Part A: Q 1
Europe, America, Africa and certain nations globally are shaking with intensified conflict between traditional populations and people whose families emigrated from overseas. France and Britain, two nations with a long history of tolerance and stability, have been the hardest hit (Michaelsen, 2005, p, 322). Violent Islamic militants have emerged in the two nations and built followings that risk to upset national life. It’s no wonder that during the Golden Age of colonialism — from around the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries — France and Britain were the most active conquerors. Majority the wealth obtained by Britain and France were squeezed from the sweat of colonized people from Polynesia to Senegal. Britain prospered via subduing and exploiting the inhabitants in a global empire (National Academies Press, 2002). If these and other European super powers never colonized other nations around the world and implanted the seeds of hatred, those seeds wouldn’t have flowered into the poisonous weeds that are now spreading within Europe.
For a long time the colonial enterprise was lavishly profitable. Imperial powers in Europe extracted vast amounts of wealth from weak countries. When the adventure finally ended — Britain gave up India in 1947, France lost Vietnam in 1954 and Algeria in 1962 — all still seemed well. It was assumed that sins of the past would be forgotten, and that countries that committed them would move painlessly into a new era. One legacy of empire, however, was the more or less free admission of former colonial subjects to the motherland. This immigration greatly enriched both French and British societies. It also brought the seeds of future strife. Cultural conflicts set in motion by colonialism have spiraled into anger and violence (Rasler, & Thompson, 2009, p, 31).
The two brothers that killed the cartoonists and editors at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo were of Algerian descent. So was the gunman that murdered seven people in the Toulouse area some few years ago. All were born in France to parents that lived through the savage French-Algerian War. Without this war, or without France colonizing Algeria, it might have been unlikely that any of them might have find their way to France (Kinzer, 2015).
In Britain, the 11 men were arrested in 2014 as they planned suicide bombings. It was established that this men were from Pakistan- which Britain colonized as part of India. The hatemongering British cleric Anjem Choudary, whose latest fury was blessing the previous atonement of a Jordanian pilot in Syria, is also of Pakistani descent (Kinzer, 2015). Britain’s other leading Islamic radical, Abu Hamza, who was taken to US and sentenced to life in prison for terrorism s, was born in Egypt, which Britain dominated for over 70 years.
Cast adrift in unfamiliar and at times hostile communities, a section of these immigrants or their kids have grown to become infuriated over what they view as Europe’s hypocrisy. They link this hypocrisy to European previous claims that their colonial invasion and occupation were meant principally to civilize the people they oppressed (Kinzer, 2015). If France, Britain, and other European nations had declined the urge to go and colonize other nations — if they had not sent armies to regions such as Syria, Iraq, India, or North Africa — they wouldn’t be facing the terror which is afflicting them currently.
Part B: Q 1
Bombs, guns and knives have traditionally been the most preferred weapons used by terrorists (Cohen, 2005, p, 26). However, the latest type of deadly mass violence has weaponized something far more humdrum: vehicles. Six of the previous nine multiple-casualty terrorist attacks within Western Europe were as a result of trucks, cars or SUVs which were driven into public crowds, at times over long stretches before the attackers are brought to a stop. The violence at times continued when attackers flee their cars and inflict further damage within the surrounding regions. As the following timeline shows, terrorism which started with car contact have been deadly in the past few months.
- March 22nd, 2017, London, England — An SUV was rammed into crowds in London near Parliament. 4 people were murdered by the car,
- April 7th , 2017, Stockholm, Sweden — A truck was rammed into a Swedish department store, killing 4 people
- June 3rd, 2017, London, England — a car rammed into crowds on London Bridge, after which the attackers left the car and stabbed several people within the area. 7 died and about 50 were injured.
- August 17th, 2017, Barcelona, Spain — a car plowed into pedestrians in the Las Ramblas tourist area, killing 12 and injuring over 100. Of all of this incidents, the most deadly attack happened in Nice, France whereby a truck mowed down dozens of people who celebrating Bastille Day. As a result of this attack, more than 87 people were killed and 435 were injured.
Towards the end of 2014, IS media group al-Hayat gave a 8-minute video whereby French jihadi Abu Salman al-Faranci directed his audience: “Terrorize them & don’t allow them to sleep as a result of fear and horror.” He went on to applaud car-ramming as the perfect alternative for travelling to Iraq and Syria to fight: “There are arms and vehicles available and targets ready to be run over… murder them and spit on their faces and kill them using the vehicles.” (Jensen, 2016)
IS also applauded car-ramming attacks in its 3rd Ed of its English-language Rumiyah magazine, released in 2016, motivating the usage of cars to carry out attacks owing to the fact that “very few really understand/know the lethal and destructive capability of the vehicles and its ability to affecting huge numbers of casualties if they are used in a premeditated form”. The magazine went on to instruct its sympathizers to steal such cars if needed. From the above findings, it would be prudent to say that attacks using vehicle need to be treated as a related phenomenon to attacks with guns (Cohen, 2005, p,30). Car-ramming attacks perfectly meet the criteria for a successful terrorist technique – undemanding of skill, legitimate among the perpetrators, and very effective. The terrorist have just become innovative in the manner in which they are carrying out their attacks.
The primary aim of the terrorist is not only to instill fear in the society, but also to cause as much harm as possible. It is no wonder that the terrorist have resorted to ramming cars into public places. By doing this, they are able to cause as much damage/harm as possible. Terrorist have resulted to using Cars instead of guns and knives owing to the fact that it makes it harder for them to be detected by the police.
References
Best Assignment Writing Service, (2017) Terrorism And Society | Assignment Writing Service. Retrieved from https://assignmentwritingservice.net/best
Christopher Michaelsen (2005) Antiterrorism Legislation in Australia: A Proportionate Response to the Terrorist Threat?Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 28:4, 321-339, DOI: 10.1080/10576100590950138
Cohen, S. (2005). Post-Moral Torture: From Guantanamo To Abu Ghraib. Journal of , Vol 34 issue 1 pp 25-30.
Douzinas, C. (2003). Humanity, military humanism and the new moral. Journal of Economy and Society, Volume 32 Number 2 pp 159–183.
Jensen, R. (2016). How and why vehicle ramming became the attack of choice for terrorists. Retrieved from The Coversation: https://theconversation.com/how-and-why-vehicle-ramming-became-the-attack-of-choice-for
Kinzer, S. (2015). French, British colonialism grew a root of terrorism. Retrieved from Boston Globe: https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/02/11/french-british-colonialism- bred-root-terrorism
Press, N. A. (2002). Origins and Contexts of Terrorism. Retrieved from National Academies Press: : https://www.nap.edu/read/10570/chapter/4
Rasler, Karen & Thompson, William R. (2009): Looking for Waves of Terrorism. In: Terrorism and Political Violence. Volume 21, Issue 1. p.31
Source: Terrorism And Society | Assignment Writing Service
No comments:
Post a Comment