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Terrorism
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Terrorism
Introduction
After the smashing of three aircrafts into the symbols
of American economic and military might we have learned,
in a very hard way, to recognize that terrorism is indeed
a clear and present danger to our people, our economy,
and our way of life. The next step is to decide how
we will fight this menace - without compromising and
sacrificing in the process the very values for which
we are fighting, lest in the process of eliminating
terrorism we eliminate ourselves.
Basic Philosophy
War against an enemy remains hollow unless we are clear
about the moral grounds of the conflict. Terrorism is
condemned and denounced on the grounds that means cannot
justify the end. It may be true that most acts of terrorism
are grounded in ignorance and hopelessness, and on this
account one may sympathize with the cause for which
the group committing terrorism stands; yet the act of
maiming, murdering, and mutilating innocent people,
who are in no way a party to the issue, cannot be supported
or allowed. Civilization is about upholding higher human
values against mundane disputes and political priorities
- even in the face of tyranny and oppression.
The Paradox
Having laid the moral argument for our fight against
terrorism let us turn to a fundamental paradox related
to the issue and our response to it. We must not in
our fight lose sight of the moral ground we are fighting
on. We must never start to go blind in this fight and
start to work against the very values that we are fighting
for. Civil liberties are our way of life, which grow
out of the concept that every one has a right to life,
liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Democracy is the
mother of civil rights. If we start to cut down civil
liberties, start peeping into peoples private lives
start stop and search patrols at will and whims of those
who conduct them, and become hostage to safety and security
we will have the same atmosphere of repression and artificial
regimentation which we abhor - and which the Al-Qaeda
loves and thrives in. So the paradox is: ends don't
justify the means, neither for the terrorists nor for
us, so we cannot do to the terrorists what they are
doing to us. Then what to do?
Paradox Resolved
The paradox can be resolved by understanding what the
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), argued in a case
in 1977. Nazis planned a march in a Jewish suburb of
Chicago. The ACLU supported the Nazis. The argument
of ACLU included inter alia, "…the people
who most need to defend the rights of Ku Klux Klan are
blacks…and who most need to defend the rights of
Nazis are the Jews" (Lewinski, 1988). What does
this argument mean? Very simply put, it means what one
of our Presidents meant when he said that injustice
anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. If we want
to uphold our rights we have to respect the rights of
others. Terrorism is a symptom and not the disease.
We must concentrate on fighting and eliminating the
disease - which is ignorance and hopelessness. These
two, in turn, grow in poverty, injustice, dictatorship,
dogmatism, and lack of freedom and democracy. Until
people all over the world are given the right to rule
themselves and live a life of their own choice in a
democratic and egalitarian manner we will see conflicts,
and as long as we see conflicts we will see terrorism.
So our enemy is not the terrorist but the dogmatic and
tyrannical system that breeds the terrorist. The very
basis of democracy is that given the freedom to choose,
people, in general, or at least their majority, make
the right choice. Democracy believes in the collective
intellect of people and gives them the right to make
mistakes as long as the majority of them agree to make
them. This right denied, people turn to other means
of expressing opinions - one of them being terrorism.
Conclusion
Terrorism cannot be fought with terrorism because terrorism
is only a symptom and not the disease. We cannot start
cutting down civil liberties and changing our very way
of life, which we want to preserve, and which the terrorists
want to destroy and defeat. Victory against terrorism
is not defined by what percentage of terrorists we eliminate
but by what percentage we eliminate the conditions,
which breed terrorists. Terrorists are bad guys and
we cannot kill all the bad guys. That is the primary
premise why we do not believe in capital punishment
as against most of the Asian countries. Let us not defy
our own dreams and values. Let us create conditions
where bad guys are not bred, instead of killing them
and in the process defeating ourselves.
References
Lewinski, Capurro, Clancy, Levine, Nicholas. 1988 Consent
of the Governed - A study of American Government. Pg
108. Glenview: Scott, Foresman & Company.
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