Terrorism is an efficient weapon of war that knows no borders and seldom has a face. Although some might say that this atrocity has not yet touched Malta directly, we have all been repeatedly shocked by what took place over the past few years all over the world. We have followed very closely innocent people being killed in far-flung places among which there are London, Brussels, Paris, Cologne, New York, Barcelona, Libya, Tunisia, Islamabad and Bangkok. But these are only a few from the many.
The Global Terrorism Database (GTD), led by Gary LaFree of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice of the University of Maryland, defines terrorism as “the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion or intimidation”. The GTD lists detailed information on over 179,000 terrorist attacks, 83,000 bombings, 18,000 assassinations and 11,000 kidnappings since 1970. For between 2013 and 2016, it lists no less than 57,197 terrorist cases.
Terrorism is certainly diverse and different studies are replete with discussions of different models: state-sponsored terrorism, dissent terrorism, terrorists of the Left and of the Right, religious terrorism, criminal terrorism, pathological terrorism, issue-oriented terrorism, separatist terrorism and narco-terrorism.
At the core of each type is the generation of damage, death and fear. Each type represents an attempt to silence individuals or groups who are perceived to be against an idea or an institution in a society. Terrorism is given birth by intolerance for dissent, in situations where dissent cannot be resolved through discussion, political compromises and mutual respect. Terrorism is a clear indication of a collapse of societal stability and harmony.
Terrorism has clouded some of the most interesting developments of the last few decades namely easy travel, exploration of other cultures, and the need to feel, through ‘being there’, ‘seen it all’ and ‘heard it all’, that our citizenship of the world beyond our shores is a reality and not simply a dream.
Discussions on terrorism are rarely conducted without emotion. Because of the fear terrorism engenders, we are all afraid to discuss it logically and dispassionately
Whenever we need to travel, our brain, maybe unconsciously but surely very vividly, recollects some of the horrific events that have happened at the place we are visiting. Our minds ruminate on how safe it is to go through airports, train and bus stations, on how secure it is to take part in crowd events such as concerts, political gatherings, or on how worth it is to visit popular places where innocent people intermingle to enjoy themselves. We are finding ourselves more than ever in a constant feeling of alertness, attentive that that nothing sinister is happening around us, or close by.
Discussions on terrorism are rarely conducted without emotion. Because of the fear terrorism engenders, we are all afraid to discuss it logically and dispassionately.
Especially in tribal Malta, where we discuss a lot, but generally from a perspective that is often clouded by our own parochial interests and beliefs, topics like this tend to be either disregarded as long as they do not touch us directly, or else we engage in a mud-throwing exercise as if to exculpate ourselves and blacken our opponents.
The Malta University Debating Union (MUDU) was specifically set up to work for a culture change, in the long term of course and on this mode of thinking. MUDU is trying to promote a culture of free discussion, built on investigative instruments and therefore analytical in nature. Events taking place all around us suggest that we should not escape discussions on the increasing incidence of terrorism in the world with these same techniques.
For this purpose,
MUDU is organising a public seminar, in collaboration with the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law (IIJ), with the very specific scope of providing the public with tools to understand and evaluate this unfortunate, but very active contemporary phenomenon.
Taking part is a formidable team of panellists: Katrina Gillman, consultant with the Danish Ministry for Immigration and Integration, and the Danish Centre for Prevention of Extremism; Georgia Holmer, senior advisor for anti-terrorism issues and the focal point on CVE (VERLT) in the OSCE Secretariat’s Transnational Threats Department; Edit Schlaffer, a social scientist and founder of Women without Borders; Henry Tuck, senior development manager at ISD; and Thomas Wuchte, the executive director of the IIJ.
The seminar will be held at the Valletta Campus on Wednesday at 7pm. As places are very limited, registration can be made by sending an e-mail to conferences@um.edu.mt. Entrance is free but a contribution towards expenses would be appreciated.
Mario Vassallo is professor of sociology at the University of Malta and chairman of the Malta University Debating Union.