Special Report
-- Viewpoint Terrorism rooted in social injustices
By NEVE GORDON
Even while the death toll is
mounting and it is not yet clear how many people have lost their lives in the
horrific Sept. 11 terrorist acts, it is vital that we do not limit our
discussion to the all-too-narrow view taken by many policy-makers and military
experts. Terrorism should not be tolerated and is never justified; the
perpetrators should be caught and tried, and security precautions must be taken
so that pernicious acts of this kind do not recur. However, these measures are
reactive rather than proactive. To eradicate terrorism we need to begin
confronting its causes and not merely its symptoms.
Policy makers tend to trace the causes of terrorism to extreme
ideology, whose proponents put to use the three Ts: technology,
transnationalism and telecommunications. Technology refers to the availability
of arms and related tools for carrying out terror. Transnationalism involves
the movement of peoples with relative ease across borders, so that terrorists
can train in one state, perpetrate their deed in another, and move to a safe
haven in a third. Telecommunications is thought to promote terrorism because it
guarantees a wider audience, and helps make terrorism a kind of political
theater, in which people feel weak and vulnerable.
While the examination of ideology or technological developments is
important, it will not disclose terrorisms root causes. Moreover,
military operations, whatever they may be, will not able to strike a deathblow
to international terrorism. This suggests that it is high time that we probe
the topic from a fresh standpoint.
This entails asking new questions like how does the absence of
certain rules and institutions in the international sphere help create
conditions whereby groups and states with grievances resort to terrorist
violence?
Questions like this do not intend in any way to condone terrorism,
but rather to stimulate an investigation of how the development of global
institutions such as the international criminal court or a mediation agency --
which would hear and judge grievances -- might help prevent terrorism by
providing nonviolent alternatives. Investigations like this are fundamental,
and they might even lead to the establishment of such institutions.
Rethinking international terrorism along these lines helps counter
the tendency to conceive terrorism as arising from an internal character or
disposition that compels the actor toward violence. Paraphrasing the famous
French philosopher Simone De Beauvoir, people are not born but rather become
terrorists.
Accordingly, terrorism and, more important, the grassroots support
that it needs to thrive, should be considered as predominantly arising from
social injustices accompanied by a lack of meaningful channels through which
political groups or even states might have their grievances redressed. Such an
outlook is essential to any effort that strives to curb and ultimately
eliminate terrorism.
Neve Gordon teaches politics at Ben-Gurion University, Israel.
His essay Terrorism in the Arab-Israeli Conflict co-authored with
George Lopez, recently appeared in the book Ethics and International
Affairs.
National Catholic Reporter, September 21,
2001
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