousands of Christians, Jews and Muslims on mass as well.The number of recruits they get from Europe is minimal. They are in the process of indoctrinating an entire generation of Syrians and Iraqis into their belief system. Do you think it is possible to find a political solution with people like this? Do you really believe that we can sit down and talk our differences out? These people have a desire to set in motion an apocalyptic war between the Christian world (if you are westerner you are deemed Christian whether you like it or not) and the Muslim world. If we do not destroy them now then they will become more powerful and a conflict on a global scale will be unavoidable, which is what they want. Our airstrikes are having little to no impact. We know from Iraq that their forces are not capable of taking, holding and securing territory on the ground by themselves. It is time we showed a bit of back bone, come together with the other Arab nations and wipe out these scum. During the second Gulf war we made it from Kuwait to Baghdad in less than a month. We all know what happened after that, but the initial invasion was one of the most successful military campaigns in history. it shows that a coalition force could easily destroy ISIS before they can ever strike again. After that, we must hold our nerve and use as many Arab troops as possible to hold the ground (with the west providing ample assistance), and then as many Arab/local teachers/educators to educate the children of the region and attempt to remove the ideologies brainwashed into them. We need to not try and enforce a democracy upon the region, we should promote local culture and not try and intervene with these peoples way of life, restore the Syrian/Iraqi border and leave Assad alone to get on with it.

I agree we should not "repeat the mistakes of the past". As such, let us stop letting in more of these people in our country and continent.

Owen, could you please dedicate an episode to explaining the history of the Syrian civil war?

There has been no war on terror and a political solution in Middle East will only solve the problem of the terror groups there but what about Africa and Asia this it's all the Wests fault stuff is also far to simplistic.

Lets not turn this into a left vs right issue.

Watched you on tv earlier Owen, pouring petrol on the fire was a very apt example in my opinion! Keep up the good work my man.

religion has the potential to be interpreted in multiple ways even within one sect so when she says 'they aren't muslims' she doesn't literally mean that they aren't muslims but that she believes they have such a warped idea of islam that they can't be called muslim ie. they have misinterpreted and warped a religion that has the potential to be peaceful in most circumstances (the exact same as with christianity)

Learn something about Islam Owen

as my mum use to say 2 wrongs dont make a right

great piece owen shame none of our politians would ever admit our mistakes . The media always wants you to pick a side to say whos right put sometimes the answer is nobody

The legitimization argument urgently needs to be made in the tabloid media too.

A heartfelt and useful contribution.

ITS A LOAD OF OPERATION GLADIO BOLLOCKS ,ITS NOT REAL ,

I agree with the difference between understanding and justification eg Versaille and Nazis. However i feel much of the hard left ignore this, there is no justifications for ISIS and there never will be.

I agree with you owen.But what we to ask are selfs is this ,what have we done to these people that they hate us so much, the answers are not easy but if we want lasting peace we need to find them and not reach guns every time

Let's be honest here, the Muslim religion isn't working out very well is it? And what does moderate mean at all? A slightly more tolerant hater or what?

I was actually supposed to be in that building on that very Friday, but due to last minute issues I couldn't go. I am outraged, however, that while Paris is the centre of all media attention, we are supporting governments like Israel which inflict these atrocities on Palestine, and many other examples, as your fabulous video so rightly raises.

owen you speak french?

I think this is a brilliant and rational perspective Owen , the roots of extremism are complex and have many layers. At the heart of it , however lies an ideology and a narrative based on an inerpretation of religious texts that unless challenged by the scholars of Islam as a united collective speaking with one voice , they will sadly continue to be used to indoctrinate a sizeable minority in the community . The voices and perspectives of activists like Aayan Ali Hirsi need to be heard and are essential to the battle for minds and hearts .

Thanks Owen Jones, thoughtful and moving too. I'd be careful of adopting the term "extremist" (as opposed to "moderate"). (What of advocating something "extremely fair", "extremely beautiful", "extremely democratic" and so on? Is that reprehensible?) We know the powerful will call themselves "moderate" and tar their opponents as "extremist". The valuable meaning lies somewhere deeper and more specific. Something perhaps that encapsulates preaching hate and attacking the innocent.

We should send them flowers. Seriously, I agree bombs won't solve the problem, but I think military action is required. I wish there was an easy and peaceful way to fix everything, but sometimes good intentions are not enough. The problem will persist as long as there's no political stability in the middle east, and I don't know how anyone can fix that. I don't even know if that's possible at this point. Not in the short term, that's for sure. In the meantime we can only try to prevent the expansion of these belligerent people, by attacking them and mainly cutting off their funding. But we have to try to defend ourselves as much as we can too. Religion only prevents evolution of society. The bigger the quote of influence of any religion, the harder it is to change society for the better. I'm not talking only about islam, but it's true that islam in particular is not only an enemy of evolution, but it wants to take us back to the past. I respect religious people, but sorry, I can't defend islam, just like I can't defend other equally harmful ideologies. Less religion, more reason.

