SCILLA ELWORTHY tackles one of the most pressing issues of our time: terrorism. She shares her thoughts on the role of women and building peace, which requires courage, determination, compassion and a budget.
The threat that most people fear today is terrorism. Yet current methods for dealing with terrorism simply repeat previous errors that exacerbate the problem. In order to map an effective strategy it is essential to understand how militant fighters think.
To respond to terrorism with violence is counter-productive, because violence is what terrorists understand, and they are masters of exploiting our addiction to news of their brutality. According to former Islamic State captive Nicolas Hénin, violence is exactly what his captors want: “They will be heartened by every sign of overreaction, of division, of fear, of racism, of xenophobia; they will be drawn to any examples of ugliness on social media.1
“The winner of this war will not be the party that has the newest, the most expensive or the most sophisticated weaponry, but the party that manages to win over the people to its side.” As an example of how people had responded well, he described the recent escalation of the refugee crisis, and corresponding offers from people in Europe to give homes to fleeing Muslims, as “a blow to Isis”.
Deeyah Khan is an Emmy award-winning documentary film-maker, whose most recent project, Jihad, involved two years of interviews with and filming former Islamic extremists. She says, “The Islamic State does not want us to open our doors to their refugees. It wants them to be hopeless and desperate. It does not want us to enjoy ourselves with our families and friends in bars and concert halls, stadiums and restaurants. It wants us to huddle in our houses, within our own social groups, and close our doors in fear.”2
Philip McKibbin says that we should be wary of allowing our emotions to dictate the ways in which we respond to terrorism. “Terrorists want us to feel shock, outrage, insecurity … A loving response to terrorism would be proactive, rather than reactive. It would see us responding to the causes of terrorism, rather than concerning ourselves disproportionately with terrorist actions.”3
The main causes of terrorism are humiliation and revenge. When you do the math, it is a painful fact that ‘legitimate’ states enact much more violence worldwide than non-state terror groups do. This does not excuse terrorist action, but it does explain it.
Effective strategies
What steps could governments take to defuse international terrorism? It could be to immediately adopt genuinely fair and peaceful processes in their dealings with other peoples. This strategy would deprive terror groups of one of their most compelling justifications for violence.4
Nothing should be done which supports the image of the terrorist as a heroic warrior defending the interests of the people. When the media consistently feature terrorists on their front pages, they can see themselves as global celebrities. Other young men then naturally crave such oxygen of publicity, even if it costs them their lives. Leaders need to orchestrate a cohesive and coordinated program to educate media editors. Denying airspace would work far better to minimise the glamour of brutality.
Do what terrorists fear: unite
In ‘Rising Women Rising World’ we ask ourselves the hardest question, and the one most likely to provoke ridicule: what could be done to bring the young warriors of ISIL into the embrace of compassion, showing them that we need to move beyond the power struggles that have caused such misery for humanity for thousands of years? If we go on as we have done, there may be no earth to dominate.5
If we are ridiculed for proposing a compassionate response to terror, we can recall Abraham Lincoln’s response to someone who accused him of taking too conciliatory an approach in dealing with the South. “Madam,” he said, “do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
We need to move beyond the power struggles
that have caused such misery
for humanity for thousands of years.
If we go on as we have done,
there may be no earth to dominate.
Love requires us to think of terrorists as people. It encourages us to understand that their actions, however hateful, come from a place of grievance, humiliation and isolation. It asks us to believe that their pain, and the pain that so many other people are feeling in this time of terror, is not insurmountable. That collectively, we are able to overcome it.
Build bridges: empower local people
The British government knows, from the experience in Northern Ireland,
that what finally brought 30 years of terror to an end was not the
application of superior force. It was the building of bridges,
listening, patient mediation, respect and negotiation. Senator George
Mitchell, who played a major part in the eventual Good Friday Agreement,
said: “I will listen for as long as it takes”.6
Over the past decade, ‘Peace Direct’7 has learned that local people have the power to find their own solutions to conflict, which turn out to be the best way to break recurrent cycles of violence and make peace last. One lesson we have learned from our local partners is the importance of helping people at risk to feel part of their communities, thereby turning away from extremism. While this might seem like a liberal platitude in the face of serious violence, it is in reality hard, dangerous and dedicated work. And it can have remarkable results. For example, an award-winning counter-radicalization project in Pakistan, begun in 2014, has reached almost 4,000 ‘at risk’ young people.8
Women’s voice in dealing with violence
A decade ago, a group of women made a careful analysis of the root causes of political violence, revealing the persistent influence of powerlessness, exclusion, trauma and humiliation. They proposed proven practical steps that could be taken in Iraq, Israel and Palestine, and in our own towns and cities.9
Women want peace because they give birth to life.
We have a natural longing to protect,
heal and make whole.
We have trained ourselves to listen,
knowing that the capacity to give another person
our full attention is the fastest
and most effective way to resolve conflict.
Ten years later, in this current serious situation, we are not simply arguing for a more sparing use of military force, we are arguing that any armed intervention should be preceded and followed by a much wider range of strategies designed to address both the causes and effects of violence.
Women want peace because they give birth to life. We have a natural longing to protect, heal and make whole. We have trained ourselves to listen, knowing that the capacity to give another person our full attention is the fastest and most effective way to resolve conflict.
Most of us say we want peace, but we don’t put our skills and our imagination to work on the challenge. Peace building comes low down on the priority list in comparison to war, certainly for spending. We don’t have a budget or a government department for peace, whereas we do have both for war, even if we call it defence.
It is perfectly possibly to develop strategies to dissolve terrorism. It requires intention and a budget, plus courage, determination and compassion, from the top down and from the bottom up. This is what human beings are capable of.
Resources:
1https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/16/isis-bombs-hostagesyria-islamic-state-paris-attacks
2Exposure – Jihad: A British Story’ aired on ITV1
3https://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/ philip-mckibbin/hijacked-emotions-fighting-terrorismwith- love
4Ibid.
5‘Rising Women Rising World’ serves to build a vibrant community of women on all continents who take responsibility for pioneering a possible future. https://www.risingwomenrisingworld.org/envisaging-the-future/
6 Personal communication from Dr Mo Mowlam, 11 May 2004.
7 www.peacedirect.org
8 www.awaregirls.org
9 Rifkind & Elworthy, Making Terrorism History, London, Random House, 2006, pp. 60-89.
Article by SCILLA ELWORTHY
Scilla Elworthy
