Terrorism nostalgia

Following my reading of the BBC World News this past week, as well as my weekly trawl of the Apple movie trailers website, two items caught my eye.

In the news, MI5 in Britain revealed that the threat of attack by Irish Republican elements on mainland Britain has been raised from ‘moderate’ to ‘substantial’, signs that efforts by the Provisional IRA, Real IRA, and numerous other factions are higher than they have been in years.

On the entertainment front, a Spanish-produced English-language movie titled ‘Carlos’ is set to be released in the United States before the end of 2010. Based on a miniseries, it chronicles the life and actions of Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal. The 1970s were the height of Carlos’ activity, at which time he was the world’s most well-known terrorist and assassin, a gun for hire unlike any other during that decade.

That I read and viewed these articles in a short period of time was coincidence. However, it highlights a hearkening back to a time when terrorism, while no less abhorrent or disgusting, was more of a known quantity. The time of the IRA, the Baader Meinhof Gang, Red Army Faction, and Carlos the Jackal. Carlos was well photographed, and his exploits and international man of mystery lifestyle were well chronicled. Demands would be made to governments, in many cases following a movie-worthy Socialist script regarding the release of ‘our revolutionary Socialist brothers and sisters imprisoned around the world’, or something to such effect. In the case of the old-guard IRA, often, but not always, bomb threats would come to radio and other media outlets with enough time for evacuation before inevitable detonation.

Gone are those days. We now live in an era of terrorism that remains symbolic, having a statement, and producing casualties, but on a much larger scale to anything committed in the relative heyday of fledgling terrorism. The mantra of ‘go big or go home,’ sadly, applies all to well to modern approaches by terrorists.

Do we bring it upon ourselves? Self-inflicted terrorism

The phrase ‘you bring it upon yourself’ is one of everyday usage. Insult an individual enough, and that individual may very likely hit you. Poke a hornet’s nest enough times with a stick, and the hornets will probably get angry and sting you.

These are lessons that many young children learn, in one way or another, early in life. However, it appears that as adults, some have forgotten this sage piece of advice.

Two nations with populations that seem to have forgotten, or choose to ignore, the ‘bring it upon yourself’ mantra are the State of Israel and, more recently, the United States.

As a disclaimer, I am NOT anti-Israeli, anti-Semitic, or against the existence of the State of Israel. That said, the Israelis continue, through their actions, to goad, frustrate, and anger elements of the Palestinian population. Further encroachment by Israeli settlements and annexation of land in East Jerusalem, recognized internationally as illegal, stands to radicalize otherwise moderate or ‘on-the-fence’ Palestinians. Until the international community condemns these encroachments, oversees the return of annexed Palestinian lands AND physically polices, cooperatively with Palestinian security forces, land borders, no effective progress will be seen.

With regard to the United States, the recent rise in anti-Muslim sentiment, or ‘Islamophobia,’ related to the location of a Islamic community center in proximity to the former site of the World Trade Center towers in lower Manhattan, is cause for great concern. Relatively large portions of the American public, in recent polls, have unfavorable views of Islam. The threat of Qur’an burning by Pastor Terry Jones in Florida, brought mass protests in Muslim nations throughout the world, and threats against Americans worldwide. A growing lack of tolerance and education could affect Muslim-Americans in the United States, already feeling somewhat marginalized, leading to more young Muslim-Americans seeking out radical elements either within American borders, or abroad in Yemen, Somalia, and elsewhere.

Poke a hornets nest or insult a person too much, and you will elicit a response.