Relation between International Terrorism and Ethno-national Identity - Essay Example

? Relation between International Terrorism and Ethno-national Identity Relation between International Terrorism and Ethno-national Identity “While the study of racism has had the longest academic history, the study of ethnicity, with its origins in anthropology and the study of nationalism, have also established themselves in recent years as important fields of academic enquiry”(Fenton and May, n.d., p.1). This is because of the increasing awareness that international terrorism is connected with Ethno-national Identity problem in one way or another. Many theories were recently proposed by eminent sociologists, anthropologists and psychologists with respect to the reasons of international terrorism. Majority of these theories accepted that cultural conflicts are one of the major reasons for international terrorism. Ethnicity is a community of people whose members recognize each other, on the basis of a common ancestry. On the other hand, nationalism is a political ideology that identifies people on the basis of a common nationality. For example, India is a secular democratic country in which Hindus, Muslims, Christians and lot of other religions are prominent. It should be noted all these people of different religion have different ethnicity. However, when it comes to nationalism, these people may not show any differences in their attitude with respect to ethnicity. For example, Indians all together celebrated their victory over Sri Lanka in 2011 ICC world cup one day cricket match competition. However, when it comes to terrorism, different religions in India have different attitudes. It has been accused by India that Pakistan is engaged in terrorist activities in Indian soil for the last few decades. Majority of the Indian people do believe that India’s claims are genuine. However, a minority groups in Indian Muslim community do believe that India is making unnecessary allegations against Pakistan. It should be noted that Indian Muslims and Pakistani Muslims have a common ethnicity. In short, ethnicity and nationalism can affect international terrorism in one way or another. This paper analyses the relation between International Terrorism and Ethno-national Identity problem. Terrorism and Ethno-national identity Nationalism, in particular, remains the pre-eminent rhetoric for attempts to demarcate political communities, claim rights of self-determination and legitimate rule by reference to ‘the people’ of the country. Ethnic solidarities and identities are claimed most often when groups do not seek ‘national’ autonomy but rather a recognition internal to or crosscutting national or state boundaries (Fenton and May, n.d., p.4). Ethnicity and nationalism are entirely different topics as far as international terrorism is concerned. For example, Mohamed Atta, a terrorist and one of the major culprits of the September 11 attacks was an Egyptian. Egypt is a country in which people of different ethnicities are staying together. Moreover, Egypt is keeping healthy relationships with United States for the past few decades. Same way, Osama Bin Laden’s origin was in Saudi Arabia and Saudi is one of the closest allies of America in Middle East. Under such circumstances, it was surprising for America to see the involvement of an Egyptian in 9/11 terrorist attack. It is evident that Atta and Osama decided to attack America, not because of America’s atrocities towards Egypt or Saudi Arabia, but because of America’s aggressive behaviors towards Muslim community in general. It should be noted that instead of attacking Egypt or Saudi Arabia, America started its war on terror in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan in order to take revenge for the 9/11 incident. In other words, America realized that the role of Egypt as a nation in 9/11 incident is negligible compared to that of Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan provided secure shelter to Osama and his allies until recent times which clearly point towards the ethnic and national dimensions of international terrorism. Another interesting fact is that Pakistan was fighting against terrorists along with America until recent times or until the killing of Osama. In other words, Pakistan was providing secure shelter to Osama like terrorists on one side and on the other side; they acted like fighting against terrorism. Based on the available evidences, it was extremely difficult for Osama like a hardcore terrorist to stay in Pakistan without the knowledge of Pak administration. Many people believe that ISI was responsible for preparing shelter for Osama after taking permission from former president Gen.Parvez Mushraf. These facts clearly suggest that international terrorism has both ethnic and national dimensions. The instrumentation of ethnic identity has created numerous terrorist groups and individuals worldwide, which in the name of the nation take other people’s lives and “give” theirs. It all began with terrorist actions of groups and movements in the 50’s of the 20th century which strived, on the elements of terrorism, to achieve a wide mass mobilization in an anti-colonial fight (Cyprus, Algeria, a little earlier a fight of the Jewish groups against the English Administration in Palestine). There, into the national identity is introduced the paradigm of the forever front, a permanent