- V. Sudharsan
Terrorism is one of the biggest threat to humanity in this century along with climate change and diseases. It seems like the only hurdle that the world has to cross before we find universal peace. Though we have come a long way from the battles between empires, the battles with imperialism, even the horrors of world wars is now a thing of the past, our progress towards harmony had been regularly kept in check by terrorists.
ISIS is making headlines everyday, by its inhuman, malicious and despicable practices in the middle eastern countries like Iraq, Syria, Libya. Boko Haram a Nigerian terror group, abducted more than 200 school girls for ransom in 2014, and threatened to sell the children off as child brides.
The Taliban in Pakistan shot Malala Yousafzai, a 15 year old, in 2013, because she advocated for the education of girls, she did not let this stop her and still speaks out for their education. Even in our own backyard, innocent civilians die everyday in Jammu and Kashmir, because of ISI backed separatists. The Naxals are also rampant in eastern and central India.
Terrorists are violent, aggressive, and they resort to genocide to put forth their religious and political ideologies, so they can never be justified for their actions, but many of them believe, they had to take it up as it was their last resort. The poem below tries to explain that there might be other causes for terrorism other than them being blood thirsty savages.
When one whispers "terrorist",
What materializes
In to our heads,
Is men with cold, cold laughs,
Blood thirsty eyes,
The AK47s, bullets, making their beds,
Strapped rifles decorating their torsos,
Grenades, rage, hatred, and violence,
Tyrants,
Adhering to thickest mist, tallest trees, driest deserts And the most turbulent seas,
And so it goes.
What is ignored,
Or is never explored,
Is the centuries of oppression, colossal weights,
Thrusted over their heads,
That led to these high pressured
Volcanic eruptions.
The voices that were thrown
In to sound proof rooms,
Buried in sands of neglect,
Suppressed, denied, muffled,
Forced to explode in to booms.
Their empty bellies,
Milkless cattle,
Burned out fields,
Cracked tongues,
Trust severed in peels,
That made them easy
Recruitment deals.
Rebellious youth yearning for
Change,
Some jobless, some homeless,
Some aimless, some nameless,
Searching for answers,
Taking one last leap of faith,
At misguided ideologies.
Places of agitation,
Viewed as political trump cards
Rather than displeased inhabitants,
People with needs, emotions, and families.
Frequent wars that mangled their
Identity,
Left them far behind,
Surrounded them with weapons,
Destroyed their kin,
Drilling in them a desire to
Fight back, even out and massacre.
Populace stabbed by policies
That favor popularity over
Humanity,
Economic development over the
Survival of minorities,
Making living hard, and dying easy.
Terrorists are destructive vibrations,
But they spread from roots of Injustice,
We have chosen to bomb these agitations,
Which are merely ripples,
The last disorderly cry for help,
And curse their
Epicenters (the terror outfits and their ideologies),
Which are just guises.
It is their hypocenters
(Reason for them to exist),
Which are forgotten,
And never spoken about,
That must be localized,
Up rooted and neutralized,
To find lasting peace.
It is necessary that we supress the causes of terrorism, along with defending ourselves with the military, in order to completely stop it. The cause for terrorism in this century is credited to Islamic fanatism, though it is true that many violent groups today hold fanatical religious ideologies, it is not the only reason, because the majority of religious fundamentalist do not take up violence. There must be other factors, concomitant or otherwise, like poverty, social political alienation, wars etc...
What if the discrimination of Tamils in Srilanka didn't happen?, would LTTE still have existed?, if the Palastinians had been given their equal share of land, if Russian's didn't try to occupy Afghanistan, if USA didn't wage wars against Iraq. Would terrorism still be as prevalent as it is right now, terrorism in many of these cases grew with violent counter reactions rather than diminishing, causing major casualties on either side. So do you still believe all acts of terrorism, should be replied with violent extremism.
If that dosen't convince you all terrorists are not murderous villans, you must come to the conclusion that children must be evil too. In Uganda in 1986, the National Resistance Army had an estimated 3,000 children, including 500 girls, they were orphans and took up the Army as a replacement for their parents, according to C. P. Dodge who investigated the war.
Even in Cambodia and Liberia, the only source of protection and food for many of the children was the rebel army. In syria children are paid 400 dollars a month to fight in the war, In many parts of the world, children as young as 7 years are part of these terrorist movements, though many children are forced in to terrorism, they also do it to eat, to find shelter, become a part of a community, to survive, and so do many of the men and women who are part of these groups.
But we are not far behind in understanding terrorism, The Indian Anti Terror squad, recently rehabilitated and gave a job, to an unemployed young man who frustrated with the lack of opportunities and constant discrimination, had decided to join Islamic state. He was stopped from acting on his decision to work for ISIS.
Like the officers involved in this issue, our government should restrict themselves from combating terrorism guns blazing, but look at what caused it, investigate it in a case by case scenario, and we as humans should accept diversity, strive to see the end of poverty, and provide everyone equal opportunities and freedom, for all forms of terrorism to disappear.
