Abdo Khal
Okaz
We are like a person who had a horrific nightmare and continued his sleep to forget about that frightful dream. This is the right description of our ongoing efforts to fight extremism in our society.
When the Education Ministry recently announced that it would keep a close watch on libraries it was similar to the effort of a sleeping person to free his mind from the nightmare.
Actually it has come not as an initiative from the Education Ministry but as a response to the Interior Ministry’s warning after it observed that some books in our libraries contained extremist thoughts like the books and publications of deviant groups that spread dangerous views and ideas.
Every school should set up a committee to review the books that are kept in its library and other education centers in order to remove banned books from its racks.
If the Education Ministry had not received this warning from the Interior Ministry it would not have taken any action to remove such books from school libraries. This reflects the need for cooperation by all ministries to root out terrorism from the country.
We should understand that there are many other areas that work as breeding grounds for extremism and terrorism. The ministry’s move to check books at school libraries is a welcome gesture, although it came a bit late as the idiom says: Better late than never. But with regard to organizations such late action will be considered a grave mistake.
The Education Ministry should also shoulder it responsibility to neutralize those individuals who inject extremist thoughts in the minds of younger generations. I think it will be a very difficult job.
This campaign should not only cover the ministry’s staff but also other individuals and groups in our bid to eradicate extremism. Every government agency should make contributions toward fighting extremism without waiting for the Interior Ministry’s warning.
We should also focus our attention on families who encourage their children to follow in the footsteps of extremist leaders and Al-Qaeda ideologues.
