Your task is to extract the thesis of an opinionated news article by selecting some of its text segments. The thesis is a summarization of what the author wants to persuade the reader of. Your answer should consist of segments of the given text. Note that you are not allowed to combine different sentences.

Defusing Taliban publicity. Journalists in Afghanistan have decided for the second time this year to curtail their reporting on Taliban attacks as a means of reducing the impact of their message . The first such collective action was taken during the presidential elections when the Taliban were completely boycotted . This is a strategic decision according to Fahim Dashty, the chief executive of Afghanistan's National Journalists Union (ANJU) . The decision follows the recent heavy escalation of attacks in Kabul . "Our media is saturated with images of Taliban attacks," says a joint press statement by ANJU, and the media watchdog, Nai . "Taliban spokesman Zabihula Mujahid is active on TV and social media round the clock, he is in every home 24 hours a day, we need to confront his messages," says Nai's director, Sediqulah Tauhidi . Afghan journalists feel they need support from policy makers and the international community alike . "We will be calling on the new president, Ashraf Ghani, to consider blocking the sites that Taliban use for their publicity," says Dashty . Confronting publicity . The call by journalists in Afghanistan echoes international concerns about the need to confront publicity by armed groups such as ISIL, and the attempts in several countries including Britain to block these groups' use of the internet and social media to advertise, publicise and recruit . British Home Secretary Theresa May acknowledged the extent of the problem in her latest policy speech:"We need a counter terrorism strategy that is comprehensive and coherent." Among the measures to curb the activities of the Islamist terror groups she introduced restrictions on the use of the internet . "We are engaged in a struggle that is fought on many fronts," she said, naming terrorist groups in several parts of the world including Afghanistan . Police and intelligence agencies will be given new powers to track down those who plot terrorist attacks over the internet . "They enable the authorities to limit a subject's access to telephones and the internet," she said . Terrorist attacks have been complex but many are used for sending a specific message either to the local population or to the international community . Once these messages are turned into images on TV and internet across the world their impact is amplified . Broader audience . According to UN counterterrorism research, terrorist-related propaganda hosted on popular websites containing user-generated content has the potential to reach a significantly broader audience than content on traditional specialised websites, bulletin boards and web forums , which generally appeal to a self- selected group of individuals . "Their sophisticated use of the internet and social media means they have a significant propaganda reach across the world," said the British home secretary . "The scourge of ISIL should not mean that the Taliban are forgotten or seen as the milder terror group," stresses Dashty . There are serious reservations when British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond states at the opening of the London Conference on Afghanistan that "The terrorist threat from the region has been substantially reduced," when there are almost daily attacks in Kabul . "Taliban are blocking the fledgling democracy that has been built over the last decade," says Nai director . "They are attacking our liberty, they are targeting freedom of speech, they are targeting press freedom and we must have a counter offensive." Dashty says as journalists we must ask ourselves whether in our endeavour to provide information we are turning into communication channels at the service of the Taliban . The arguments are not straightforward . On the one hand , the media needs to report to inform the population and on the other hand , reporting terrorist attacks has increasingly become publicity for armed extremist groups . On the one hand freedom of speech and civil liberties should be preserved at all cost , and on the other hand ,  terrorist messages have traumatised societies and increased militant recruitment around the world . Credible counter-narrative . These issues must be discussed in depth and collectively around the world . There is a need for coordinating a credible counter narrative both at the local and the global level to confront the banality and cruelty of terrorist messages . Take for example their claim, believed even by some analysts, that they are fighting to save Muslims while facts tell us that they have killed tens of thousands over the years . Since 2009, there have been over 17,000 civilian deaths in Afghanistan alone as documented by the UN - 75 percent as a result of Taliban attacks . Or the contradictions in the Taliban claim that they want foreign forces out while targeting British interests one month after British forces left Afghanistan, or inviting foreign Islamist fighters and al-Qaeda to set up camp in Afghanistan during their rule . "Confusion and contradictions among the various terrorist voices" are common according to the latest State Department report on terrorism . Journalists, media analysts, communication experts and policy makers need to come together to discuss how best to build a framework for a new counterterrorism narrative that at the same time reveals the falsities of terrorist assertions . Once formulated, it could then be used as any public service broadcast messages woven into drama serials, discussions, debates and news coverage alike . The UN Office on Drugs and Crime, which created a counterterrorism task force, says that despite increasing international recognition of the threat posed by terrorists' use of the internet,"there is currently no universal instrument specifically addressing this pervasive facet of terrorist activity" . 'Psychological security' . The joint statement by ANJU and Nai calls on the media and the reporters in Afghanistan to refrain from competition over who shows more pictures of the gruesome Taliban attacks . It says that the "unprecedented" frequency of the footage shown on TV and social media have undermined the "psychological security" of the nation . "Our first boycott of the Taliban was successful," says Dashty . "Attacks were reduced and over 60 percent of the population took part in the elections." He says they would really benefit if journalists in the West supported their campaigns, especially those who frequently report from Afghanistan . "We would also welcome an international framework that sets an example for us," says Dashty . A coordinated global plan to counter terrorist media propaganda would be a useful tool for journalists in areas adversely affected by terrorist attacks . Attacks plotted on the World Wide Web need an appropriate worldwide media response .