Terrorism is one of the biggest threat to humanity in this century along with climate change and diseases. It seems like the only hurdle that the world has to cross before we find universal peace. Though we have come a long way from the battles between empires, the battles with imperialism, even the horrors of world wars is now a thing of the past, our progress towards harmony had been regularly kept in check by terrorists.
ISIS is making headlines everyday, by its inhuman, malicious and despicable practices in the middle eastern countries like Iraq, Syria, Libya. Boko Haram a Nigerian terror group, abducted more than 200 school girls for ransom in 2014, and threatened to sell the children off as child brides.
The Taliban in Pakistan shot Malala Yousafzai, a 15 year old, in 2013, because she advocated for the education of girls, she did not let this stop her and still speaks out for their education. Even in our own backyard, innocent civilians die everyday in Jammu and Kashmir, because of ISI backed separatists. The Naxals are also rampant in eastern and central India.
Terrorists are violent, aggressive, and they resort to genocide to put forth their religious and political ideologies, so they can never be justified for their actions, but many of them believe, they had to take it up as it was their last resort. The poem below tries to explain that there might be other causes for terrorism other than them being blood thirsty savages.
When one whispers "terrorist",
What materializes
In to our heads,
Is men with cold, cold laughs,
Blood thirsty eyes,
The AK47s, bullets, making their beds,
Strapped rifles decorating their torsos,
Grenades, rage, hatred, and violence,
Tyrants,
Adhering to thickest mist, tallest trees, driest deserts And the most turbulent seas,
And so it goes.
What is ignored,
Or is never explored,
Is the centuries of oppression, colossal weights,
Thrusted over their heads,
That led to these high pressured
Volcanic eruptions.
The voices that were thrown
In to sound proof rooms,
Buried in sands of neglect,
Suppressed, denied, muffled,
Forced to explode in to booms.
Their empty bellies,
Milkless cattle,
Burned out fields,
Cracked tongues,
Trust severed in peels,
That made them easy
Recruitment deals.
Rebellious youth yearning for
Change,
Some jobless, some homeless,
Some aimless, some nameless,
Searching for answers,
Taking one last leap of faith,
At misguided ideologies.
Places of agitation,
Viewed as political trump cards
Rather than displeased inhabitants,
People with needs, emotions, and families.
Frequent wars that mangled their
Identity,
Left them far behind,
Surrounded them with weapons,
Destroyed their kin,
Drilling in them a desire to
Fight back, even out and massacre.
Populace stabbed by policies
That favor popularity over
Humanity,
Economic development over the
Survival of minorities,
Making living hard, and dying easy.
Terrorists are destructive vibrations,
But they spread from roots of Injustice,
We have chosen to bomb these agitations,
Which are merely ripples,
The last disorderly cry for help,
And curse their
Epicenters (the terror outfits and their ideologies),
Which are just guises.
It is their hypocenters
(Reason for them to exist),
Which are forgotten,
And never spoken about,
That must be localized,
Up rooted and neutralized,
To find lasting peace.
It is necessary that we supress the causes of terrorism, along with defending ourselves with the military, in order to completely stop it. The cause for terrorism in this century is credited to Islamic fanatism, though it is true that many violent groups today hold fanatical religious ideologies, it is not the only reason, because the majority of religious fundamentalist do not take up violence. There must be other factors, concomitant or otherwise, like poverty, social political alienation, wars etc...
What if the discrimination of Tamils in Srilanka didn't happen?, would LTTE still have existed?, if the Palastinians had been given their equal share of land, if Russian's didn't try to occupy Afghanistan, if USA didn't wage wars against Iraq. Would terrorism still be as prevalent as it is right now, terrorism in many of these cases grew with violent counter reactions rather than diminishing, causing major casualties on either side. So do you still believe all acts of terrorism, should be replied with violent extremism.
If that dosen't convince you all terrorists are not murderous villans, you must come to the conclusion that children must be evil too. In Uganda in 1986, the National Resistance Army had an estimated 3,000 children, including 500 girls, they were orphans and took up the Army as a replacement for their parents, according to C. P. Dodge who investigated the war.
Even in Cambodia and Liberia, the only source of protection and food for many of the children was the rebel army. In syria children are paid 400 dollars a month to fight in the war, In many parts of the world, children as young as 7 years are part of these terrorist movements, though many children are forced in to terrorism, they also do it to eat, to find shelter, become a part of a community, to survive, and so do many of the men and women who are part of these groups.
But we are not far behind in understanding terrorism, The Indian Anti Terror squad, recently rehabilitated and gave a job, to an unemployed young man who frustrated with the lack of opportunities and constant discrimination, had decided to join Islamic state. He was stopped from acting on his decision to work for ISIS.
Like the officers involved in this issue, our government should restrict themselves from combating terrorism guns blazing, but look at what caused it, investigate it in a case by case scenario, and we as humans should accept diversity, strive to see the end of poverty, and provide everyone equal opportunities and freedom, for all forms of terrorism to disappear.
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