battle against “them”, to be fighting, striving to repress “them”, eliminate them, so that event when the colonizer has left (has been kicked out), the need for the nation to be in one place, homogenize, and instrument through a call “to be on the front”, to “defend” stays. The stencil stays the same, only the actors change: Israelis against Palestinians, Greeks against Turks, Hindus against Muslims (Sijakovic, 2008). Clashes between cultures and political disputes are the major reasons behind international terrorism. It should be noted that Pakistan and India fight each other not because of economic reasons, but because of political and cultural reasons. Same way, Israel and Palestine fight each other purely because of cultural and political reasons. It should be noted that state sponsored terrorism is taking place in all these disputes. Kashmir is a disputed state in India even though at the time of independence in 1947, Kashmiris decided to join Indian Union. Kashmir is a Muslim dominated state and it is situated in the neighborhood of Pakistan. So, Pakistan raised their claims on Kashmir even at the time of formulation of Pakistan in 1947. However, India is not in a mood to accept Pakistan’s claims. Two major wars were occurred between these two nuclear powers in the past over Kashmiri issue. At present Pakistan is occupying some portion of Kashmir whereas India is occupying majority of Kashmiri land. Pakistan believes that Kashmiris are interested in joining Pakistan because of the ethnic similarities between Pakistan and Kashmir. On the other hand, India argues that Pakistan’s claims are fabricated and majority of Kashmiris like to stay in Indian union itself. Anyway, the dispute over the ownership of Kashmir has created major problems in South East Asia in recent past. The recent Mumbai terrorist attack, Indian parliament attack and many other terrorist activities in Indian soil are believed to be the examples of Pak sponsored terrorism. Even though, Pakistan is not ready to accept the parenthood of these terrorist activities, international community have realized that Pak involvement in these attacks cannot be ruled out. The destruction of Babri Masjid, Ayodhya in 1992 by some Hindu fundamentalists is another motivating factor for Pakistan to conduct terrorist activities in India. A mob of Hindu militants has torn down a mosque and attacked other Muslim targets in the north Indian town of Ayodhya, in one of India's worst outbreaks of inter-communal violence. Hindu extremists have been campaigning to get rid of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, a focus for Hindu-Muslim hostility for decades. They want to build a Hindu temple in its place, to mark what they believe to be the birthplace of the Hindu warrior king, Lord Ram (BBC News, 6 December 1992) Pakistan believes that majority of the Indian Muslims may support their terrorist activities in India because of the destruction of Babri Masjid. Many of the Hindu fundamentalists in India are of the view that at least some Indian Muslims are helping Pakistan in conducting terrorist activities in India. Pakistan is currently trying to create a separate Muslim nation inside India by exploiting the emotions of Indian Muslims. It is a fact that India has recently arrested many Indian Muslims for their alleged connections with Pak terrorists. The liking of Pakistan at least by some minor groups in Indian Muslims is not a secret now. In other words, ethnicity is dominating nationalism in some cases. There are many cases in India in which some Muslims celebrate the victory of Pakistan over India in global sports events. The theories for nationalism contribute to the study of Ethno National Separatist (ENS) terrorism by observing precise components of nationalist-based violence. Because nationalist movements are precursors to nationalist-separatist terrorism, forces leading to nationalist movements conceivably also play causational roles in the creation of ENS terrorist campaigns. While many terrorist organizations share similar characteristics, including a high ratio of males and roots in nonviolent oppositionist movements, motivations for opposition can vary. For nationalists, territorial claims often lie at the heart of conflicts. Inherently, this involves nostalgia for returning to a golden age that represents a utopian era of national unity and territorial sovereignty (Snell, 2009, p.23). “Individuals turn to the use of terror when they are unheard by the government, when their ideology is termed radical, and when they reach a certain level of frustration” (Forsberg, 2005, p.2). The influence of religion and its beliefs upon people are growing day by day. The uncertainties about life after death forced people to become strong believers in religions. Neither the science nor the technologies helped them to eliminate their doubts about life before birth and life after death. The failure of science turned to be the victory of religions. Some religions teach their believers that killing of enemies of religion can be labeled as a sacred act. Such fundamental religious beliefs contribute heavily to the making of a terrorist. Even though Christians, Muslims and Jews have a common father in Abraham, these three religions are engaged in intense fight from thousands of years before. In other words, these three religions have a common ethnicity or ancestry as Abraham is accepted