Education isn't the Magic Bullet for Terrorists

Tahir Sahib

thank you for your compliments.

My simple answer would be, social or political or economic injustice will always be present. The question is, how you resolve it? Terrorism is one way, political discourse is another. The idea is that given a representative democracy and suitably responsive governments (I know, both tall orders), one would hope to avoid terrorism. For example, take the current reservations issue which can be termed as an ethnic/racial problem (emerging from social or religious injustice) in India. We had demonstrations, protests, some heads were banged together, but upper caste people had a choice, they could band together to form a terrorist group, go about killing lower caste people or government employees or what have you. Or else, they could setup a political party or support an existing one to see if they can achieve their ends. The idea is to try to go for the latter rather than the former.

This is a very simplistic answer and will need bigger minds than me to answer properly, but hopefully you can see where I am coming from

Cheers

bd

#26 by hasanmahmood

Also you are from India dude - where most people are frustrated so why point out stupid lies about other countries.

Then why are Pakis, and not Indians blowing themselves up?

{Otherwise we would not have seen the dreadful example of the 7/7 London bombers or Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the ex-LSE student. }

invalid argument..what is being emphasized is a liberal education of ALL as one solution (including women, the bearers and raisers of children) which will in turn cause debates and liberal societies. example of a few educated men in otherwise narrowly educated societies is invalid.

Re: # 27
[example of a few educated men in otherwise narrowly educated societies is invalid. ]
Besides it is the very absence of education that allows the educated to
1) recruit the uneducated as cannon fodder, and
2) Canonise themselves as the fighters for the uneducated.
3) Get support , aid, etc for their causes.

The advantage of acquiring an education can be noticed, only after two or three generations. European nations were as guilty of terrorism, government sponsored or otherwise in their formative years.

A liberal education could however reduce the ground support available to terrorists. That would at least isolate them. However even in such cases state sponsored terrorism will still succeed.

Dear Mr. Dasgupta

I see your article is well thought of. I enjoyed it particularly because of my interest in the subject of violence and peace.

I have only one minor point to make, if I may. Lots of people emphasize on education and socio-economical status of known terrorist, which is fine but I suppose conditions on the ground that provide an impetus to switch to violent mode of thinking and behavior are very important to consider because those in the leadership roles are only faces of a big underlying unrest, without going into the question of legitimacy right now.

I appreciate what you have rightly pointed out that education is a must but only one of the many necessary elements for peace, among which I shall place the reality of social justice rather high. Wondering how do you see it?

Regards,

Tahir Qazi

#22 sometimes i am more worried about the terrorist apologist than the terrorist..

Re: # 23
Aye, you can only live with your head in the sand so long... And most of these twits with ideas of grandeur never consider that the rights of individuals are as or more important than the rights of the fashion of the moment , they choose to support.

#20 by asfand on June 13, 2006 3:52pm PT

Lets start over..

You: terrorism is caused by despair.

Me: Then how come 15 of the 19 hijackers were saudis..saudis who had access to free health care and free education(something 42million americans don`t have).



Your turn..

Re: # 21
S`all bullshit. Terrorism is caused by silly idiots who have stupid ideas of grandeur, being the chosen one etc, most of the time. Saying that they are oppressed is the same as saying all murderers are actually nice people ostracised by society.

Sometimes the idiots succeed and they are venerated, in course of time when their deeds are whitewashed.

Don`t tell me Bin Laden, Al Zawahiri , Ted Kaczynski, al Zarqawi, Timothy McVeigh etc were desperate for love and all that jazz.

If OBL wanted to make a difference he should have called for abolition of the monarchy in Saudi , called for elections and you betcher he would have been top dog. And if he wanted to fight he should have been kicking the Saudi`s not going around on a global rampage.

There are some who take to terror only as the last resort . However the vast majority are just plain murderers.

If any of these terrorists ever gain any power they will be at each others throats anyway.

Reply to #18

Saudi Arabia is a predominant Muslim country but calling it a Islamic country will be a big mistake. Islamic political system does not support kingdom. Khilafa is very different than a kingdom. Saudi Arabia, as the name suggest is a piece of land that belongs to the Saud family. It is not a Islamic country.

Similarly there are no Islamic countrues in the present world. There are countries where predominant population is Muslim but the law of the land is not Islamic. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Indonesia, Malysia UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, the list goes on and on.

Asfand Siddiqui

#17 by asfand on June 12, 2006 2:51pm PT


Please replace the political system in India with the political system in Saudi Arabia. You will get ``free health care and education.``


mmmkay..so it`s the Islamist dictatorship form of government that is responsible for the free healthcare and education in saudi arabia...silly me..i thought it was all the oil money..

Re: # 18
no it is the Islamic way and not the oil money. because if that was the case then every country in OPEC will have a feree education system but they dont have it. I know being a Hindu you see the world with tainted eyes but go ask people in Saudi Arabia what they think of their country and most of them will be happy and satisfied. In other countries however they will not be. Also you are from India dude - where most people are frustrated so why point out stupid lies about other countries.

Reply to #16.
``Which is why the 9/11 hijackers were from saudi arabia..yes..that saudi arabia..the country where citizens have free health care and education.. ``

Please replace the political system in India with the political system in Saudi Arabia. You will get ``free health care and education.``


``Yup...whem muslims blow up non-muslims(or lesser muslims), the act isn`t wrong and can be rationalized by alluding to some root cause(usually Islamists).. ``

Just replace the worh muslims with hindus and islamists with hinduism. See what you get.

Asfand Siddiqui

#15 by asfand on June 12, 2006 11:57am PT


Root cause of terrorism is injustice.


Which is why the 9/11 hijackers were from saudi arabia..yes..that saudi arabia..the country where citizens have free health care and education..



In order to curb terrorism, the root Lately causes of the terrorism have to be looked in depth.


Yup...whem muslims blow up non-muslims(or lesser muslims), the act isn`t wrong and can be rationalized by alluding to some root cause(usually Islamists)..

Two sides can play the root cause game..What`s the root cause of Israel bombing beaches in gaza..

Education is definitely not the “magic bullet” to cure terrorism.
Root cause of terrorism is injustice. In any circumstance, once the feeling of injustice, hopelessness, and disparity grows, terrorism happens. Terrorism just not happens because one day something snaps in the brain of an educated person. It happens because the person, educated or uneducated, started to feel the injustice, hopelessness and disparity. In order to curb terrorism, the root Lately causes of the terrorism have to be looked in depth.

Lately, most of the nations are curbing terrorism by force and not looking why terrorism is happening around them. This is very much like a doctor prescribing antibiotics to his patient who has malaria, and not telling him to save himself from mosquito bites. Needless to say that the cure will be short lived. This person may become well for a short while but since the root cause “mosquitoes” are still around this person he will get malaria again. In fact in any society where you will find injustice, you will see violence. These two goes hand in hand.

Asfand Siddiqui

Mr. Dasgupta
Can you tell us how an English history textbook diifers from the other countries by not providing an English identity? As far as I can see the behaviour of English crowds during an England/Germany football match is not great. I`ve seen lots of arms spread out imitation of the RAF bombing Dresden. So assuming you are correct I don`t think having bland history books helps either.

People can develop a sense of persecution from a slight oversight. From that point onwards hating somebody is the next natural step. It`s all in your mental makeup. Some soils nuture it better than others.

And most often the well educated ones hit the headlines because they are the leaders. For every George Habash there are few unknowns who are vapourised by high explosives strapped to themselves.

To ironically quote Grey
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen
And waste it`s sweetness on the desert air.-)-) -)

Coming back to your last sentence do we take your article with a grain of salt.?-)