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ABSTRACT Nowadays, no one seems to be saved in the world. Terrorism, an ugly development which has compelled the world leaders as well as the public figures to spend millions of dollars beefing up their security, has become a international threat. Amidst this seemingly tight security and threat, thousands of innocent souls have lost their lives to the annihilation called terrorism. Statistically, it has been proved that no country of the world is special to terrorist attacks. Pius Odiaka writes on the palpable fear pervading world following the series of bombings in a lot of countries. He declares in the Guardian Newspaper, Friday, July 29th, 2005, (page 24) that “No portion of the world has been left without terrorist bloodshed. From Kenya, Algeria, Egypt in Africa to galore countries in the middle East and the Gulf; Indonesia, Philippine, Pakistan and India throughout Asia; Washington and New York in America; Spain and now London in Europe, a lot of innocent souls have been sniffed out of existence.” The paper will present how terrorism is a threat to Global Peace. It will enumerate the category of acts of terrorism. It will also consider in detail the causes and significations of terrorism in humane progress in particular in the area of peace building and keeping. Above all, it will provide recommendations by referring to the United Nations recommendations for a international counter-terrorism strategy. It concludes by affirming that the global peace may only be achieved if the world- the leaders and the followers-condemn terrorism in all forms and ramifications, and act unconditionally and justly in their quest to providing everlasting solutions to peace, as it constitutes one of the most severe threats to global peace and security. Introduction In humane history, terrorism is widely recognized as the world most widely known and esteemed enemy of mankind. As history itself will confess that terrorism is annihilation with far-reaching and damaging effects, it is the cruelest of crimes versus humanity. Its remains have turned neighbours into oppositions and have made our societies and the whole world unsafe for living. Its aims and apps are international and uncompromising. Neither terrorism nor is perpetrators are new. Even altho it has been applied since the beginning of recorded time, not history itself may keep, with precision, the number of lives and properties lost to terrorism. No doubt, terrorism with it is detrimental power has reshaped the world we live in. We now live in the world characterized by rising violence and conflicts. This, in turn, has led to the world of growing mistrust, fear, section and represents a significant new threat to global justice, peace and security. This ugly development therefore made Amnesty International to detect in it is 2004 Report the lasting effects of the crime on humanity. Historical Background of terrorism It is pertinent to recall that forms of society and governments in the past differ from what they are today, when describing the history of terrorism and the use of terror through time. Not until 1648 (Treaty of Westphalia), there was not one thing like progressed nation-states. More recent is the state’s monopoly on warfare or interstate-violence. The absence of central authority gave some more players chance to participate in the game of warfare. However, this did not make the use of terror a method of affecting a political change. In contrast to the progressed era, where only nations go to war, the involvement of players such as religious leaders, mercenaries, mercantile companies, national armies and a great deal of more was considered to be rightful and normal. Terrorist acts or the threat of such action have been in existence for millennia. So, in narrating the history of terrorism, it is important to talk in regards to the respective types of terrorism and terrorist persons and groups. Below is the summary of the history of terrorism. Ancient World: Sicarii Zealots Political scientists see the radical Sicarii offshoot of the Jewish Zealots as one of the earliest forerunners of modern terrorism. Like progressed terrorists, they intended their actions to suggest a message to a wider target audience: in this instance, the roman imperial officials and all pro-Roman and collaborationists Al-Assassin The Hashshashin (also Hashishin, Hashsshiyyin or Assassins) were an offshoot of the Isma ili sect of the Shiite Muslims. After a quarrel regarding the succession of leadership in the ruling Fatimide dynasty in Cairo around the year 1090, the losing Nizariyya faction was driven from Egypt. They established a number of fortified settlements in present day Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon underneath the charismatic leader Hasan I Sabbah.Persecuted as infidel by the dominant Sunni sect in the Muslim world; they sent devoted suicide murderers to eliminate prominent Sunni leaders whom they considered “impious usurpers.” The sect was decimated by the invading Mongols, their last stronghold being flattened by Hulegu Khan in the year 1272.Many scholars believe the term Hashshashin, a name given to them by their foes was derived from the Arabic “hassasin(hashish user),which they are alleged to have ingested prior to their attacks, but this etymology is disputed. The sects referred to themselves as al-da-wa al-jadida, which means the new doctrine, and were known within the establishment as Fedayeen. Seventeenth century Gunpowder Plot (1605) On November 5, 1605 a group of conspirators, led by Guy Fawkes, attempted to ruin the English Parliament on the State Opening, by detonating a huge amount of gunpowder secretly placed under the building. The design was to kill King James1 and the members of both houses of parliament. In the resulting anarchy, the conspirators planned to apply a coup and restore the Catholic faith to England. However the plan was betrayed and then thwarted. Eighteenth century 1.Sons of Liberty The Sons of Liberty were an underground group opposed to British Rule in the colonies, who devoted assorted attacks, most widely known and esteemed amongst these was the Boston Tea Party. No one was killed or severely injured by any action that was taken. 