The below has been published by South magazine, which is based in Athens.
Photo by Natasha Stallard, taken in Dubai 2014
ISIS – or Islamic State, or ‘Daesh,’ the term appropriated by US Secretary of State John Kerry as of today (12.12.14) – upturns the fundamentalist, antediluvian image of the fun-hating extremist (although Bin Laden seemed to co-exist with caves and TV cameras) to a socially media frenzied, Hi-def wielding, YouTube sensation, obsessed – it seems – with beheadings. $2bn capital reserve + a love of Instagram = the ability to recruit a different kind of young advocate to the kind that would have had to relinquish such earthly indulgences to save their soul.
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Good Photoshop Skills Required
“I’m going to join the Islamic State.”
“You mean ISIS?”
“No. Islamic State.”
“You mean ISIL?”
“No. Are you deaf? Islamic State. The Caliphate. It’s new.”
“Define ‘new’.”
“Since June.”
“Technically, not ‘new’.”
The first man grimaces.
“Did they ask you to go?”
“I watched a video.”
“The video asked you to go?”
“They need people with ‘Good Photoshop skills’.”
“You’re serious?”
“I’ve never been more serious my whole life.”
“I’ve known you your whole life.”
The second man stays calm.
“A higher cause. Subhan Allah.”
“What if I said you’re misguided? Would you…”
“…behead you?”
The first man is without noticeable expression.
“I did not watch the videos.”
“I did.”
“I don’t need to see the videos.”
“I did.”
The second man has downcast eyes.
“I have known you your whole life,” says the second man, “and loved you like a brother; and I am telling you, with the love of a brother, that you are misguided in every possible way. There isn’t scripture to defend you.”
The first man has not finished packing his suitcase. What will he need to take?
“Nation states are blasphemy.”
“Blasphemy is blasphemy.”
“Don’t beat me with your Westernised words.”
“Don’t use my Wi-Fi to download Jihadist propaganda.”
The second man unplugs his router.
“You can come with me.”
“My Photoshop skills are non-existent.”
“Final Cut Pro?”
“Never heard of it.”
“HashtagendofSykesPicot.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Really.”
The first man had never heard of a hashtag until hashtagendofSykesPicot.
“It’s not too late.”
“For?”
“A change of heart.”
“Do not question my heart. My faith. My purpose.”
“Faith without questioning is not faith but a simple programme.”
“Sophist.”
“Will you force me at gunpoint to pay a tax for being a Sophist?”
“You’re not funny.”
“Exactly. Funny or die?”
“Die.”
The second man wants to laugh. He would love to be able to laugh it off. He can’t.
“So you’re coming?”
“Where?”
“The IS?”
“Iz?”
“I told you. I-dot-S-dot.”
“You’re going now?”
“Now.”
They do not move.
The earth turns.
Yourheadisthewholeworld 