Can we, for a minute, talk about “terrorism” as being a sociological issue and not only an issue of religious extremism? I would like to acknowledge, without being labelled a “terrorist-sympathizer,” that the ongoing cases of extremism are growing out of a flawed system. We talk freely about the system of growing economic disparity as one of the potential causes for growing crime rates. We talk freely about white privilege and how non-whites suffer at the hands of a system that is (un)naturally inclined to favour one set of people over another. We speak about the flaws in the system when faced with the alarming rates of indigenous children in foster care, or the number of black and indigenous people in the prison system. But we can’t seem to wrap our heads around the fact that the “terrorism” phenomenon also has its roots in a system that is violently oppressive toward entire nations at a time. Some people don’t see anything as sociology. For example, Canadians have been calling on the government to launch an inquest into the alarming number of indigenous women being murdered across the country. Stephen Harper’s response was: “I think we should not view this as sociological phenomenon. We should view it as crime.” Well, he’s obviously wrong. My point is, when you see these types of trends (in this case, terrorist acts) on the rise, surely there is a greater reason than just maniacs deciding to spill the blood of innocent people. Sure, “Muslim” terrorists use distorted interpretation of religious texts to legitimize their actions, but this doesnt explain the trend, the actual motivations, or the ability for these groups to gain the support of others. We need to look deeper, we need to understand something that isn’t talked about much – the fact that these groups are able to come together and find support means that there is some issue that isn’t being addressed. Perhaps it’s the ongoing bombardment and oppression of Muslim-majority nations by western countries. Literally, since the era of colonization until present day, Western nations have had their claws in nearly every Muslim-majority country’s decision-making apparatus…or at least the countries that are in “strategic” locations, or are rich in natural resources. Then there’s the media (not just Western media) which purposely adds fuel to the fire. When you are constantly stepping on the necks of people, stealing their resources to a point where they literally have nothing by which to feed their families, toppling their governments and inserting puppet leaders, they will eventually stand up and push back. Unfortunately a very small portion of them will propagate heinous acts of terrorism against innocent people, and will gain followers around the world by playing the “pious victim” card. And then the movement grows and branches out, wearing different masks and taking on different manifestations. Killing people is never acceptable. If we were really interested in putting a stop to terrorism, and I mean, actually interested and not feigning interest, we would understand that we have to change the system and support the establishment of justice and equality – not for just one portion of the world, but for every people and every land. That is when terrorist groups will lose followers and when uneducated, disenfranchised Muslims will lose the motivation to support this type of evil – because now these people actually have lives worth living. This isn’t meant to legitimize crimes or even to lend a slightly sympathetic ear to people who choose to take the lives of others. They should be punished to the full extent of the law, because at the end of the day, every human being makes the conscious choice to do what he or she does. I’m just trying to understand why we aren’t looking at this properly, deeply, and with intentions that are purely to #savehumanity.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 05:05:23 +0000
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