2.The Terror (1793-1794) The Reign of Terror ( September 5 1793- July 28 1794) or plainly The Terror ( French: la Terreur) was a amount of time of when it comes to eleven months for the duration of the French Revolution when struggles amidst rival factions led to mutual radicalization which took on a violent reputation with mass executions by guillotine. The victims of the Reign of Terror totaled approximately 40,000.Among people who are condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, regarding 8 percent were aristocrats, 6 percent clergy 14 percent middle class, and 70 percent were workers or peasants accused of hoarding, evading the draft, desertion, rebellion, and other purported crimes. Nineteenth century 1.Anarchism Anarchists was the most prolific terrorists of the 19th century, with the terroristic tendencies of both nationalism and political movements of Communism or fascism still in there infancy. The disjointed attacks of respective anarchists groups lead to the assassination of Russian Tsars and American Presidents but had little real political impact. 2.Tsarist Russia In Russia, by the mid-19 th century, the intelligentsia grew raring with the slow pace of Tsarist reforms, which had slowed substantially after the attempted assassination of Alexander II of Russia. Radicals then sought rather to transform peasant discontent into open revolution. Anarchists like Mikhail Bakunin maintained that progress was out of the question without destruction. With the development of sufficiently powerful, stable, and lowcost explosives, the gap closed amid the firepower of the state and the means available to dissidents. The main group responsible for the resulting venture of terror-’Narodnaya Volya’ (people’s will) (1878-81) – applied the word ‘terrorist’ proudly. They believed in the aimed killing of the ‘leaders of oppression’; they were convinced that the manufacturing technologies of the age-symbolized by bombs and bullets- enabled them to strike directly and discriminately.” People’s Will”, possessing only 30 members, attempted various assassination attempts upon Tsa. Culminating in the assassination of Tsar Alexander II on 13 March 1881, killing the Tsar as he was traveling by train. 3. Irish Republican Brotherhood In 1867, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a revolutionary nationalist group with help from Irish-Americans, carried out attacks in England. These were the original acts of “republican terrorism”, which became a recurrent feature of British history, and these Fenians were the precursor of the Irish Republican Army. The ideology of the group was Irish nationalism. 4. Nationalist terrorism The Fenians/IRA and the IMRO may be considered the prototype of all ‘nationalist terrorism’, and evenly illustrate the (itself controversial) expression that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter’. At least one of these groups achieve it is goal: an independent Ireland came into being. So did an independent Macedonia, but initial IMRO probably contributed little to this outcome. Some groups resorted to the use of dynamite, as did Catalan nationalists such as La Reixa and Bandera Negra. 5. John Brown John Brown was an abolitionist who advocated armed opposition to slavery. He devoted various terrorist attacks and was likewise involved in an illegal smuggling of slaves. His most famous attack was upon the armory at Harpers Ferry, altho the local forces would soon recapture the fort and Brown, attempting and executing him for treason. His death would make him a martyr to the abolitionist cause, one of the origins of American Civil War, and a hero to the Union forces that fought in it. 6. Ku Klux Klan (1865) The initial Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was devised after the end of the American Civil War on December 24, 1865, by six educated middle-class confederate veterans from Pulaski, Tennessee. It soon disseminate into almost each southern state of the United States. The Klan has advocated for what is in general sensed as white supremacy, anti-Semitism, racism, anti-Catholicism, homophobia, and nativism. They have ofttimes applied terrorism, violence and acts of intimidation such as cross burning to oppress African Americans and other groups. The name ‘Ku Klux Klan’ has been applied by a good deal of dissimilar unrelated groups, but they all seem to center on the faith of white supremacy. From it is creation to the present day, the number of members and influence has varied greatly. However, there is little doubt that, specially in the southern United States, it has at times wielded much political influence and generated great fear among African Americans and their supporters. At one time KKK controlled the governments of Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma and Oregon, in addition to some of the southern U.S legislatures. Twentieth century Suffragette, Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand (1914), KKK(1915),Irgun (1936-1948), World War II, Nationalism and the End of Empire,Cold War proxies,,IRA,,ETA, Aum Shinrikyo (1984-1995), Achille Lauro Hijacking (1985), Lockerbie bombing (1988), Umkhonto we Sizwe (South Africa 1961-1990), PLO (1964-c.1988), Columbian terrorist groups, Munich Massacre (1972),Matsumoto incident(1994), Sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway(1995),and Oklahoma City bombing (1995) are types of terrorism and person terrorists and groups that operated in the twentieth century. Twenty-First Centuries The well-celebrated September 11 (2002) attack and the Beslan school siege are recent terrorist attacks of the twenty-first century. Terrorism: Definition of a Phenomenon As without doubt or question stated above, terrorism has conventional itself as a world phenomenon before 1648. But then, it becomes of the utmost importance to look into the unfeigned meaning of the term.Although supplying a definitive definition