Before 9/11 also Osama was known for his terrorist activities , those were started way back in 1979 after Afghanistan's invasion by then USSR which made him known face... however after 9/11 attack Osama bin Laden become synonymous with terrorism at the world level. from Kid to elderly person everyone was under threat ....and name of the threat was Laden.....all that is now become history with 'op kill Osama' by USA which killed 'most wanted man' world have taken a relief .
Real question is whether killing of Osama will make this world safer of a Human Being , a direct answer is big no. So lets take look at terrorism , there is no consensus among scholars about definition of terrorism but surely those uses violent means to achieve political motives mostly to overthrow the legitimate government and establish their own are defined as terrorist and their acts as terrorism.
In academic terms terrorism have 4 typologies 1. Left Wing terrorism- various communist movements 2. Right Wing Terrorism - Nazism 3. Ethano-nationalist -numerous in African continent 4. Religious - Al-Qaeda . I want to focus primarily on 4th type i.e Religious.
India was experiencing terrorism since 1989 , as Pakistan govt. used it as an instrument against India in their war for Kashmir , this was the time when cracks were appeared in USSR regime and hence US now was not needed help of terror groups as their prime enemy was eliminated and this created distance between long term friends Osama and US . Osama and his folks feels they were betrayed by US and they were merely used so they were in position to take revenge with US. Different policies of US on cultural , religious front further deepen feeling of betray among these groups. Taliban coming to power in 1996 gave moral boost to terror groups and they used machinery and resources of state to achieve their aim of taking revenge . Attacks on US consulates in different parts of world , first unsuccessful attempt for attack of WTC were part of these series. Apart from angle of USSR some other cultural, economic and political reasons were also gave impetus for their rivalry. Fransis Fukuyama termed these terrorist as Islamo Fascist. I will try to illustrate reasons in little bit-
Cultural - It dates back to fall of ottoman empire after 1st world war and Kemal came to rule in Turkey which although on one way brought waves of modernity in Islamic world , however at the same time sowed seed of enmity. Egypt also experienced same thing with rule of Anwar Saddat , Nasser , to whom hardcore Islamic forces consider as pro west. Islamic forces felt that these pro western , Modern values are threatening our own culture , values. This anger was felt at local level at high intensity. This led to Anti-west/Modern movements , Muslim Brotherhood movement was one of such movement. Islamic groups felt Sayyid Qutab who led 'Muslim Brotherhood' movement in Egypt and died in 1966 for the cause. Revolution in Iran under Khomeni further gave boost for hardcore Islamic groups. During same period episode of Afghan invasion happen US tactically used these Islamic forces against 'Red Army' of USSR. In front of challenge of 'communist' US totally neglected anger among Islamic world. After withdrawal of USSR forces US concentrated on Gulf and launched a war against Iraq. US forces went into Middle-East , presence of US troops in holy towns of Macca and Madina seriously undermine sentiments of Muslims and this led to launch of Islamic forces war against US. A rich Osama provided his money, contacts , infrastructure in a 'sacrosanct ' cause of 'Jihad' against modernity represented by pro-west forces. Samuel Huntington in his famous book 'Clash of Civilization' 1996 , though have many shortcoming gave glimpses of cultural rivalry.
Economic-The US and post -industrial states of western Europe dominates international economic institutions IMF, World Bank. Political decisions of many underdeveloped countries and in particular from Islamic world to accept privatization , deregulation lead to significant social and economic upheaval. Some study shown that sense of alienation and lack of opportunity among some Muslim males is also an contributing factor for their decision to turn to violence globally. Attack against WTC can be seen as blow against icon of global capitalism. Links between poverty and terrorism can be seen as vital in this context.
Religion- Global jihad is seen as reaction to the perceived oppression of Muslim's worldwide and spiritual bankruptcy of the west. Believers in global jihad view that rulers of 'Islamic' countries such as Pakistan, S.Arabia as apostates (those Muslim's who are presently not following Islam) have compromised Islamic values in the pursuit of Secular, state based power. Differences in value structures make deterrence of religious terrorism difficult. Religious terrorist seek to replace the normative structure of society. After all religion provide terrorist groups a crucial advantage :the mandate and sanctions of the divine to commit otherwise illegal or immoral acts.
Now I want to move towards globalization, technology and terrorism. Answer to Title is sadly negative as I have stated earlier. But why? here comes the role of globalization, Technology which in some ways providing help in sustaining acts of terrorism and their Ideology. The technological advances associated with globalization have improved the capabilities of terrorist groups to plan and conduct operations with far more devastation.