as the father by all of them. However, when it comes to traditions, customs and religious norms, these three religions differ very much. Even though all these three religions believe in single God theory, they differ in other aspects. Christians do believe that Jesus was the son of God whereas Jews rejects those ideas. On the other hand, Islam respects Mohammad Nabi more than anybody else. These differences in belief structure often results in severe clashes between these religions. Muslims believe that America is engaged in an attempt to baptize Arab or Muslim world whereas Israel does believe that Palestinians are trying to create problems in Israel. It is difficult for these countries to declare direct fight in the name of religion. Therefore they are engaged in shadow wars and terrorism. Israel often accuses that Hamas suicide bombers are creating problems in Israel’s territory whereas Iran accuses that Israel has killed some of their prominent nuclear scientists recently with the help of car bomb explosions. “Several Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated in recent years, with Iran blaming Israel and the US. Both countries deny the accusations”(BBC News, 11 January 2012). The Enemy System Theory (EST) was developed in the late 1980s by a group of psychiatrists and international relations practitioners, as a model to explain the complexities of group behaviour, particularly with regard to antagonistic group relationships. The gist of the Enemy System Theory is the hypothesis that humans have a deep rooted psychological need to dichotomise and to establish enemies and allies. This phenomenon happens on individual and group levels. This is an unconscious need which feeds conscious relationships, especially in our group lives. This is especially important with regard to the formation of ethnic or national group identities and behavior (Cunningham Jr, 1998). The Enemy System Theory says that human has an inherited trait for enmity and friendship as in the case of animals. People from same religion or culture often try to integrate their identity with respect to that culture or religion. For example, even after conducting several massacres in Palestine, America has no hesitation in justifying Israel’s actions. Same way, it is an accepted fact that Israel is possessing huge volumes of nuclear weapons even though they are not ready to accept in publicly. On the other hand America is trying to attack Iran because of Iran’s effort to acquire nuclear arsenal. In short, America is showing double standards towards Iran when it comes to the acquisition of nuclear power. In other words, America believes that nuclear arsenal acquisition by Israel is less dangerous than nuclear arsenal acquisition by Iran. This is purely because of cultural reasons. It is difficult for terrorism to grow in countries where strong administration exists. Globalization has brought many revolutionary changes in international political, economic and cultural sectors. It gave momentum to the democratization process in countries where autocratic administrations prevail. Over influence of religion upon politics is the major reason for spreading of state sponsored terrorism. For example, Saudi Arabia is a country in which politics cannot be isolated from religion. The influence of religion in Saudi politics contributed heavily to the growth of Al Qaida and Osama like hardcore terrorists. Conclusions International terrorism and the concept of ethno-national identity have definite relationships. The major reason for the wide spreading of international terrorism is the clashes between cultures because of political reasons and differences in beliefs. People started to place their religious beliefs above their national interests and as a result of that international terrorism is growing dramatically. The over influences of religion in political matters are helping the growth of international terrorism. At present, ethnicity and nationalism are contributing immensely to the wide spreading of international terrorism. People should realize that ethnicity and nationalism are manmade concepts which are not good for a globalized and civilized world like ours. References BBC News, (6 December 1992). 1992: Mob rips apart mosque in Ayodhya. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/6/newsid_3712000/3712777.stm BBC News, (11 January 2012). Iran car explosion kills nuclear scientist in Tehran, Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16501566 Cunningham Jr W.G. (1998). Theoretical Framework for Conflict Resolution. Retrieved from http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/conflict/cunningham.htm Fenton S. and May S. (n.d.). Ethnicity, Nation and ‘Race’: Connections and Disjunctures Retrieved from http://www.palgrave.com/pdfs/0333750128.pdf Forsberg O.J. (2005), Ethnonational Terrorism: An Empirical Theory of Indicators at the State Level, 1985-2000. Retrieved from http://www.kvasaheim.com/oforsber/docs/ethter.pdf Snell B.C. (2009). The origins of ethno/national separatist terrorism: a cross national Analysis of the background conditions of terrorist Campaigns Retrieved from http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-pdf.cgi/Snell%20Brandon%20Charles.pdf?wright1244481182 Sijakovic I (2008). Terrorism and the Problem of Identity. Retrieved from http://www.sijakovic.com/03/terrorism-and-the-problem-of-identity/ Read More