Is the Western World the Cause of Terrorism?

How the Western World has Influenced Terrorism

This Blog will look at how the Western world has influenced terrorism around the world and how past events will influence the future of terrorism. To first understand the effect that the Western World has had on terrorism we need to first  have a clear definition of the western world and terrorism.  My own views of the Western World include Europe, Canada and the United States because in my opinion, they are the most advanced countries socially, economically and politically; although many people have different views.  Along with the Western World terrorism also has many different definitions. The one helped me to best understand terrorism is from the United Nations, it defines terrorism as 'any act intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to any person not taking active part in hostilities in a situation of armed conflict when the purpose of the act is by its context or its very nature to intimidate a population or compel a government or international organization to do something or refrain from doing something”.  When looking at the Western World’s influence on terrorism in the past and in the future I found it important to look at the history of terrorism, and how Western ideals and culture have influenced terrorism to the current date.  

Western World Map 

Terrorism has been around since 1789 when it was introduced with the French Revolution.  The word terrorism was  named after the “Reign of Terror” which was a period of the French Revolution when a french lawyer and politician Maximilien Robespierre and his party took control over the French government.  His goal was to frighten or inflict terror onto all citizens, so that nobody would rebel against the Revolution and his ideas.  This was the first example of terrorism as we know it today, where an individual or group forced their ideals on  others by terrorizing & threatening them.  With this being the first introduction of terrorism it has set an example for other countries, that although bloody and gruesome terror will work for some period of time and it is indeed an effective way to get people to believe and support your cause.  France’s Revolution influenced many other countries to fight for their freedoms and religious rights and rise against their powerful governments.

  However, this also brought forward the idea that it is possible for one to inflict their ideas on others in a forceful and aggressive way.  An example of this is the FLQ and the October Crisis, where an extreme separatist group in Canada took outrageous methods to try and get the Canadian government to comply with their ideas.  This group first set off over 200 bombs in Quebec to try and threaten citizens and the government, after this was unsuccessful they resorted to kidnapping the British Trade Commissioner, James Richard Cross .  The FLQ then later realized a ransom: this Rasom included the release of 23 FLQ members, $500 000 worth of gold, transportation of the kidnappers and their lawyers to Cuba, as well as their manifesto to be read on Canadian television.  The FLQ then abducted senior cabinet minister Pierre Laporte, which caused Pierre Elliot-Trudeau to proclaim the War Measures Act.  Since their requests were not met Pierre Laporte was murdered and left in the trunk of a police car as an example of the power of the group. The Canaidan government then gave in and members of the FLQ were then given transportation to Cuba for the exchange of James Richard Cross.  The FLQ used force and terror to try and get Quebec citizens and the Canadian government to agree with their requests.  Although unsuccessful they did terrorize and kill many Canadians in the process of trying win separation of Quebec.  

The Guillotine was introduced by Maximilien into the city centre of Paris.  Anybody who spoke a negative word of the revolution was executed in front of the whole city, and used as an example to terrorize the city to comply to Maximilien’s ideas.

Another influence that the Western World has had on other countries which may be a factor towards terrorism is Globalization.  This very Western idea of bringing everyone together   to trade capital, ideas and products to each other freely without borders does not always benefit other countries.  Lower income countries do not always get a huge say in what is happening, as the bigger more developed countries decided on the rules and regulations, and can change them if they feel obligated.(thesaturdaysyndicate.com) This is supposedly a big reason for terrorism against Western Countries.  Individuals feel as though they are getting the  short end of the stick and are being mistreated by the big companies and the governments of powerful countries such as America, Canada and Europe. However some people may believe that the bigger companies are bringing up the economy in other countries I believe that without knowing it the Western world is almost forcing their ideas and trying to industrialize countries that don’t want to culturally or are not stable enough to support such a big industry.  By having factories in under developed countries, yes we are creating jobs, however without it would their be different jobs more suitable to the economy and citizens of the country?  We are creating poor working conditions for people and with such low income they can not provide for their family and therefore creates tension between Western countries and themselves. Some individuals believe that the technology advances are being forced upon them and because of it their culture is being lost in the process.  Globalization is introducing Western views of economy, politics and culture to different countries all over the world. Western views are not shared by people all over the world and is not as easily accepted as people may think or hope. For example Afghanistan, after coming under Taliban rule all Western influenced activities were eliminated from the Afghani lifestyle.  Activities such as kite flying, music and the internet were banned and harsh Islamic Laws were introduced.  These heightened tensions between the United States and Afghanistan were due to the Western countries not agreeing with the new laws and treatment of citizens and was caused partially by globalization and influence of Western culture.  

