ISIS’s War on Culture
The militants of ISIS (also called ISIL) have rampaged across Syria and Iraq this year, murdering and subjecting captured towns and cities to their punitive brand of Islam. But in addition to the human cost, they’ve exacted a high toll on our shared cultural history by destroying ancient sites in a region that’s known as the cradle of civilization. “ISIL is not only decapitating individuals, they’re trying to decapitate civilizations,” says Richard Stengel, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. “They are purposely destroying monuments and relics and to destroy some of the important symbolism of Islamic unity.” And ISIS has used video of this vandalism as part of their propaganda campaign. “It’s something that they’re very proud of,” Stengel tells Kurt Andersen. “They are promoting it just like they’re promoting the wanton violence that we’re seeing.”
ISIS isn’t only targeting sites important to rival strands of Islam. In July, they destroyed the shrine of the prophet Jonah, who is important to Judaism and Christianity as well. “Those three religions revere some of the same figures, some of the same relics,” Stengel says. “It is a destruction of a cultural memory that we should be trying to remember.”
The militants are also profiting from the sale of artifacts on the black market. According to Stengel, the State Department has issued a list of Syrian antiquities at risk so that customs officials will be on the lookout. “This becomes part of [ISIL’s] financial lifeline,” he says. And Stengel says that while the U.S. and coalition airstrikes have somewhat deterred ISIS’s military actions, their formidable propaganda campaign continues. “There are people who are out of the line of fire who are working the digital space,” Stengel says. And as long as that’s true, sites of immense historical and cultural importance remain at risk.
The State Department’s Cultural Heritage Center, which Stengel describes as “modern-day Monuments Men and women,” wants to help clean up some of the mess. “We will be doing this after the kinetic part of the battle ends, and we’re doing it right now as it’s going on,” Stengel says.
