Past, Present, and Future free essay sample

Since changing the psycho-emotional balance of the people is paramount to a revolution’s momentum, it is commonplace for revolutionary groups to take drastic measures for attention and sympathy. From these drastic measures, the concept of terrorism has evolved- the concept of violence and public intimidation to engender politics favored by the offending group. Terrorism is any political activity that relies on violence or the threat of violence to achieve its ends. Much of the time terrorism targets ordinary citizens rather than government organizations. Terrorists aim to create a climate of fear as a catalyst for political change or restructuring. The goal for the terrorists is to demoralize the population, and at the same time to provoke the government into a disproportionate response. An overreaction from the government would ideally make the government look bad and give life to sympathy for the group’s cause. This sympathy aspect is almost as important as the intimidation; recruitment is a large part of a terrorist group’s priorities. Al Qaeda focuses on recruiting young boys, sometimes as young as five or six, and sponsoring their elementary education, only to replace it with memorizations from the Quran (which the little boys are quite unable to read) and with indoctrinating messages that groom them to become the next generation of foot soldiers for the organization. Terrorism as a concept and in practice has undergone large changes over time as warfare, the organization of the nation state, and politics as a whole have also evolved. It seems that terrorism has always been able to change with the times. If terrorism is ever to be successfully eliminated, it would take widespread communication and cooperation amongst the nations of the world. The dawn of terrorism as a political tool came in the 14th century as Jewish extremists attempted to incite revolt against the Roman Empire. Instances of terrorism as we conceive it now were few and far between until the 19th century, â€Å"Until the rise of the modern nation state after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the sort of central authority and cohesive society that terrorism attempts to influence barely existed† (Brown). This means that terrorism is only a useful political tool with the modern nation states. Centuries ago, terrorism wouldn’t have been nearly as effective because any fear caused by the activists would be a waste- without a modern system of communications and in a time when the vote of the common man meant very little, it would be illogical to influence the common man to either play for his sympathy or to try and scare him into support or silence. In that time it just wouldn’t make sense that often to turn to terrorism rather than some other form of political influence. Today, however, terrorism is a concept that almost everyone on the planet has become aware of, and has been affected by. Terror as a political influence today reaches every corner of the globe. The globalization of these tactics can be attributed to advances in communication as well as organizational structure in the Middle East. As Marius Dabrowski writes, â€Å"Middle East terrorism has fueled the global wave of terrorism because a variety of terrorist groups (IRA, ETA, Japanese Red Army, Baader-Meinhof Gang, etc. ) have received training and support from Palestinian terrorist groups, particularly the PLO. The effects of public bombings and assassinations are far-reaching and shake the foundations of many nations’ codes of moral ethics. The Irish Republican Army, Al Qaeda, the Basque separatists, the Taliban, and many other organizations that claim to be freedom fighters employ terrorist strategies to bring about the changes they seek for their region. From bombing cars and trains to hijacking aircraft to the Symbionese Liberation Army’s capture of Randolph Hearst’s granddaughter, terrorism today can take many forms and aims to accomplish many different goals. The group Al-Quaeda, an Islamic militant group composed of many different cells spanning dozens of countries, took responsibility for the attacks of 9/11 in 2004. In an effort to spark tensions and bring attention to the U. S. involvement in the Middle East, they hijacked American planes and committed coordinated suicide attacks against iconic American symbols of power and stability. This brought about the beginning of the War on Terror, the American mission to usurp and depose leaders that fit our standard of terrorist. This outlines the main goals of terrorism- this group gained worldwide notoriety, brought attention to the issue, caused panic among the American people, made the government look bad, and provoked it into an all-out war in the Middle East, which was sure to cause anger from those middle eastern people who had nothing to do with the attack but who suffered nonetheless when the American forces bombed Afghanistan into submission. The Pakistani Taliban recently sprung hundreds of members from prison while the Afghan Taliban successfully planned a large coordinated attack that ran across four provinces. That’s not to say that all modern day terrorist activities are so high profile, however. Car bombs placed near government offices, or near railways, have been used many times in the past few decades. In 1974, Patricia Hearst, who had been captured by a group called the Symbionese Liberation Army, was convinced by the organization to actually join them, and took part in a bank robbery they orchestrated. This demonstrates the secondary goal of terrorist groups; once notoriety and panic have spread it is a mission of the group to strike up sympathy for the cause and to make a play for support from new people as it recruits more members. As society and technology continue to progress, terrorism has a certain short term pertinence- in the next few decades or even centuries terrorism will be one of the most widely used political strategies on Earth. Militant groups that fail to see eye to eye with centralized government authority will continue to implement terrorism as a means to accomplish their goals of political restructuring and destabilization. However, it is unclear how long the modern nation state will continue to be the strongest and most effective form of governance. A new government structure could be conceived, perhaps multi-national organizations such as the EU could inherit the power to govern the people. If this came to be, it would change the way terrorism would have to operate to realize its goals. It would be harder, for example, for something like 9/11 to cause a war in the Middle East if the United States were part of a larger nation, like a North American Union or something of that nature. The ensuing war may not have happened, and a groundswell of local support and sympathy for Al Qaeda would never come to be. It would severely hamper the efforts of the terrorist group, and to an extent nullify its political usefulness. This means that in the future, terrorism will likely change to fit the needs of political radicals. Although it seems unlikely that terrorism will ever become useless, many factors could contribute to a disappearing trend of terror. Things like the globalization of one religion (or of complete religious tolerance), the consolidation of nation states, or the assumption of power by an organization such as the UN- any of these things would cause a huge shift in the strategies, tactics, and goals of political activists. The only way terrorism would prove entirely futile in the future would be if everyone on the planet could somehow adopt the same political mentality; if this were to happen there would be no extremists to turn to violence and fear as tools. Until that day, however, terrorism will play some role in shaping the political landscape of the globe, although it is unclear how that will change as the political layout of the future is uncertain. The best way to cut down on terrorism would be the much more realistic prospect of further joint operations and contingencies from allied nations across the world. Barring the less than likely worldwide political enlightenment of the people, terrorism will always exist. It can be held to a negligible effect, however, with cooperation from the all the major nations of the world. This would circumvent the need to consolidate into larger nations, if states today could altruistically join forces to stamp out the violent outbreaks. The unity of all major nations against terrorism is paramount to its demise as a political factor. As the terrorists evolve new tactics and concepts, the governing bodies can change as well to keep pace with them. Ed Husain, author of The Islamist, writes in his article that, â€Å"In these testing times, it is vital that Jews and Muslims demonstrate togetherness against the common enemy. † He is talking specifically about the Mohammed Merah killings from this past month, committed by ‘a self-proclaimed Al Qaeda jihadist’, but the message can be fit to all different ethnic and class groups. If modern governments can support each other against the threat of terrorism it will make the elimination or at least curtailment of such things much less of a pipe dream and much more of a tangible possibility. The UN has taken strides to make use of this kind of idea. The Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force is an organization set up by the UN to combat global terror. Robert Orr, the chairman of this group, issued this statement: â€Å"As we continue our work for the implementation of the Global Counter-terrorism Strategy, joining forces and strengthening cooperation is the key to our success. † From the 14th century Roman Empire, to ground zero in 2001, and on into the future, terrorism as an idea has and will continue to grow as the modern state allows it to. Political dissent seems to span every culture and region on Earth, as does violent unrest. It is impossible to please everyone, so centralized governments will always face opposition, and this opposition will arm itself and seek to engender both fear and sympathy to accomplish its mission. The countries of the world today must coordinate precise counter-terrorism tactics with a sense of necessity and urgency if they are to make an impact in reducing the likelihood of attack and unrest.