Thoughts for 9/11
Sep. 11th, 2004 08:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chickenfeetI suggest that there are fundamentally two kinds of (non state sponsored) terrorist. The first kind is exemplified by the Red Army Faction or the Red Brigades; rootless, disaffected young people with no popular support beyond the loonier fringes of academia. This kind is easily dealt with by conventional police methods.
The second kind is more common and quite different in that it has a considerable constituency and a legitimizing idea. It doesn’t matter that the idea is fanciful and not rooted in any kind of historical reality as long as it appeals to enough people. Irgun had the idea that Palestine rightfully belonged to the Jews, the IRA had Ireland, “a nation once again” and Al Quaeada has the restoration of the Caliphate.
This second kind of terrorism simply can’t be beaten by police/military means. Despite politicians’ inevitable claims that there can be no negotiation with terrorists, eventually negotiation takes place. That’s why we have a State of Israel and a Northern Ireland Assembly. Unfortunately this doesn’t usually happen without a few decades of bombings, assassinations, executions, torture and detention without trial because politicians are apparently incapable of learning from their own or others’ mistakes.
So, my message to those who think that the “War on Terrorism” can be won by escalating violence and repression is that they would do better start thinking about a political accommodation with the Islamic world and a real, viable settlement of the Palestine issue. The alternative is more attacks of the 9/11 variety and further erosion of civil rights in the vain hope of increasing security.
The second kind is more common and quite different in that it has a considerable constituency and a legitimizing idea. It doesn’t matter that the idea is fanciful and not rooted in any kind of historical reality as long as it appeals to enough people. Irgun had the idea that Palestine rightfully belonged to the Jews, the IRA had Ireland, “a nation once again” and Al Quaeada has the restoration of the Caliphate.
This second kind of terrorism simply can’t be beaten by police/military means. Despite politicians’ inevitable claims that there can be no negotiation with terrorists, eventually negotiation takes place. That’s why we have a State of Israel and a Northern Ireland Assembly. Unfortunately this doesn’t usually happen without a few decades of bombings, assassinations, executions, torture and detention without trial because politicians are apparently incapable of learning from their own or others’ mistakes.
So, my message to those who think that the “War on Terrorism” can be won by escalating violence and repression is that they would do better start thinking about a political accommodation with the Islamic world and a real, viable settlement of the Palestine issue. The alternative is more attacks of the 9/11 variety and further erosion of civil rights in the vain hope of increasing security.
