How You Really Fight Terrorism

Waleed Ziad and Laryssa Chomiak write on the Op-Ed page of the Christian Science Monitor about the tensions between Crimean Tatars, returning to their homeland after Stalin-era deportations, and the ethnic Russian majority that displaced them. They describe the institutions created by the Tatars, both secular and religious, to stake their claim in Crimea, and showed how they were able to work to undermine the influence of foreign-funded Wahabbist extremists — at best, fellow-travelers to al Qaeda — by teaching tolerance and acceptance in the mosques and focusing on negotiation and nonviolent protest, working against the formation of local militias, on the secular side. Fostering local participatory movements isn't just about keeping democracy healthy, they write. In the global war on terror, it's one of the best defenses against transnational fundamentalism.

(via Avedon Carol)