Clive Kessler is emeritus professor of sociology and anthropology at the University of NSW. He has been researching and writing about the politics of resurgent and militant Islam, in Southeast Asia and globally, for half a century.

Over the weekend The Australian newspaper very sensibly published an edited version of one of the professor's articles - first published on the New Mandala website hosted by the Australian National University.

Here is a fragment  - you'll find more at The Australian.

Islam cannot disown jihadists driven by rage against history

After the Lindt Cafe and the terrible events in Paris the question must be posed: “And what do we need to do now?” There are two parts to the answer.

One part has to do with Muslims. Nobody wants, or should want, to see our Muslim fellow citizens — as a group, or “picked off” as individuals on public transport or in the street — targeted, scapegoated, vilified, marginalised or isolated. We don’t, or should not, want that to happen to them for their sakes, and also for the sake of Australia. Neither the society as a whole nor any part of it stands to benefit should that kind of division, antagonism and scapegoating occur, or be condoned. So, if people want to do the hashtag “I’ll ride with you”, wave pens or proclaim “Je suis Charlie”, fine. However sentimental and inadequate, it is a nice gesture of inclusion, of human fellow feeling, a good symbolic (and also practical) affirmation of common citizenship and humanity.

But just because these paltry things may make some of us feel good should not persuade us that this is the core of the problem or its principal remedy. The second part of the answer has to do with the faith-based community of Islam.

What this means is that, if we are to try to minimise the occurrence of such episodes, we need to understand them better. To do that, the main task is not to follow the all-too simplistic approach of the “counter-terrorism” and “de-radicalisation” experts who, as social psychologists, treat the problem as basically one of individual psychology (perhaps in a “group context”).

Approaching the problem as if it might be treated in that way appeals to the politicians because it suggests or holds out the hope that some direct remedy or technical fix is available.

But ultimately, the problem here is not one of fragile, malleable — but remediable — individual psychology. It has to do with the Islamic historical tradition: with its inherent tensions, its unresolved problems, with what it finds difficult to acknowledge and resolve within itself.

Whether “legitimately” or not in the eyes of more decent folk, that is where the militant and ­violent activists look to, where they draw their motivation and justification.

It is from their reading (or mis-reading) and their use (or misuse) of Islam’s civilisational transcript that these monsters draw their inspiration, as well as the supposed justification for their appalling ­actions.

If such things happened only rarely, what we all face would be a different matter. But it is not uncommon. It is not even some sort of “groundhog day” affliction, an annual cause of occasionally returning distress.

It has become constant and recurrent: nonstop in Syria and Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East such as Yemen, and beyond as with Boko Haram in Nigeria and in Somalia and Kenya, and with the mass slaughter of schoolchildren by the Taliban in Pakistan; and now, all too frequently, it is repeated closer to us, whether in a museum in Belgium, in the Ottawa parliament, in Sydney’s Lindt Cafe or in Paris.

It floods in upon us, like US basketball games or our one-day international cricket matches over the summer. You barely have the time to think about the one that has just happened than there is another one, scarcely distinguishable from its predecessor, demanding your attention. It just goes on.

Parents and communities, including community schools and educators, that have not thought this problem through adequately themselves are in no position to guide and educate their children and younger generations on how to manage this crisis within the Islamic world.

It is the problem of getting a faith community to acknowledge the equivocal and dubious, as well as the glorious and heroic, components of its own heritage.

“Treatment” at the individual level can never succeed unless this deeper, even fundamental, problem of the Islamic faith community in Australia and globally is acknowledged — by Muslims, starting with their educational and moral and political leadership, and by others, notably our nation’s “opinion-leaders” and politicians.

We should and must be welcoming and inclusive towards all our citizens as part of, and who wish to share in, our processes of democratic sociability, including (no more or less than anybody else) our fellow citizens of Islamic religious, historical, cultural and civilisational background.

No more and no less … and with no uniquely reserved “Islamophobia” card to play.

Remember: a phobia is an ungrounded and unfounded, an irrational and an obsessive attitude, a pathology. People these days alas have genuine grounds to feel apprehensive.

So, please, no more using — or putting up with — the catchcry of “Islamophobia” as a specially ­protected moral bludgeon to ­silence all serious, responsible discussion of the Islamic tradition and history.

We are all in this appalling situation together. We must think and act accordingly, our national political life and debates must reflect that fact, and our national political leaders must face the matter squarely and not be content with unhelpful banalities and misleading platitudes.

We should no longer be admonished by a responsible minister that Islam is simply “a religion of peace … and anybody who suggest otherwise is talking arrant nonsense”.

We need far better than that if we are ever to face and overcome this national challenge.

Tim Blair beautifully captured the problem of leaders misleading us  here.

“There is not a problem with Islam. For those of us who have studied it, there is no doubt about its true and peaceful nature,” former British PM Tony Blair said.

Current British PM David Cameron said the same after British aid worker David Haines was beheaded by Islamic extremists: “Islam is a religion of peace. They are not Muslim, they are monsters.”

President Barack Obama is another “ISIL is not Islamic. No religion condones the killing of innocents.”

Many in Australia, from Prime Minister Tony Abbott down, have lately joined in on the “religion of peace” mantra. Here’s Attorney-General George Brandis: “It is one of the world’s great religions. The suggestion that mainstream Islam is anything but a religion of peace is nonsense.”

Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells: “The terrorists are misusing the name of Islam and giving the community a bad name. I would implore the Australian public to understand this is not about Islam. It is about terrorists and a death cult.”

NSW Premier Mike Baird: “This is not about religion. This is about criminals intending to act criminally in association with terrorism organisations.”

Labor leader Bill Shorten: “This war is not about religion. This is about evil people in some other parts of the world twisting religion to their own violent and criminal ends.”

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman,  “This is not about a particular group in the community. This is about a very small group of criminals who wish to undertake criminal acts against the community.”

The dishonesty or naivete is breathtaking.