for it has been consorted with series of controversies, etymologically, the term emanates from Latin, “terrere”, meaning “to frighten” thru the French word terrorisme, which is many times related with the regime de la terreur, the Reign of Terror of the revolutionary government in France from 1793 to 1794.The Committee of Public Safety agents that enforced the policies of “The Terror” were referred to as ” Terrorists”. The English word “terrorism” was introductory recorded in English dictionaries in 1798 as meaning “systematic use of terror as a policy”. The Oxford English Dictionary still records a definition of terrorism as “Government by intimidation carried out by the party in power in France amongst 1789-1794. The debatable issue is that the vocabulary of terrorism has become the successor to that of anarchy and communism the catch-all label opprobrium, exploited accordingly by media and politicians.The difficultness in developing a definition which does away with any just cause for terrorism is that history provides too a good deal of precedents of organizations and their leaders branded as terrorist but who in the end evolved into valued government. This has employed specially to national liberation movements fighting colonial or oppressive regimes, engaging in violence within their countries often times as a last resort. Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya expended years of his life lobbying the British government before his involvement with the Mau Mau rebellion. Nelson Mandela, a hero in his continent and beyond, is another convicted “terrorist” belonging to this class. Before making a valid point, it is essential to say that this piece would like to consider further affirmations and criticisms on the issue and recognized that there are other valid arguments on these arguable issues. However, they are not within premises of this paper. Arriving at a universally accepted definition of terrorism which narrows down to a specific method of conducting violence rather of “all it is forms and manifestations” or which makes it possible to refer terrorist acts to an international court, as for genocide and other war crimes or which makes it out of the question for person countries to outlaw actions they choose to classify as terrorism perchance for their own political interest is a outstanding challenge in the study of terrorism. While the United Nations has not yet accepted a definition of terrorism, the UN’s “academic consensus definition,” has been put forth for consideration. And they are available for public evaluation. In final analysis, although, it is not clear the actual number of definitions of terrorism; but it is clear that terrorism does not have respect for humane lives and values. It has claimed thousands of lives of innocent souls, rendered millions of humans homeless and economically handicapped. Alas, it is clearer that terrorism has turned our world into a place conducive for it is existence and spread. Effects of terrorism on global peace Indisputably, terrorism is a threat to global peace. As it thrives well in a world such as ours- where violation of humane rights, rising violence and conflicts, ethnic, national and religious discrimination, socio-economic marginalization and extreme ideology, dehumanization of victims are conspicuously in practice, it has succeeded in disregarding humane lives and values, launching war on freedom and peace, multiplying violence and conflicts, and posting challenges of solving the problem of injustice, insecurity and declining economy. Recommendations In accordance with the United Nations in a report titled: Uniting Against Terrorism-Recommendations for a global counter-terrorism strategy, this paper hereby presents the following recommendations; (1)All stakeholders-the leaders and the followers, people and foundations ought to dissuade people from resorting to terrorism or supporting it. Even though my recommendations are fashioned out of United Nations recommendation for a global strategy, they represent a holistic and realistic approach to fighting or countering terrorism. However, if these recommendations are given the probability to operate or if enforced and executed decently and continuously, they are effective systems of countering terrorism and, at the same time, ensuring a world free of violence and conflict, violations of humane rights, ethnic, national and religious discrimination, political exclusion, and socio-economic marginalization Conclusion As you will agree with me that terrorism affects all of us, our approach to fighting or countering terrorism and ensuring a safe and peaceful world ought to be collective. However, it is worth noting that the world leaders, followers and stakeholders have critical roles to play in the fight versus terrorism and in achieving our goals of international peace and security. For the world leaders and stakeholders, these roles transcend attending or organizing world summit, conferences, seminars, e.t.c on the topic, and consenting to Global scheme to counter terrorism on papers. They need to commit more resources, at all levels, to the cause, be more sincere and goal to be attained in their judgments, more practical in their approach, and construct enabling environments conducive for justice, conflict resolutions, humane right protection, equality, stability, unity, prosperity, tolerance, peace and security.Above all, they need to promote and help in the long run because that have respect for humane lives and values. For followers and individuals, we need to carry out the message beyond conferences that terrorism is inexcusable and unacceptable. We need to engage in one- to -one education or group discussions enlightening ourselves on the excessive damage and destruction and detrimental effects of terrorism on our lives and values, and emphasizing that terrorism is not an effective way of championing a cause, whether political, religious or otherwise. We will have to recognize that peace is the most cherished need of humanity.
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