9/11 Terrorist Attack on America

This image shows how Globalization is really only focused on the benefits of big companies and not at the idea of bringing 

I believe that the main reason that terrorism is so at large right now is because of the Western World actually funding the terrorist groups.  When I say Western world I am mainly focussing on the United States, funding the Taliban.  In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the Taliban was created as a resistance group, which the US government and Pakistan funded heavily with military and financial assistance.  The Soviet Union was later  forced out in 1989 and this caused the falling of the Afghanistan government, which later ended in the rise of warlords.  The Taliban being a strong and powerful force at that time took “control of 90% of the Afghanistan territories” (infoplease.com).  The Taliban which promised to “impose stability and with it, rule of law in place of endemic corruption” instead introduced cruel and horrific punishments  for those who did not follow the laws just like that of the French Revolution.  There were public displays of stoning people to death and the mistreatment of women was a huge problem for Western countries.  After the western world imposed sanctions and pleaded with the Taliban to stop their “Reign of Terror” on the citizens, the Taliban refused and destroyed iconic statues in Afghanistan in protest.  On September 11th, 2001 al-Qaeda & members of the Taliban hijacked 4 planes and crashed them into the World Trade centre and the Pentagon inflicting terror on citizens of the 

United States.  This later lead to the United States invading Afghanistan to end the Taliban rule.  However, ironically they were fighting against their own weapons as they had funded the Taliban in the first place to overthrow the Soviet Union.  Even after the Soviet Union had retreated the US government was still accused of funding the Taliban through use of contracts and through funding the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) which was directly related to al-Qaeda groups.  Basically the US government with or without knowing it was fighting against themselves, because they were funding the terrorist groups in Afghanistan.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOmoQmkqJ_A

Finally how will all of this effect terrorism and what will happen in the future? I believe in the near future terrorism is still going to be a constant threat to countries around the world.  Whenever you have people that believe in different ways of life you will always have tension and therefore will also have people trying to inflict their ideas onto others in dramatic and extreme ways.  These ideas could be as simple as communism over democracy or even  more complex topics of being for or against foreign affairs or even globalization.   I do however think that other countries are going to take a tip from more Western countries and try to use their intelligence agencies and be proactive on terrorism rather than await an attack.  As shown in Western countries terrorist attacks from their own citizens is very possible and countries should be preparing to defend against them.  The bombing of the Boston Marathon is a great example of terrorism from US citizens, this event may influence other groups in different countries to do the same thing in order to cause chaos and terror among fellow citizens.  Of course in many cases their will be outside influences from extremist groups however governments need to be prepared to deal with these types of attacks.  As well, technological advances from Western countries may influence the type of terrorism that is used.  As new technology is introduced to catch terrorism (i.e. at the airport) there is always going to be somebody else working to beat it.  Even a simple method of taking your shoes off at the airport was implemented after an attempted terrorist attack where a passenger tried to ignite his shoe bomb aboard a plane.  Governments will need to heighten security at airports so that  terrorism attacks are less frequent or even eliminated all together. An example of where Western security would have been useful is the Malaysia Flight 370, although not proven it is believed by many to be a terrorist attack which could have been prevented by more Western  approach to airport security.   Terrorism will always be around and therefore governments must do everything in their power to prevent them. A prevention of this could also include the sharing of information of citizens when they are traveling to different countries around the world.  Although this is a very controversial topic of governments sharing citizens information, governments may lean towards this idea because of the idea of power in numbers.  If everybody is fighting terrorism together and are sharing their information this may be a more effective way to prevent terrorism globally.  Overall, I believe that home grown terrorism will increase and other countries need to be prepared to invest more money on security and into the prevention of terrorism in order to protect their citizens.  This could include forming together as one global community or may be the introduction of more Western security measure into airports and borders.  

Local Terrorism (Boston Bombing)

Works Consulted

“Cultural Impact of Globalization.” Globalization 101. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2014. <http://goo.gl/J3P16B>.

Ingersoll, Geoffry. “Astonishing Pictures Of Afghanistan From Before The Wars.” Business Insider. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2014. <http://goo.gl/tWtqjq>.

Laquer, Walter. “Terrorism: A Brief History.” Walter Laquer. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2014. <http://goo.gl/5zF3j6>.

Milic, Corina. “Worst Terrorist Attacks in History.” MSN News. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2014. <http://goo.gl/hKHKGL>.

Remdy, Jakeey. The Connection Between Globalization and Terrorism. TheSaturdaySyndicate.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2014. <http://goo.gl/6MDprU>.

“The Taliban in Afghanistan.” Council on Foreign Relationships. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2014. <http://goo.gl/tbZ4t3>.