Journalists in Afghanistan have decided for the second time this year to curtail their reporting on Taliban attacks as a means of reducing the impact of their message

The Paris attackers hijacked Islam but there is no war between Islam and the west. The attack on Charlie Hebdo compels us to be clear and to be consistent . We have to condemn what happened in Paris absolutely . I said the same after 7/7 and after 9/11 . And after Jordan and Bali and Mali . It is particularly important to be clear about where we stand , for the attackers said things that cannot be allowed to go unchallenged . They said they were avenging the prophet . That was wrong . In fact ,  it is the message of Islam, our principles and values, that have been betrayed and tainted . They refer to Islam to justify what they did . From a religious viewpoint, I feel it is my responsibility to say that this has nothing to do with the message of our religion . I would expect anyone, if something was happening in the name of their country or in the name of their religion, to take a stand . As a Muslim scholar I have to take that stand . That said , there is also a wider political side to this equation . We condemn what happened in France . We condemn the violent extremism that is targeting westerners . But it is not only westerners . We are reacting emotionally because 12 people were killed in Paris , but there are hundreds being killed day in, day out in Syria and Iraq , and still we send more bombs . We have to look at the big picture . Lives matter , but it is important to be clear that the lives of Muslims in Muslim majority countries have as much value as our own lives in the west . What happened this week is a tragedy heightened by familiarity , for I met the cartoonist Charb (Stephane Charbonnier), the editor of Charlie Hebdo , who was among those killed on Wednesday . We had a debate in which I told him that I respected his freedom to say whatever he wanted to say, and that there was no justification for any kind of censorship . But I also told him that he had to be clear about the way he was using that right . In 2008 his magazine fired a cartoonist who made a joke about a Jewish link to President Sarkozy's son . Where was the freedom of expression there, I asked the satirical magazine . I was told that when it comes to freedom of expression that there are limits, not everything can be said . The double standard is troubling, to say the least . I am shocked that something as terrible as this has happened to Charb and his colleagues, but less surprised that there was a backlash against them . There had been controversy concerning Charlie Hebdo on an almost six-monthly basis, and lots of threats . To have a sense of humour is fine, I told them , but to target an already stigmatised people in France is not really showing much courage . The shootings have been described as an act of war . I can understand why some might characterise it that way . But they are wrong to do so , for isn't this exactly what the violent extremists such as Da'esh, so-called Islamic State, want? They want to say the west is at war with Islam , but if we are to take the action of marginal groups and use that as evidence that there is a war between Islam and the west , aren't we merely falling into a trap? George Bush fell into that very trap immediately after 9/11 by calling it the war on terror , but actually he promoted it with his rhetoric . The most we can reasonably say now is that we are at war with violent extremists , wherever they are coming from . But why play that game at all? Let's be specific: these are criminals exploiting Islam . The great majority of the victims are actually Muslim . There are tensions in many countries , but things have been very difficult of late in France . Two recently published books reflect the atmosphere: very negative and very demoralising . The French Suicide by Eric Zemmour expresses the fear that millions of Muslims might be colonising and transforming the country (he is hoping they will be helped to leave) , and Michel Houellebecq's novel Submission, which predicts that in 2022 an Islamic party will take over France . Three years ago, Houellebecq said Islam was the most stupid religion in the world . In the UK, in terms of daily life, the situation is better . There isn't that feeling of permanent stigmatisation in the discourse as happens in France . But even so, things feel as if they are changing for the worse . It is no accident that Ukip has been on the rise , and in such a climate one feels the public discourse changing . There are parties happy to target migrants and to target Muslims . It's a drift we have to stop , for in my view we actually have a shared responsibility . Politicians, intellectuals, journalists, Muslims and people of other faiths (or none) must be clear and united about our common principles . We need politicians with more on their minds than winning the next election . One sees difficult days ahead as yesterday's dramatic events in France showed ; and there is the issue of media organisations intent on publishing the most offensive Charlie Hebdo cartoons, claiming that it would strike a blow for free speech . I support free speech , but I would urge them to desist , for what they plan to do is not courageous and will do nothing to afford people dignity . It will be another example of targeting all Muslims . It would say that if our fellow Muslim citizens are not part of the equation, we will target not the extremists- but Islam itself . It would hand the extremists a victory they could scarcely have achieved for themselves .
