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.
