HOW DID UK CITIZENS REACT TO THE CHOICE OF THEIR COUNTRYMEN TO JOIN THE WAR IN SYRIA?

ABOUT /We used social listening research to explore the public online debate.

This is a summary of the results. Copyright © 2014

A VERY SOCIAL PROBLEM

Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, more than 12,000 foreign fighters have

travelled to join the conflict.

Some of them to help the uprising against the government, others to help establish

the IS Caliphate, many of them simply because they want to be heroes.

But whatever their reason for answering the call to arms, most of these fighters are

young and tech savvy. And their knowledge of social media has created a new kind

of war reportage. One that uses social platforms to broadcast to a huge worldwide

audience.

The Syrian war is the most socially mediated conflict to date. And it’s a conflict that is

being fought online as well as on the ground.

2Copyright © 2014

A VERY SOCIAL STUDY

How better to find out what people think of this very social war than social listening?

We set out to examine and analyse:

• How the decision of British citizens to join the war was discussed in the public, online debate.

• What people in the UK think should be done about it now and in the future.

• The place these opinions have in the broader context of a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic UK.

• How public discourse regarding British citizens joining the war in Syria represents and feeds

into older narratives around immigration, multiculturalism and social cohesion.

HOW WE WORK…

Social listening research allows us to go beyond traditional media coverage and gain a deeper

understanding of how people think, talk and feel about these issues. It also lets us track and

analyse changes in public opinion. We use qualitative techniques to fully explore the meaning

behind each comment. More detailed and sophisticated than automated text analytics, we

combine discourse and thematic analysis to get to the heart of the conversation.3

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65%

19%

19%

3%

2%

Personal religious beliefs

Been brainwashed

Support a community

Seek adventure

Provide humanitarian aid

WHY

GO TO

SYRIA?

Sample: 527

A central part of the conversation about Syria is the reason why people decide to join the conflict.

We found that people tended to explain this in one of five ways:

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1. WHY DO YOU THINK THEY ARE GOING?

5

65%

PERSONAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

Commentators imply that British citizens going to Syria are Muslims (often referred as

‘British Muslims’) and that they are joining the war as jihadists or jihad fighters.

”

BEING BRAINWASHED

This term tends to be used to frame

people’s concerns in a different way,

identifying the guilty party as ‘an agent

working in the shadows’ raising the

spectre of the enemy within.

SUPPORTING A COMMUNITY

Where people think the motivation to join

the fight stems from the desire to support a

nation (e.g. ‘their’ Syria) or religion (a

commitment to other Muslims) as the focal

point.

19%

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19%

1. WHY DO YOU THINK THEY’RE GOING?

SEEKING ADVENTURE

Individuals motivated by either

physiological (testosterone), intellectual

(youthful idealism) or emotional (hearing a

call to action) drivers creating the need for

adventure.

PROVIDING HUMANITARIAN AID

Discussion and opinion on this is fairly

mixed. Some support humanitarian aid in

Syria. Others express concerns that this aid

is disguising other intentions, such as jihad

and radicalisation, which enables people to

travel freely to Syria.

2%

3%

6

16%

84%

Disapprove

Approve

Sample: 427

Once we had found out why people believed fighters are travelling to Syria, we wanted to know

how they felt about it. The results were clear:

2. GOOD OR BAD?

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3. WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

With a majority of people disapproving of UK citizens’ involvement in the war, we

wanted to know what they thought should be done about it:

7

LET THEM GO

CRIMINALISATION

PREVENTION

WHAT

SHOULD

WE DO?

50%

37%

13%

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LET THEM GO

Most people feel positive or ambivalent about the departure of British citizens - on the

basis that they may not return (i.e. will die) or should be forbidden to return. They don’t

oppose British nationals fighting abroad, but they don’t want to see the consequences of

their actions back home. However, there is also a minority of people within this group

who support the right of British citizens to travel to Syria.

50%

CRIMINALIZATION

The nature of these comments is relatively homogenous. People suggest various

legislative changes, such as: banning travel to Syria, deporting British citizens or the

criminalization of their family members in the UK. The feeling is that these changes to

criminal law would improve the situation and make the UK safer.

37%

8

3. WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

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PREVENTION

Commentators here are evaluating the role of the different prevention programmes that

are being put into place in the UK. However, some are also concerned with the fact that

something went wrong on our end and that we should be doing more to prevent

radicalization.

13%

9”

Radicalised individuals

There are some who express concerns with the return

of British citizens who have been fighting in Syria. This

concern seems justified or influenced by:

• The perception that these individuals, having been

exposed to violence and extreme ideologies, are

more likely to become radicalized.

• The perception that the people fighting the Assad

regime are particularly violent and extreme. Citing

crucifixions and beheadings as examples of their

behaviour.

Mistrust in the government

Others do not trust the UK government to be able to

protect the nation from a potential security threat posed the

return of British citizens from the war in Syria.

This is backed up by two main arguments:

• Current security resources are not enough to monitor all

the people returning from Syria.

• The British government was the first to think about

providing military support to Assad’s opposition in Syria

and some public figures showed their support of British

citizens joining the conflict.

The jihad that Muslims from the UK are waging in

Iraq and Syria today will be waged on the streets

of London tomorrow.

”We don't even know who lives in this country let

alone who is in Syria. We have absolutely no control

of our borders and the Government knows it.

”

4. CONCERNS

Many are clearly concerned with what will happen with the return of British citizens

who have been fighting in Syria. These concerns seem to be based mostly on the

following:

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10”

5. THE WIDER IMPLICATIONS

The actions of British citizens choosing to join the fight in Syria is clearly a concern for many.

Here are just a few of the insights we have gained:

• The main fear appears to be that exposure to violence and extremist ideologies will ‘radicalise’ those who go.

This fear of radicalisation is then expressed in terms of worries about what will happen when they return.

• Talk by those in Government, police or security directly influences and frames the conversation.

• Across the data British citizens joining the war in Syria are referred to as “British Muslims”, “British jihadists” or

simply “jihadists”. This categorization seems to be influenced by the media coverage on this matter, which

seems to portray the inevitability: British + Muslim + young + men = travelling to Syria. This is clearly not

the case for the vast majority, but there seems a danger that this stereotype could gain traction.

• For some, the conversation provides a scapegoat which allows them to express a hatred towards

foreigners in general, and the Muslim community in particular, which is perceived, for instance as exploiting

the welfare system.

• We found a tendency that is not aired publicly, in multi-ethnic and multicultural Britain, but that seems to be

deeply rooted in some people’s views. This is the tendency to differentiate among British citizens according to

the origins of their ancestors. Thus, a division within British society is put forward:

• On one side we have a strong narrative of Britishness – what it means to be British explicitly in terms of values

and loyalties, and implicitly in terms of religion and ethnicity - that is ‘under attack’.

• On the other side we have the enemy within, the attacker - British passport holders that are not regarded as

British citizens in the deepest sense, because their loyalty lies somewhere else (e.g. with the Ummah).

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This is just a snapshot of our Syria Report.

The full report contains many more insights.

TO GET THE FULL REPORT, GET IN TOUCH…Jeremy Hollow / Founder

Somerset House, T135 & T136, New Wing, Strand, London WC2R 1LA

t: 07799 415829

e: jeremy@listenandlearnresearch.com

w: listenandlearnresearch.com

@LALResearch

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