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September 29, 2002
EXCERPTS: Let the healers heal
In the final instalment of the excerpts from her reflection on 9/11, Bapsi Sidhwa suggests ways to root out terrorism
Who dares predict the consequences of our war against terrorism and the reckless shape it is assuming? Our allies in the war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan are finding it increasingly difficult to defend the American position. They do not believe in the dicta that conjure up scenarios like the ‘axis of evil’. Iran and Iraq are sworn enemies, and North Korea has nothing to do with either. Random threats of war, as if to attack another nation amounts to no more than a trip to the gas station, will lead to another world war. Will Europe be able to sustain a war in the Middle East? Will we? Will it not unleash an atomic war and bring about the feared apocalypse?
Immediately after the attack on the Twin Towers we showed a willingness to try and understand why we were the focus of so much anguish and anger, and to discover the grievances that led to the attack. After all, nothing exists outside the cycle of cause and effect. The pundits who shape our opinion on TV directed our attention to the grinding poverty in most parts of the Muslim world, and on Crossfire Bob Novak suggested that we do what America does best: Give hand-outs and brainwash the Muslims to think as we do by bombarding them with more pleasurable images and offering advantageous options.
We would need only to spend a fraction of the money we spent on bombing the mountains and intend to spend on attacking the Axis of Evil — both analogous to tilting at windmills — in order to present a kinder image of ourselves and our deeds, and create more opportunities for the disadvantaged. We will find that we don’t need to spend billions on homeland security and wars. Social security and medicare, the cornerstones of our way of life, will not be threatened. The measures homeland security is contemplating could turn us into a police state if we — and particularly our media — are not vigilant.
The major grievances were pointed out: resentment of American bases in Saudi Arabia, of the billions of dollars the Arab States are coerced into spending on purchasing American arms each year, and of the one-sided support of Israeli operations that many even in Israel are protesting. Since then we have appropriated a monopoly on grievances. Anyone who does not think exactly as the Captains-of-the-Universe do is “evil” by the standards of the comic-strip language used by our leaders.
Does anyone believe war will stop acts of terror? Terrorism is the weapon of the weak. Often it is the only weapon left to those who do not have recourse even to the United Nations. But terrorism is not the answer; it only creates further tragedy. And terrorism that stems from religious fanaticism, no matter which religion it professes to defend, has to be weeded out. Pakistan has a rare opportunity — because of the American initiative, and American backing of General Musharraf — to rid itself of a menace that has dug deep roots in certain sectors. People everywhere have the basic right to be free from fear.
One has to be careful though; a people’s struggle for freedom should not be equated with acts of terror. Given the present climate it is all too easy to stifle legitimate dissent under the rubric of terrorism.
If we hide every razor blade in America, will it stop an attack from a man who is angry enough and desperate enough to commit suicide? Our only recourse is to address the grievances that are generating so much anger and hopelessness: the suffering of the larger world community, many of whom have so accommodated themselves to their dire states that we tend to shrug off their misery as of no consequence or to take it for granted. Who ordained that millions of us may spoil ourselves with Victoria’s secret underwear while other millions can’t even procure ill-fitted artificial-limbs?
I quote from an article by Deepak Chopra: “All this hatred and anguish seems to have religion at its basis. Isn’t something terribly wrong when jihads and wars develop in the name of God? Isn’t God invoked with hatred in Ireland, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Israel, Palestine, and even among the intolerant sects of America? Can any military response make the slightest difference in the underlying cause? Is there not a deep wound at the heart of humanity? If there is a deep wound, doesn’t it affect everyone?”
I feel America needs to make more than just fig-leaf gestures and concessions. We need to understand Islamic society better and take into account the many regional sensitivities. We need to engage in the region and make the Muslim world feel it has a stake in the global community. A more equitable approach from us will go a long way to diffuse the anger and frustration and begin the process of healing.
Excerpted with permission from
To mend the world: women reflect on 9/11
Edited by Betty Jean Craige and Marjorie Agosin
White Pine Press, PO Box 236, Buffalo, NY 14201
Tel: (01) 716-627-4665
Email:
wpine@whitepine.org
ISBN 1-893996-58-1
240pp. US$17.95
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