Russell Brand has said that society must accept some culpability for young Britons who move to Syria to fight with the Islamic State.
The comedian believes that it is the way in which “desperate” people are conditioned that drives them to extremist acts of violence, such as the recent beheading of American journalism James Foley.
“What frame of mind would I have to be in to leave my house in fucking East London and go, 'Right, I'm going to the desert to kill people,'” he said on his YouTube channel, The Trews.
“You'd have to take away my material comfort, my sense of security, my sense of connection to the country, my sense of togetherness - all of those things would have to be stripped away from me.”
He goes onto offer a solution to terrorism; namely preventing disenfranchisement and making every British citizen feel valued and heard, so that joining extremists is not “appealing”.
“The fact that there are so many desperate people, alienated people... doesn’t it clearly indicate that we need to build a more coalescent, communicative and bonded society here in Britain so that people think, ‘I don’t want to go to Syria and chop people’s heads off. I like it here. I feel included. I have values,’” said Brand.
