The Deep-seated Failures

    The slaughter of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians mirrors our reality. But air strikes against armed groups either in the Libyan cityof Darna, or in other places, are only a desperate reaction to avoid shame and a manifestation of the utter helplessness towards Isis and its likes. Such air strikes will not decide the battle nor will they halt Isis. True, something had to be done, and this is the bitter reality. More bitter, however, are the numbers of vulnerable people who fall victims to these attacks. These people are double victims of the Islamic State that occupies their cities and of those who can only see them as collateral damage. And any resolution adopted by the United Nations Security Council will not alter this reality.
What adds insult to injury is when those air strikes are presented as acts of revenge and retaliation.Such justifications only promote the vision of Isis and they are indeed disturbing and despicable. And then we are faced with complex questions that have no immediate answers or solutions: We have reached a point where Isis is given, and it’s neither coincident nor a fleeting moment. Nonetheless, we cannot get rid of this situation through superficial modifications or military campaigns. 
The factors that have given rise to Isis and to al-Qa’ida before have not been dealt with. And so long as they are not treated, they can give rise to similar groups in the future. These are structural, political, economic, ideological and social factors. They confirm that our failure is entrenched and that we have been overwhelmed with repression, despotism, poverty,backwardness and fragmentations. Hope has collapsed and a vision for a better future is all but absent.