Pablo Cañete Blanco Jihadism as an expression of violence... 355 communities into a unidimensional, interest-based, competitive relationship. (…) What was a complex encounter of cultures becomes, thus, a hard-eyed battle for the ‘concrete’ development-related gains”54. Bearing this in mind, and considering that the original conflict was born of a clash between ideologies that, in part, seems to have become a confrontation of violences, we should consider which ideological elements are capable of converting jihadism into a form of violence by the different players involved. Construction of the villain and the hero “If our enemies (and the other “villains” in our psychic narratives) help give us a sense of who we are not, of what we stand against, then, conversely, our heroes help tell us who we are, what we stand for”(…) “Initially, Alan Moore suggests that, given the black-and-white, all-or-nothing mentality of the kind of person who would become a hero (a person who wants to believe in “absolute values” but encounters only “darkness and ambiguity”), nihilism is a natural fall-back position”55. We first come across the phenomenon of villanisation which is a structuring and enabling factor. Marilyn Manson said that “in any story, the villain is the catalyst. The hero’s not a person who will bend the rules or show the cracks in his armour. He’s one-dimensional intentionally, but the villain is the person who owns up to what he is and stands by it”. The hero is made up (in part) as a logical response to the existence of the enemy and owes him his existence as, without him, he would never be a hero. In other words: without a villain (enemy) and without heroic cause (legitimisation) there can be no hero. If at times the questions are more important than the answers – as the answers are logical conclusions of the questions – knowing the enemy can offer a possibility to unravel the basis of the construction of the self. Some of the principal characteristics of the “enemy” are his lack of faith or religious zeal56, nationalist philosophies57, tendency towards stealth, falsehood and 54 NANDY, Ashis. Op. Cit. 55 THOMSON, Iain D. «Decontructing the Hero.» In Heidegger, Art, and Postmodernity, by Iain D. Thomson, 141-168. Cambridge (United Kingdom): Cambridge University Press, 2012. 56 “This attitude is also one of dhann (weak thinking) of the jāhiliyyah ignorant”. See DABIQ. (Dhul-Hijjah de 1435 (Islámico)). Foreword. Dabiq. The Failed Crusade (4). https://clarionproject. org/docs/islamic-state-isis-magazine-Issue-4-the-failed-crusade.pdf. (last consulted 20.03.2017). 57 “The Taliban released another written statement fabricated with a nationalist tone and dialect in the name of the deceased Mullā ‘Umar, congratulating the Ummah on Eid al-Fitr and supporting the national Afghan reconciliation with the apostate regime”. See DABIQ. (Dhul-Qa’dah de 1436 (Islámico)). Foreword. Dabiq. From the Battle of Al-Ahzab to the war of coalitions (11). https:// clarionproject.org/docs/Issue%2011%20-%20From%20the%20battle%20of%20Al-Ahzab%20to%20 the%20war%20of%20coalitions.pdf. (last consulted 20.03.2017). http://revista.ieee.es/index.php/ieee
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