We have to condemn what happened in Paris absolutely

'Concerning Violence': Fanon lives on. In one of the more haunting scenes from Swedish documentary director Goran Hugo Olsson's Concerning Violence: Nine Scenes From the Anti-Imperialistic Self-Defense, a young Mozambican woman with a stump of a right arm breastfeeds a baby with a stump of a right leg . Like the rest of the footage in the film, the scene was unearthed from Swedish television archives dating from the era of African anti-colonial struggles . The woman and child were recorded in the immediate aftermath of an aerial bombing raid in 1972, one of Portugal's many responses to the Mozambican desire for liberation . In typical fashion, the Portuguese and their imperial colleagues instead portrayed the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) as violent terrorists, despite the merely reactive nature of anti-colonial violence to centuries of oppression . After all ,  violence is the prerogative of empire . Among Fanon's sober assessments is that colonialism "is violence in its natural state, and it will only yield when confronted with greater violence" . Decolonisation, he writes,"is always a violent phenomenon" . "Decolonisation, which sets out to change the order of the world, is, obviously, a programme of complete disorder" . The film corroborates these assertions with footage from former European colonial possessions in Africa . Scenes variously depict the subjugation and impoverishment of native populations, juxtaposed with Europeans sun-tanning and playing golf in picturesque African settings in between wantonly extracting resources and imprisoning and torturing people . This, in turn, provides the proper context for scenes of militant African resistance . Particularly illustrative of the prevailing"order of the world" is an interview with a white settler in then-Rhodesia who addresses his black servant boy as "you stupid thing, you" and laments the impending African reclamation of the territory : "The gooks have got it." When asked by the interviewer to clarify his derogatory slang, he elaborates with more slang: "The terrs... The whole world is supporting the terrorists." To be sure , we've superficially done away with the whole colonialism business, it being generally understood that colonies are bad and archaic things . There are, however, notable exceptions to the rule, as in the case of state of Israel , which is granted a de facto exemption from ceasing colonial operations and is furthermore regularly lauded as a beacon of democracy . But the same oppressive structures that underpinned colonialism continue to flourish in the age of neoliberal globalisation , which functions according to the idea that there is a class of human beings- often but not always determined by skin colour - entitled to a level of wealth and comfort that is only attainable by depriving the global masses of a dignified existence . And as always, a violent apparatus is required to secure the arrangement . In recent years, the African continent has witnessed an ever-amplified US military presence . Writing in Jacobin magazine, David Mizner describes the scenario as a "soft occupation correspond[ing] with a battle between China and the [US] over the spoils of Africa, which has massive natural resources and six of the world's fastest growing economies" . Poor Africans might be forgiven for failing to detect enormous differences between this and previous intrusions from abroad . In other parts of the world that the US prefers to think of as its own personal military base- such as Central America - the imperial power has backed the security forces of various repressive and illegitimate leaders committed to violently squelching popular protest . Reasons for protest have included government insistence on catering to foreign corporations rather than to indigenous and peasant communities opposed to the usurpation and contamination of their lands by mining operations and the like . But the victims are largely invisible, the dehumanised refuse of empire and the price to be paid for securing corporate profit . In her spoken preface to Concerning Violence, renowned Columbia University professor Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak explains that in "reading between the lines" of The Wretched of the Earth, one sees that Fanon does not in fact endorse violence but rather "insists that the tragedy is that the very poor is reduced to violence, because there is no other response possible to an absolute absence of response and an absolute exercise of legitimised violence from the colonisers" . Spivak goes on to make a telling comparison regarding the earth's "wretched":"Their lives count as nothing against the death of the colonisers: unacknowledged Hiroshimas against sentimentalised 9/11s." For another modern-day example of legitimised violence and self-victimisation by the very purveyors of said violence, it seems appropriate to once again bring up the state of Israel , which shares the ex-Rhodesian resident's knack for hallucinating himself into a position of unparalleled suffering at the hands of "terrorists" . Following last month's Jerusalem synagogue attack in which two Palestinians murdered five Israelis, there was a typical upsurge in terror-hysteria from the Israeli establishment and sympathetic governments and media . Studiously ignored were the various Israeli crimes that directly preceded the event, not to mention this summer's slaughter of more than 2,100 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip . Meanwhile, Israel's primary benefactor - the nation described by Fanon as the "former European colony[that] decided to catch up with Europe"- should find much to reflect on in Concerning Violence , particularly given Fanon's conclusion regarding the European experiment:"It succeeded so well that the United States of America became a monster, in which the taints, the sickness, and the inhumanity of Europe have grown to appalling dimensions." Contemporary manifestations of the American sickness include the recent decision by a Missouri grand jury not to indict a police officer for killing an unarmed black teenager in the city of Ferguson - far from an isolated instance of fatal bigotry . Drawing on several of Fanon's texts, journalist Roqayah Chamseddine penned an essay on the aftermath of the Ferguson decision for Al-Akhbar English , in which she condemned the liberal American tradition of placing the onus of non- violence on those oppressed by the state rather than the state itself - an entity that engages in "unfettered police brutality and judicial discrimination" against black communities . This tradition entails an obsession with containing potentially "violent" black reactions to state violence (eg vandalism and looting) , and ultimately prescribes a superior concern for private property and material goods than for black life . Chamseddine writes:"Today in the United States many will be grieving for buildings burned and windows broken, while the bourgeoisie will cry out'calm!' and hurriedly search for Martin Luther King Jr quotes to guilt black protesters into supporting their deadly liberal pacifism." Suffice it to say Concerning Violence should concern us all .

 violence is the prerogative of empire In typical fashion, the Portuguese and their imperial colleagues instead portrayed the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) as violent terrorists, despite the merely reactive nature of anti-colonial violence to centuries of oppression