It may be true that there is no direct connection between the economy and unemployment or between extremism and terrorism. No one, however, will deny the existence of some kind of link. Unemployment leaves people with plenty of free time and not knowing what to do with it. Unemployment obviously leads to poverty and the combination of free time and poverty may drive people, especially youth, to come under the influence of certain types who manipulate them for their own ends.
As to how the unemployed are drawn into extremism, this depends to a large extent on the ability of the extremist groups to attract desperate and frustrated youth with nothing to do except loiter and waste time. Extremist groups play on the frustration and anger felt by youth toward the state and society for having failed to provide them with jobs that guarantee them stable and happy lives.
We have already seen how some frustrated young people responded to calls by individuals living outside the country to join rallies and demonstrations to protest conditions of unemployment and poverty they find themselves in. What drove those youths to take part in the demonstrations was not a political motive but rather a desire to express a personal one. For personal reasons, some traveled long distances to participate in the demonstrations without realizing the security and political consequences.
We must never close our eyes to the root causes of violence and crime; we must work hard to expose, and address, both relevant direct and indirect factors at the root of the problems. The process may take years; eliminating the sources of extremism, violence and crime will be far from easy. It may be true that some terrorists and extremists are driven by ideology but it is also true that many who sympathize with them do so only because they are unemployed and extremism provides them with something to do and a sense of direction.
— Arab News Local Press 25 December 2003
