Many Hipsters like Russell Brand openly support ISIS. They view the group as a revolutionary force fighting Capitalism and battling oppression. In many Hipster strongholds, ISIS t-shirts are gaining popularity and one of their leaders Abu Waheeb has become the new Che. Taking advantage of this support, ISIS is now promoting one of their fighters who happens to be a Hipster!
Islamic State jihadists ruling over much of Syria and Iraq have a new icon, whose fashionably styled curly hair and black-rimmed glasses contrast strikingly with the pose in which he has been photographed: astride a horse, and waving a shining scimitar above his head.
Identified by friends as a young Egyptian university graduate from a well-off Cairo family, Islam Yaken, he has been both lionised and demonised back home as the “hipster jihadi”.
Although he is said to have once been a supporter of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood former president, Mohammed Morsi, his friends say there was little to suggest his sudden change of life direction a year ago.
His page on the social media site VK suggest a young man apparently obsessed with his body – it is dominated by a series of pictures of him in a gym, showing off his toned physique.
Now he uses Twitter to glorify the “Caliphate” of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, and to post gory pictures including one of two heads in a basket, which he compares to the heads of sheep that can be ordered for the table in specialist Egyptian restaurants.
The ISIS-Hipster connection is one of the most troubling trends. Hipsters are very influential in the popular culture and technology. By promoting a Hipster Jihadi, ISIS seeks to cement the support from this demographic group. This support from Hipsters in turn helps mainstream ISIS in the culture and enable them to get more recruits.
The ISIS-Hipster alliance is a development that needs watching.
Tags: 2nd Iraq War, Islam Yaken, Syrian War, The Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham, The Popular Culture
