Terror Doesn't Serve Anyone

It is not a lack of affluence, but a lack of knowledge that draws many people into the spell of ideological pied pipers. But the terrorist attacks also hurt those for whom they are supposedly carried out. A commentary by Peter Philipp

They are back-the old arguments that we all heard after September 11th, 2001: It is not possible to eliminate terrorism through force; instead, we have to get to the roots and weed out the causes, the discrepancy between rich and poor in the world, the injustice between north and south, the ignorance that prevails between west and east.

What was not an adequate answer after the attacks on the World Trade Center is still not adequate today after Madrid. Such arguments are more an expression of the unpleasant awareness that we are still helpless and at a loss in face of such acts of terror.

The "we" is definitely meant here in a global sense, certainly not limited to the West. On the contrary, since 9/11-and even earlier-we have learned that it can hit and affect every country in the world, from Kenya to Bali, from Russia to Turkey to Morocco.

Susceptible to Demagogy

An unpleasant awareness and yet it makes something else all the more clear: it is not injustice in the world that causes such insanity, but the susceptibility and receptivity of population groups-still as large as ever-to simple, primitive demagogy.

Like the Osama bin Ladens and his supporters who convince the oppressed and disenfranchised in the Islamic world that their misery is a direct consequence of Western arrogance and Western efforts to gain hegemony. Having a clear picture of the enemy might not make life better, but perhaps it does make it easier. If it is possible to blame and punish someone else for one's own hardship, then it is all the easier to spare all efforts to liberate oneself from this regrettable situation.

Did September 11th serve to liberate even one single oppressed Muslim in the world? March 11th will do just as little in this regard. Both dates and the bloody terror they stand for have brought only more harm and disaster, and they will continue to do so.

Did 9/11 liberate the oppressed?

This is what is actually so perfidious about the acts: Not only do they hit innocent outsiders, they also hurt precisely those in whose name they are supposedly being carried out. Without consideration, without sympathy, without respect of person. Human lives do not count. But this is the core of terrorism. No matter what any letters claiming responsibility declare after the fact.

Unfortunately, there will continue to be enough people in the future who let themselves be put into a frenzy by such acts. One-though certainly not the only-reason for this lies in the egregious gap in education in the world. It is not a lack of affluence, but a lack of knowledge that is a driving force, prompting masses to follow behind ideological pied pipers and closing their brains to logical, objective arguments and, ultimately, their hearts to human emotion.

Even if this is known in the West, for example from annual UN studies, we still have no answers. We are too concerned with ourselves and will not wake up until things explode again. But then it is too late. And the other side reckons firmly with that, because nothing would be worse for their efforts than if they lost their breeding ground.

This is why there can only be one response to Madrid, New York, and other similar acts of terror: People have to become aware that they are all victims if they do not do something. Religion is totally irrelevant here. TNT does not discriminate. The only thing that can help is to stop the sweeping condemnation of the other side, whereby even this expression is inappropriate: The "other side" has to finally become "fellow human beings."

Peter Philipp

Translation from the German by Allison Brown