The Point of Terrorism is..

I guess I am a bit dense. I really don't understand the point of terrorism. I know it can be an effective method or murdering people. That has been proven to me by the loss of my daughter Shelley, in the London 7/7 Terrorist strike on the underground.

It is also an effective way of maiming, physically and emotionally any given number of people who happen to be present at the time of the act. None of whom mean anything to the terrorist murderers - all of whom do mean a great deal to their families and friends.

It can also causes anxiety for people not directly effected by engendering some level of "insecurity" into their lives.

But what does it achieve?

They are not blackmailers or kidnappers, who, if you believe the movies you see, pretty quickly present a list of demands. At least you have some idea of what they want and they are still around to get it! You may even be able to produce a helicopter at short notice, along with pizzas and drinks and a large bag full of money.

The Mission Impossible tapes (one they prepared earlier!), produced by terrorists after they have obviously accepted the mission, such as the tape produced to time in with last year's first anniversary, shed some light on their thinking. Khan called all in sundry nasty names, praised his god and sang the praises of al-Quaeda. Blaming this and future actions on the evil of the Western world and the Iraq war etc etc. He had indeed, taken the righteous path to teaching us all a lesson. But what was that lesson?

To my way of thinking, Terrorists appear to be cowards . They puff themselves up to be something greater than us remaining mere mortals. Of course, they have have taken the short route out of life by knowingly and willinging killing themselves as well. They leave their families, the victims and families of the dead to deal with the reality of their pathetic actions. This reality is where true courage comes in. Not the death by default stance they take. Death is just too easy an option.

Perhaps the attempted bombings last week in London, full of the incompetencies that they were, mean that the next layer of terrorist/murderer is not so fully convinced that such a death is honourable. l mean for supposedly highly intelligent medical professionals, (what about the hypocratic oath?) they were abysmal. Not only did the bombs not activate but they were caught damn quickly. No wonder the health system is in disarray!!

I am by no means equipped to comment on the political landscape and am not privy to the inner workings of governments. My area of knowledge is based on my family and the society in which I live.

If the Point of Terrorism is a mystery to me given my circumstances, how much more of a mystery must it be to others not affected by a death in their family?

The words I chose for the heading of this site say: Words frame our reality. Actions define our lives.
I did not choose those words lightly. It seems to me that words are the true weapons. These latest attempted terrorists were highly intelligent. You have to have some brain to succeed in medicine. Yet they allowed inflamatory words to change their thinking. Or did they? Were they already thinking along those lines and the previous part of their lives were not true to their beliefs? Did they secure the jobs at London hospitals in order to be inconspicious? Or were they turned by someone elses powerful use of words. The words of the Koran, the words of a passionate Islamic teacher? I don't know. What I do know is that they used words, carefully chosen words to frame their ultimate action of attemting to committ terrorist acts. They knew the likelihood of the loss of lives, yet as doctors, they chose to ignore that side of the equation.

Maybe ultimately, they withdrew at the last minute. Maybe some sense of reason and humanity snuck through their fuddled, minds. Who knows? Maybe they just didn't want to kill themselves. Only they know. Did the attempts fail because of incompetence or because of a realisation of the greater good?

We will not necessarily find out the answer to these questions.

I only know that every child born belongs to someone. That that child usually is loved and cherished, not always, but more often than not. I know that a child is not born with hatred in their hearts or with murderous intent. I can understand that if you are exposed to tyranny and murder, that if your social group is targeted whether as a result of racist, religious or any kind of prejudice, you may become ticked off with the oppressors.

What I cannot understand is the belief that any one group has the right to stamp their way of living, thinking onto any other group by force. By war. By genocide. By homicide. By war.

Disputes over land, oil, money and power these are the makings of war and terrorism.The need to prove oneself right at any cost. At the cost of all the dead in Iraq, civilian and solider.

There has to be a better way but it will not be tapped until there is a desire for this all to end. Until words are used in healing and constructive ways as tools to find pathways through the history of anger and revenge. Until actions of co-operacy and collective well being follow those words. Then maybe we can move forward to a different way of resolving our issues.

The 7/7 bombers and those who attempted the latest bombings did not bother to start a dialogue about their issues. They skipped straight to cowardly, murderous acts for which they, as individuals are responsible. It matters not that they may have taken on some identity of a disaffected group. That is too easy a solution.

Acts of death and destruction do not change thinking; do not convert one to another set of beliefs. Constructive dialogue with goodwill to find solutions has more chance of changing the world.

The current stakes of being stronger, more violent, more sinister, more underhand than the opponent who may not even know they are an opponent, can only lead to more destruction.

The words we use to define groups are in themselves inflamatory; Terrorists, Islamists, Muslims, Westerners. It is easy to generate hate for a group. To see that group then as the named enemy to be destroyed. Individuals make up groups. We need to see the individual. We need to draw back to individual family groups. We need to take responsibility for our children, partners, brothers, sisters. Anyone in our social grouping. We need to use words as assetts to define actions of healing.

Below a poem from my book "Dear Shelley" in which I attempt to make this same point.

TO THE GOVERNMENTS/DICTATORS/PRESIDENTS/RELIGIOUSLEADERS AND SUNDRY TITLED PERSONS WHO HEADCOUNTRIES/STATES
ENGAGED IN ACTIVE WARS


you send them off to war
to fight your fight

in the name of god
in the name of justice

you send them

you say “we are saving this country”
by invading it
you say “it’s what their people want”
you say “we have to stop them, they
are developing nuclear capability”
you say “we must expect collateral damage”
speak-ease for dead soldiers from
your country and dead civilians
from the country you are “rescuing”

you say “they stole our land 100’s if not 1000’s of
years ago – it isn’t fair”
you say “they have insulted our god – they must
die for that”
you say “our god is a peaceful god who must be
avenged with violence”

you say “they have killed one of us, we must kill
more of them – to show them they cannot
do this”

you say “we must fight terrorism”

you say “to fight terrorism we must take away
some of your basic democratic civil rights”
you say “we are right – it is for your own good”

you say “you don’t understand it is complex”

you are right on one count
and one count only

I don’t understand

I don’t understand in the name of god, any god

I don’t understand in the name of justice
the continual sanctioning of the waste of lives
on endeavours based on any of the above reasons

I probably don’t understand because it is complex
you say

and I am only a mother of one of the dead

but I know something you don’t understand
because it is too simple for you to understand

that every death is a person not a number

that every death is someone’s child, maybe
a brother or a sister too

that every death is not a solitary step

that every death effects that person’s family
and friends

that if you received a knock at your door
to take your son to war for the better good

that if your child were waiting for the tube
and a bomber said the him/her
I am going to randomly set off a bomb

people will die
you might die

you can call a parent to substitute

would you go or would you say
he/she is collateral
the price of our war on terror
has to be paid by someone

it is simple
and I do not understand


Kia kaha

Arohanui

KG