Traditionally terrorist found it difficult to propagate their idea's , messages , states have advantage in their ability to control flow of information and use of resources but Internet has changed this dynamics. Hence although prominent 'Jihadi' terrorist groups physical presence can be removed , their virtual presence and influence is immortalized.
In present day it is possible for different terrorist cells to mount coordinated attacks in different countries at different locations at the same time . Indeed it is a hallmark of militant Islamic groups. Serial bombings in Mumbai, Madrid are examples of this. Online jihadi discussion forums are available on internet.
Security of terrorist organizations has been preserved by limiting communication and information exchange among different cells. exchange of information is done with using specific codes known only to few individuals . All this will help to hide identities of those working in different cells. Use of proxy servers for using Internet is also one of such kind of example.
Globalization paved the way for mobility for terrorist. In open societies, that have well developed infrastructures,terrorist have been able to move rapidly within and between borders and this complicates matter to trace them. Terrorist use transportation extensively but it need not be overtly in nature. volume of goods transported in support of globalized economy increased extensively and it is not possible to inspect each and every container passing through border.
Terrorist groups become more and more lethal. There is possibility of use of WMD's or even of nuclear thanks to network of Mr. A.Q.Khan. Globalization has facilitated access to weapons , resources and proficiency required to conduct smaller , but more lethal attacks.
Various digital videos suggest that terrorist are already conducting Distance education through virtual 'jihad' academy in which prospective terrorist study everything from conducting ambush attacks to making and using improvised explosive devices (IED)
All the above illustration suggest that even after death of Osama Bind Laden - face of terrorism- terrorism will not end because it is an ideology which is deeply rooted among Islamic world , mainly in the minds of people and specifically of youths of those countries. However Globalization and technology associated with it has improved ability of states, hence they are also trying to counter this asymmetric warfare.
In the end I want to say that the inescapable dilemma for Islamic terrorist is that they could not promote their values without engaging with a world of politics and economics , this will bound to affect the very nature of Islamic community and this might be the ray of Hope for Human Kind. As this kind of terrorism go beyond borders of Nation State cooperation of all states at world level is very much important.
Real question is whether killing of Osama will make this world safer of a Human Being , a direct answer is big no. So lets take look at terrorism , there is no consensus among scholars about definition of terrorism but surely those uses violent means to achieve political motives mostly to overthrow the legitimate government and establish their own are defined as terrorist and their acts as terrorism.
In academic terms terrorism have 4 typologies 1. Left Wing terrorism- various communist movements 2. Right Wing Terrorism - Nazism 3. Ethano-nationalist -numerous in African continent 4. Religious - Al-Qaeda . I want to focus primarily on 4th type i.e Religious.
India was experiencing terrorism since 1989 , as Pakistan govt. used it as an instrument against India in their war for Kashmir , this was the time when cracks were appeared in USSR regime and hence US now was not needed help of terror groups as their prime enemy was eliminated and this created distance between long term friends Osama and US . Osama and his folks feels they were betrayed by US and they were merely used so they were in position to take revenge with US. Different policies of US on cultural , religious front further deepen feeling of betray among these groups. Taliban coming to power in 1996 gave moral boost to terror groups and they used machinery and resources of state to achieve their aim of taking revenge . Attacks on US consulates in different parts of world , first unsuccessful attempt for attack of WTC were part of these series. Apart from angle of USSR some other cultural, economic and political reasons were also gave impetus for their rivalry. Fransis Fukuyama termed these terrorist as Islamo Fascist. I will try to illustrate reasons in little bit-
Cultural - It dates back to fall of ottoman empire after 1st world war and Kemal came to rule in Turkey which although on one way brought waves of modernity in Islamic world , however at the same time sowed seed of enmity. Egypt also experienced same thing with rule of Anwar Saddat , Nasser , to whom hardcore Islamic forces consider as pro west. Islamic forces felt that these pro western , Modern values are threatening our own culture , values. This anger was felt at local level at high intensity. This led to Anti-west/Modern movements , Muslim Brotherhood movement was one of such movement. Islamic groups felt Sayyid Qutab who led 'Muslim Brotherhood' movement in Egypt and died in 1966 for the cause. Revolution in Iran under Khomeni further gave boost for hardcore Islamic groups. During same period episode of Afghan invasion happen US tactically used these Islamic forces against 'Red Army' of USSR. In front of challenge of 'communist' US totally neglected anger among Islamic world. After withdrawal of USSR forces US concentrated on Gulf and launched a war against Iraq. US forces went into Middle-East , presence of US troops in holy towns of Macca and Madina seriously undermine sentiments of Muslims and this led to launch of Islamic forces war against US. A rich Osama provided his money, contacts , infrastructure in a 'sacrosanct ' cause of 'Jihad' against modernity represented by pro-west forces. Samuel Huntington in his famous book 'Clash of Civilization' 1996 , though have many shortcoming gave glimpses of cultural rivalry.
