Comments on: Muslim Jihadists Strike in Thailand

By: Beth C.

Beth C. — Wed, 23 May 2007 06:21:01 +0000

can you stop referring to the violence in southern thailand as jihadism

Political and social “freedom,” or the desire to implement Islamic law/an Islamic ruler? Sounds like jihad to me.

By: s. nam

s. nam — Wed, 23 May 2007 02:30:11 +0000

hi there, i like your blog (for some reason it ends up in my inbox once in a while), but can you stop referring to the violence in southern thailand as jihadism?

the violence down there is quite complicated, and it’s hard to assign a motivation to it (since no one ever claims responsibility for it or makes any public statements about it) but it doesn’t really seem to be a jihad. most analysts would say it’s much more about political and social freedom than a holy war. these people just happen to be muslim.

By: lawhawk

lawhawk — Tue, 22 May 2007 17:40:38 +0000

Thanks for the hat tip, except you got my name wrong.

BSC: I’m so sorry! I knew better - I just wrote that very quickly before I had to leave for a while. I’ll correct that!