Beware of the Image | Ibraaz (original) (raw)

Jihadi Beheading Videos and their Non-Jihadi Echoes

Perspectives on Terrorism, 2018

In recent years, the Islamic State terror organization has become notorious for its evil brutality. The brutal nature of its propaganda (distributed mostly online) inspires Jihadi sympathizers around the world, encouraging them to use violence against " the enemies of Islam ". This form of violent behavior has also been adopted and imitated by others – including non-Muslim individuals and groups – regardless of their geographic location, worldview, religion, ethnicity, or nationality. Drawing from numerous examples, this article illustrates two processes: first, the " mainstreaming " of beheadings among Jihadists, and second, the imitation of this method (decapitation) by individuals motivated by other kinds of extremism.

Images of death and dying in ISIS media: A comparison of English and Arabic print publications

Media, War & Conflict

Images of death and dying in the media around the globe have a symbiotic relationship with nation states as they can bolster state control by defining who has the right to take lives in the interests of the community, by identifying enemies of the state, by demonstrating dominance over enemies, and by lending a moral posture to the state’s war efforts. Previously, the growing corpus of research on media’s display of death and about to die images has focused almost exclusively on media outlets that bolster established states on the global stage. By analyzing 1965 death and about to die images displayed in Dabiq, ISIS’s English-language magazine, and al-Naba’, the same group’s Arabic-language newspaper, this study adds an understanding of the messaging strategies deployed by groups striving to challenge, rather than reinforce, existing national boundaries. The findings suggest that while ISIS adopts some standard media practices, it also utilizes unique and audience targeted approache...

Picturing atrocity: visual representations of ISIS in Arabic political cartoons Sadam Issa Picturing atrocity: visual representations of ISIS in Arabic political cartoons SADAM ISSA

Picturing atrocity: visual representations of ISIS in Arabic political cartoons Sadam Issa Picturing atrocity: visual representations of ISIS in Arabic political cartoons SADAM ISSA, 2021

This study analyzes how political cartoons in the Arab world portray the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In particular, the study examines how the metaphoric messages in a selection of political cartoons portray and situate ISIS terrorism within the Islamic world and seek to distinguish ISIS victims from ISIS perpetrators of terror. I argue that these cartoons function as an ideological weapon to combat the domestic extremism and brutality of ISIS. Findings indicate that the visual representations in Arabic political cartoons that ridicule and dehumanise ISIS deliberately reveal important realities about the terrorist organisation and its ruthless practices. Furthermore, they increase public awareness of ISIS as an 'enemy within' the Islamic world that, more than anything else, has victimised the religion, people, and youth of Islam since its inception.

Off With Their Heads: The Islamic State and Civilian Beheadings

Journal of Terrorism Research, 2015

This article evaluates the use of beheadings by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. We place beheadings in a broader historical context and draw from academic research in terrorism studies and the social sciences to explain why the Islamic State has adopted such brutal tactics. We outline the strategic logic of beheading and evaluate explanations related to symbolic politics, culture, and organizational dynamics. We conclude with a discussion about the future of Islamic State violence.

Terror in Pictures. Dabiq, a graphic analysis

Revista de Pensamiento Estratégico y Seguridad, 2023

Dabiq is an example of how jihadism has used magazines as a tool for propaganda. One of its goals was to legitimize the daesh and images haven been an important tool towards achieving this goal. The present paper aims to quantitatively assess the importance of the photographic image in the narrative generated by dabiq. the use of color, image size, position within the page, use by sections and use according to information genres will be analyzed. results suggest that images are more important in dabiq than in prior jihadist publications. the image of daesh it portrays is modern and solid, supporting the idea of a consolidated state.

The "New Jihadists" and the visual turn from al-Qa´ida to ISIL /ISIS/ Da´ish

BizPol Affairs, 2014

Visual representation has always belonged among the sensitive, in certain periods even highly problematic issues of the Islamic tradition. This was especially true for various forms of depicting living creatures, or “creatures possessing a soul,” which in the Islamic view show human and animal beings. When taking this basic Muslim viewpoint into account, one could assume that the movements and thinkers of radical Islam, which emerged during the 19th and 20th centuries, further stressed the fundamentals mentioned above, the same as in many other issues, and would pursue forbidding and refusing images as such for their movements and followers. However, the situation is much less unequivocal. Despite the theoretical prohibition, or, more accurately, the strict control, one often finds themselves facing an extensive visual culture while examining the various radical and reformist Islamic movements. The aim of this work is to briefly introduce the factors behind these ostensible contradictions, i.e. to schematically characterize the viewpoints of leaders and thinkers of various Sunni Islamic radical and reformist movements concerning visuality.

'Cubs of Caliphate': Analysis of Children' Images in ISIS Visual Propaganda

International Journal of Media Science Works, 2020

This study investigates the children's images reflected by ISIS visual propaganda. The qualitative content analysis was conducted on ISIS' videos aimed at children from 2014 to 2017. The total number of videos analyzed was thirty. This study finds that ISIS' visual propaganda reflects six main images of children: Child Soldier; Child Executioner; Child Suicide Bomber; Educated Child; Satisfied Child; Child Victim. The study concluded that ISIS brainwashes and desensitizing children to violence to form the character of the 'jihadi junior' capable of sniping, fighting, beheading, executing spies and even carrying suicide bombings. ISIS visual propaganda also promotes the image of the child victim, giving itself the legitimacy to respond and take revenge from its 'enemies.' Besides, ISIS films innovated in depicting the natural life that children live in the lands under its control; to promote the idea that the 'land of Caliphate' is the ideal territory to live.