Economic-The US and post -industrial states of western Europe dominates international economic institutions IMF, World Bank. Political decisions of many underdeveloped countries and in particular from Islamic world to accept privatization , deregulation lead to significant social and economic upheaval. Some study shown that sense of alienation and lack of opportunity among some Muslim males is also an contributing factor for their decision to turn to violence globally. Attack against WTC can be seen as blow against icon of global capitalism. Links between poverty and terrorism can be seen as vital in this context.
Religion- Global jihad is seen as reaction to the perceived oppression of Muslim's worldwide and spiritual bankruptcy of the west. Believers in global jihad view that rulers of 'Islamic' countries such as Pakistan, S.Arabia as apostates (those Muslim's who are presently not following Islam) have compromised Islamic values in the pursuit of Secular, state based power. Differences in value structures make deterrence of religious terrorism difficult. Religious terrorist seek to replace the normative structure of society. After all religion provide terrorist groups a crucial advantage :the mandate and sanctions of the divine to commit otherwise illegal or immoral acts.
Now I want to move towards globalization, technology and terrorism. Answer to Title is sadly negative as I have stated earlier. But why? here comes the role of globalization, Technology which in some ways providing help in sustaining acts of terrorism and their Ideology. The technological advances associated with globalization have improved the capabilities of terrorist groups to plan and conduct operations with far more devastation.
Traditionally terrorist found it difficult to propagate their idea's , messages , states have advantage in their ability to control flow of information and use of resources but Internet has changed this dynamics. Hence although prominent 'Jihadi' terrorist groups physical presence can be removed , their virtual presence and influence is immortalized.
In present day it is possible for different terrorist cells to mount coordinated attacks in different countries at different locations at the same time . Indeed it is a hallmark of militant Islamic groups. Serial bombings in Mumbai, Madrid are examples of this. Online jihadi discussion forums are available on internet.
Security of terrorist organizations has been preserved by limiting communication and information exchange among different cells. exchange of information is done with using specific codes known only to few individuals . All this will help to hide identities of those working in different cells. Use of proxy servers for using Internet is also one of such kind of example.
Globalization paved the way for mobility for terrorist. In open societies, that have well developed infrastructures,terrorist have been able to move rapidly within and between borders and this complicates matter to trace them. Terrorist use transportation extensively but it need not be overtly in nature. volume of goods transported in support of globalized economy increased extensively and it is not possible to inspect each and every container passing through border.
Terrorist groups become more and more lethal. There is possibility of use of WMD's or even of nuclear thanks to network of Mr. A.Q.Khan. Globalization has facilitated access to weapons , resources and proficiency required to conduct smaller , but more lethal attacks.
Various digital videos suggest that terrorist are already conducting Distance education through virtual 'jihad' academy in which prospective terrorist study everything from conducting ambush attacks to making and using improvised explosive devices (IED)
All the above illustration suggest that even after death of Osama Bind Laden - face of terrorism- terrorism will not end because it is an ideology which is deeply rooted among Islamic world , mainly in the minds of people and specifically of youths of those countries. However Globalization and technology associated with it has improved ability of states, hence they are also trying to counter this asymmetric warfare.
In the end I want to say that the inescapable dilemma for Islamic terrorist is that they could not promote their values without engaging with a world of politics and economics , this will bound to affect the very nature of Islamic community and this might be the ray of Hope for Human Kind. As this kind of terrorism go beyond borders of Nation State cooperation of all states at world level is very much important.
Bhau yaar.. very well put forth... A good analysis... ani pahilyanda terrorism conceptually wachnaryanna tar mastch watel... itki clearly sagla gondhal mandlas... superb... wud like to discuss wid u few points ok.. fon karin tula....
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, Its highly informative and very impressive work. This is what we always expect from Aniket.
ReplyDeleteSecond thing, 1st para(intro) was not much up to the mark or I should say not clear enough to give an idea about rest of the content.
Third, there are few language and grammatical errors, e.g. "There" or "Their"..you have repeated it again and again, plz correct it.
Rest,it is flawless and once we start reading reason of terrorism and its spread, its tough to leave the article in middle..but still I would like to say, the start up needs more polishing.