The boys themselves often do not see how their mindset and rage are destructive and prevent them from seizing the opportunities that Norwegian society gives them, writes Ingalill Sandal. Illustration photo. Photo: Shutterstock, NTB
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Young Muslim men’s anger is rooted in many elements. Let’s highlight some of them here.
Published: 19/11/2023 08:30
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The English writer John Osborne was among those who coined the term “angry young men” – in the play «Look Back in Anger». It became the very symbol of young, angry men who refused to conform to a corrupt society with large class differences. John Osborne’s main character, Jimmy, saw “the wrong people be hungry, the wrong people be loved, the wrong people dying”.
Being a young man is no joke. Testosterone levels and will to fight are at their peak. But there are not only biological reasons for the violence and aggression we see in what we call “vulnerable areas”.
Root in several elements
Young Muslim men’s anger is rooted in many elements. Let’s take some of them here:
Patriarchal traditions and honor cultures with expectations and traditions from the parents’ country of origin means that young boys are torn between two cultures. Honor is disabling and energy-consuming.
Many boys grow up in patriarchal families where communication takes place with violence and threats. Parents impose on the young boys a hopeless responsibility to guard the family’s honor through control over the sisters.
The Equality Center ONLY wrote in 2021 the report “Invadert og Forlatt” about the dilemma many young boys with an immigrant background live in, and about the expectations linked to the male role.The religious straitjacket is difficult to pry out of. Young people who want to break out lose family and networks. The young people who start to doubt their religion, or who fall in love with someone who is not accepted by the extended family, must keep it to themselves. In addition, they are exposed to manipulative preachers online, in some mosques and in other environments, who make being “Muslim” the most important identity marker.
Instead of the young people being given the opportunity to make their own choices and value their own strengths, they are sucked into groupthink that they are victims of society at large, and that their values stand in opposition to “the Norwegian”. If you combine this with the real feeling of being outside (above 11 percent of young immigrants are excluded from both work and school), it is perhaps not surprising that the frustration comes to the surface. The Middle East and the West’s double standard is one of the main arguments for joining conservative Islam. A number of imams and preachers portray Muslims as victims of the evil West that is failing the world’s Muslims. We must – with a background in historical mistakes – try to understand these young people who say that they lose faith in the West’s fight for democracy and freedom when we simultaneously kill civilians in warfare in the Middle East. This mainly applies to the West’s betrayal of the Palestinians, but also other interference on the part of the West.The stereotyping of young men with a Muslim background is also an obstacle, as they are squeezed into a narrow space. There is an expectation that they are perpetrators of violence, and that the girls are victims. As victims of violence, the boys are invisible. Young men often have to deal with parental violence, hurt feelings, disappointments, grief, inner doubts and discord alone. They are trained not to show weakness either at home, in the group of friends or at school, and the result can be acting out behaviour.
Psychologist Nadia Ansar says in Aftenposten that boys are just as vulnerable to shame and fear in a dysfunctional patriarchal environment as girls. In such a system, all parties are victims. The dark figures are high when it comes to abuse and violence, and it is extremely taboo.
Where are the parents?
Among non-Western immigrants, it turns out that young people who have good school results often have greater freedom from the control regimes at home. But in areas dense with immigrants, there is too high a number of young boys who leave school and are recruited into gang crime, something former Storting politician and board member of LIM Jan Bøhler has taken up repeatedly.
Parental regeneration among immigrants needs to be much stronger on the field
If you grow up with parental violence, authoritarian male roles, a lack of dialogue at home and drop out of school, gang culture can be a recognizable community. The boys themselves often do not see how their mindset and rage are destructive and prevent them from seizing the opportunities that Norwegian society gives them.
Parental regeneration among immigrants needs to be much stronger on the field. Social debater Asra Gilani has long called for the mothers. Several debaters with a Muslim background have called for the fathers.
Critical thinking and curiosity
Teaching critical thinking in school is more important than ever. All children are born curious and should be met with openness, not with dogma and ingrained rules. The joint school must be resoundingly clear about joint activities and learning. Today, there are many children and young people growing up in Norway who do not know anything about their own rights as children, about democracy, equality and individual freedom, but who believe that violence and abuse at home is normal.
Immigration has changed Norwegian demography since the 1970s, and then we have to map out the problems and follow up with measures that ensure that these children become part of Norwegian society. We must develop solutions for how we can free the children from the culture of honor, patriarchal family structures and conservative religion – structures that are maintained in many environments despite having lived in Norway for several decades.
We need to get better at reaching out to the young boys before they become angry young men
A number of mosque communities and organizations contribute to reinforcing segregation with gender-segregated activities and ultra-conservative preachers. The competence team against negative social control and honor-related violence reports that most cases of honor-related violence concern people from Syria, Somalia, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
World Values Surveys global survey shows how the cultural journey from conservative, patriarchal and collectivist cultures in Asia and Africa to individualistic Scandinavia is much longer than the physical flight. Integration takes time, but we can speed it up with an overview, knowledge, prevention and measures.
We have to get better at reaching out to the young boys for they get angry, young men. It is demanding, but necessary.
2023-11-19 16:43:33
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