The Political Factor in Traveling

To fight terrorism effectively, we have to understand and analyze it, Ala Al-Hamarneh says. In his article he is looking at how tourism and terrorism are means of communication and at what they are signifying

Why the attacks on tourists? They are the very people who to a greater or lesser degree show interest in the "other's" culture and at the same time are pumping money into the local economy.

We will have to take another approach to attempt an understanding. A terrorist attack can be seen theoretically as a symbolic act and be analyzed like any other medium of communication. The various terrorist acts are criminal acts against civilians, but indeed they evolve from different backgrounds, discourses and contexts.

To fight terrorism effectively, we have to understand and analyze it. Security measures are, of course, of great importance, but they are certainly not sufficient and cannot be the core of a preventive strategy. Terrorism against tourists is either a politically or a culturally motivated act.

Politically motivated terrorism

There are four different messages which terrorist attacks on tourists might want to deliver:

First, destabilization of local political systems. The recent terrorist attacks in for instance Egypt are of this type. They aim to expose the gaps in security in the government's policy and to challenge it. At the same time, they are hitting one of the most important economic sectors of the country.

Second, they draw attention to the situation of a minority group. The ETA terror in Spain, for example, claims the representation of the interests of the Basque ethnic group. Some radical Kurdish groups in Turkey attacked tourist destinations with the declared aim of capturing the world's attention and pointing to their plight.

Third, expressing hostility towards the politics practiced in the countries of the terrorists' origin. The terror attacks in Bali were clearly connected with the post-9/11 situation. By the terror attacks against Israeli tourists in Mombassa and to visitors in a Synagogue in Jerba, the terrorists seemed to express their hostility towards Israel.

Fourth, for financial gain. The kidnapping of European and Australian tourists in Yemen and the Philippines was obviously connected with raising money to finance the parent organizations of the terrorists.

The success of a politically motivated terrorist action can be measured by the long-term effects caused by the attacks and by their media exposure.

Culturally motivated terrorism

Culturally motivated terrorism is not a commonplace phenomenon. Some scholars see political aims of direct terror attacks on tourists in the Arab and Muslim countries as shaped by a cultural "touch." In the academic discussions about the terrorist attacks on tourists in Egypt in the 90s, it was pointed out that cultural elements played an important role in the terror attacks on tourists in Egypt.

"Islamist activists may feel they need to take drastic action to prevent what they perceive as a threat to their national culture, tradition, and religious beliefs," writes the Egyptian scholar Salah Wahab.

What is missing in this argumentation is that the so-called "activists" were and are in radical opposition to the Egyptian government and state policy. The main aims of such terrorist attacks are; first, to destabilize the central government politically and economically; and, second, to address an international audience.

Cultural motivations have been gaining ground again since 9/11. The severity of the attacks, the Muslim backgrounds of the terrorists and the "use" of suicide bombers after 9/11 gave a push to the theories of cultural embedding. Nevertheless, the reduction of 'culture' to religion only is a questionable and dubious approach.

Tourism – a form of intercultural dialogue

International migration has failed until now to deliver a space of dialogue between the societies and cultures of the new and the old countries of residence. International tourism gives the direct possibility to visit, to discover and to get to know the "other" in his/her homeland. Such direct contacts are of great importance if we consider, for example, that millions of Europeans keep on visiting Arab countries each year even after the terror attacks in Luxor and Jerba.

The Al-Azhar clerk Sheikh Tantawi declared in an interview after the resent terror attacks in Sharm el-Sheikh that "we [Muslim Egyptians] must tolerate the consumption of alcohol by foreigner tourists, because it is not forbidden for them".

The question is what about Muslim Egyptians and those of other nationalities who consume alcohol? What about Muslims who serve alcohol? Or those who own the venues where is it served? This brings us back to the problems of tolerance and democratization of local societies as well as of increasing spatial segregation of tourists and tourist locations.

Alienation through segregation

The absolute majority of European tourists visiting Arab countries are organized in package tours. They stay in more or less segregated communities like Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurgada in Egypt, Agadir in Morocco, Port Kantaoui und Jerba in Tunisia, Jumeirah Beach in Dubai where the contact to the local people and culture is minimized.

Unfortunately, after 9/11 the segregation has been increased under the label of security. Segregation delivers no security as we have noticed in the last three years. On the contrary, alienating the foreign tourists by spatial isolation makes them more vulnerable to insecurity and danger, and as a "collateral", but significant effect, the people working in tourism become alienated as well.

Through segregation and manic security measures, a whole industry is alienated – an industry that lives on personal contacts and has a message: to enable and to facilitate a face-to-face intercultural dialogue.

A successful tourism industry needs political stability, peace, security, and the potential for dialogue between different groups of people without mental or physical restrictions. Intercultural dialogue is the only way to prevent negative and violent developments in the tourism sector.

Ala Al-Hamarneh

Qantara.de

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