Sad is the only word i can describe.... :'( #sad

Well this has got to be one of the most disgusting comment sections I've seen to date. Owen Jones, you seem to attract some of the most bigoted (I would like to swear like a sailor here but I'll refrain) people. I'll head off now and think progressively and open minded on such issues and ignore the incessant drivel of 95% of the comments I've read today.

ur not wrong owen, ur not wrong

I think a great deal of progress can be made in discussing the situation calmly and rationally, if the central question stopping this discussion can be clearly answered: What constitutes being a Muslim? The Western mind requires a standard of judgement on this matter. It requires a way to identify things before it can analyse and apply reason to meeting the problems that are now presented to it. Reading the Koran and the doctrines derived from it will leave any neutral Western observer entirely at sea, as it supports any number of interpretations, both pacifist and fundamentalist. So, to make progress, such interpretations, as well as the doctrine itself, has to be cast aside. The West needs a statement, by Muslims, of what behavior is acceptable as a Muslim, and what behavior automatically excommunicates a Muslim from the faith. I have spent two years talking to many Muslims on precisely this subject. In all cases, there has been no agreement. The singular general response has been that my interlocutors have all agreed they themselves are Muslims, while others of different sects may be Muslims, and some are not really Muslims. Even when zeroing-in on ISIS, there has been no consensus, with some saying they are not Muslims, and others saying they are. The West desperately needs a calm and rationale approach and discussion about the problem that faces us. But it is unlikely to be able to have that without first answering the central question: What constitutes being a Muslim?

You can not solve problems with the same thinking that created them.Albert Enstein.

Well said once again Owen. You make some excellent points. After reading some of the comments on here, I am embarrassed to be the same species as some of those that have commented. I fail to understand the type of people that spend the time to watch the clip and not take anything into account but to look for ways to find insults.Keep up the good work and remember there are far more good people than bad.

Hello Owen, tell me you're working on a new book/date me!?

Owen, I wonder how open you *really* are to facts surrounding this debate. Correlation does not equal causation, and ISIS is merely one manifestation of extremist Islam. That's important because it's extremist Islam that's the core problem here; if ISIS didn't exist, there would be another extremist group causing problems in the West. If you believe that Western foreign policy caused extremist Islam, you're simply mistaken. If you believe that Western foreign policy caused the export extremist Islam around the whole world, including to the West, again you're simply mistaken. Defeating ISIS itself is pretty easy: they're weak militarily by any conventional standards. Defeating extremist Islam, though, will not be so easy. One thing's for sure though - it's not the West's fault it exists, or that it's so popular. Now, has Western foreign policy to date in this area been a success? No, of course not. Manifestly, it hasn't. The answer isn't to give up, though... and the answer isn't to pretend that military action doesn't have a role to play in defeating some of these people.

i just want to be frank. im on the left and I've noticed a rift between us on what we need to focus on more (our foreign policy or the fundamentalist ideoly) of course I usually want to avoid war but, unless you want to back the Assad regime, there is really only Isis Al Nusra who are basically Al Qaeda affilliates. The only moderate force worth backing in my opinion are the Kurds who no one seems to want to support (I'm guessing because of Turkey) I just want to know what your position is and what you would actually like to see happen. Please be specific because i believe we need to tackle this problem with discussion and ideas.

All those crocodile tears, and red herring answers.

8 years ago

Self loathing seeps out of every pore of Owens discourse. Unfortunately betrayal of ones own birth gender can have that consequence, it's a shame because he means well and works towards a socialist Utopia. Of sorts. I hope he grows up eventually.

all "holy books" contain some horrible views so you can take it how it reads , pick and choose the bits you like for better or worse or move with the times .

wot are your thoughts on the hatred of gays in islam?

Sorry owen .They must all go back

Brilliant.

Send them back.

Learn more about Islam dude.

this was very well said. well done

Waffle a lot don't you?

Owen you dont know what ur talking about

PODEMOS

Once again, just a thank you Owen.

terrorists are the problem, bigots are the problem, division is the problem, fear of the other is the problem Tolerance, living peaceably together is clearly the answer.

excellent piece. unfortunately it seems more and more difficult lately to find people who appreciate that a political approach is more appropriate than a military approach to this situation

Spot on again Mr. Jones.

Good video - that woman really changed my heart and mind on this issue.

Well said Owen

Very well analysed and very eloquent - as always. Well done Owen