[Javier Lesaca, Weapons of mass seduction. Ediciones Península, 2017. 312 pages]

review / Alejandro Palacios Jiménez

What drives a young man to abandon his friends and family and freely give up his dreams to join the Islamic State? With this question in mind, Javier Lesaca immerses us in this narrative in which he dissects the communicative apparatus used by ISIS to gain followers and spread its ideas and influence through the virtual Caliphate.

Thanks to his extensive professional background, the author sample in Armas de seducción masiva a high Degree of depth and analysis, which is not incompatible with an entertaining and convincing narrative. Javier Lesaca Esquiroz (Pamplona, 1981), a graduate in Journalism from the University of Navarra, works as a researcher at the International Observatory programs of study Terrorism programs of study . His extensive knowledge on the topic has allowed him to work in organizations such as the World Bank, the Inter-American development Bank or the Government of Navarra. Her work experience is complemented by her participation in forums such as the Security committee of the United Nations (UN) or the Euro-Arab Dialogue of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

His main hypothesis is that the crisis of credibility in the traditional institutions, which has been reinforced by the economic and financial crisis of 2008 and is palpable in the 15-O movement, together with the technological revolution of the 21st century, has allowed the Islamic State (ISIS, or Dáesh, by its Arabic nomenclature) to influence in a way never seen before the perceptions of Western citizens, in particular those of millennials. Millennials, who do not feel represented by their respective state institutions, are looking to feel important and to participate in a new project that will help them to give meaning to their lives and to stand up every day for a cause worth fighting for. And Daesh offers them just that.

But what is Dáesh? Far from historical and religious explanations, Lesaca presents us with an unprecedented answer: the Islamic State embodies what is called modern terrorism, which uses the instruments of the new generations to get its messages across. In other words, Daesh presents itself as a global social movement that uses local communication campaigns that are disseminated throughout the world and whose terrorist acts are used as a mere "performance" within a broader communication strategy. Thus, Daesh defines itself as a leaderless movement that, paradoxically, moves away from the more purely religious elements to suit the concerns of the youth audience it plans to seduce.

The fact that it is a headless movement does not imply that it is not organized internally. On the contrary, ISIS is a terrorist group that uses social networks very effectively and whose internal structure allows it not only to influence, but also to be in possession of some media. Its strategy consists both in developing its own media and in using what is called "earned media". The former reference letter to the large communication structure of Daesh based on: press releases, infographics, photographic reports, magazines in different languages, the Al Amaaq news agency, Al Bayan radio, Ajnabah music productions, the Isdarat website (now closed), audiovisual production companies and offline marketing in some places in Iraq and Syria (billboards, posters or cybercafes). On the other hand, the media gained is measured in terms of the number of times the terrorist group has succeeded in having its actions condition the diary the traditional media.

The use of so many communication channels with the goal of creating a parallel world, which its activists call the Caliphate, and of geographically segmenting the audience in order to modify the framing of the message - all this under the cover of twisted interpretations of the Koran - is what is known as transmedia terrorism. To make this strategy as effective as possible, nothing is left to chance. One example sample in the book is the control that the all-powerful Syrian executive producer Abu Mohamed Adnani, a friend of the caliphate's leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, exercised over his subordinates, whom he supervised and approved the content and messages that ISIS transmitted to the public. So much so that Adnani was considered by the West as the man who de facto exercised the real day-to-day leadership within the terrorist organization until his death in 2016.

All of this communicative strategy is precisely described in the book thanks to the large number of concrete examples that the author provides of massacres that Dáesh has carried out since its existence and the way in which these have been transmitted. In this sense, Lesaca emphasizes the effectiveness with which ISIS, making use of new media, camouflages real executions among images of video games(Call of Duty) or fictional movies(Saw, Hunger Games, Sin City) in order to blur the line between reality and fiction, creating what is called a transmedia narrative. The idea is simple: how are these images going to seem cruel to you if they are similar to those you see in a movie theater conference room eating popcorn?

In the last written request, Javier Lesaca attempts to define a useful strategy for dealing with the terrorism of the future. He asserts that it is not clear what tools states should equip themselves with to confront this new form of terrorism. However, a good way to do so would be to make democracy fashionable, that is, to reinforce the values that have allowed the construction of the welfare society and the development the greatest period of prosperity in our history. "The Islamic State has managed to win the victory of aesthetics, which is why we must make values such as democracy, freedom and equality attractive cultural products," says Lesaca. But this is not enough, he says. In addition, "we must promote institutional strengthening by eradicating corruption and implementing policies to create an Economics capable of absorbing all the talent of the new generations and achieving effective management of public services".

In summary, it is a book of convenient reading for all those who want to become familiar with the internal organization and power Structures of Daesh, its objectives and the means used by this group to achieve them. It is also a valuable guide for the study and subsequent reaction of the West to the communication campaigns not only of the Islamic State, but also of subsequent terrorist organizations which will form part of what is already known as modern terrorism.