Over the past few days, hundreds of Osama bin Laden’s supporters have posted, commented, blogged, tweeted and facebooked “We are all Osama bin Laden.” With mixed emotions of anger, sadness and disbelief, a vast community of bin Laden’s followers express solidarity and allegiance to a man whose ideology and legacy will live on for years, if not decades to come.
“Obama, prepare yourself for 5 million Osama bin Laden’s,” one online extremist posted in an Arabic hardline forum. By strategically positioning themselves as viable candidates to lead the mov
ement in a post-bin Laden world, the grassroots community has just changed the way the U.S. must view Al Qaeda. For the past 10 years, the U.S. has been fighting a war against an enemy that we could name and put a face to. Upon his death, we face a new enemy, but this time it isn’t just one person, and we can’t put a face to him. This time it is the followers and supporters of bin Laden that we will be fighting, because according to them, they are all Osama bin Laden.
In the coming days and weeks it will be important to monitor the grassroots movement online activity. A close look at conversations among peers will tell us a lot about the next enemy that we face.
In the coming days and weeks it will be important to monitor the grassroots movement online activity. A close look at conversations among peers will tell us a lot about the next enemy that we face.
For an excellent collection of posts in reaction to bin Laden’s death, I highly recommend checking out Aaron Zelin’s Blog Jihadology.
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