No country seems to be immune from sudden attacks by groups or by lone wolves. Since terror has come to Bangladesh, it is perhaps right to state that it can now emerge anywhere.
In the last few weeks, there have been several reports in the papers about missing young men, some of whom are believed to be in countries near to where IS operates; others, also abroad and missing from home, have known to have endorsed the Holey Artisan massacre.
The common understanding is that, these men, influenced by a misinterpretation of their faith, hold extreme views and act upon their beliefs to cause more grief.
There is strong vigilance in Bangladesh as to what sermons are being delivered at the mosques. In addition, people have been requested to inform on anyone who may harbour or voice militant views.
Now, with all the focus on religion-based militancy, I somehow felt that, perhaps, the root cause of so many lone wolves acting like fanatics may not solely lie in their understanding of religion.
Would I be wrong in stating the imperial past of first-world nations plus the recent invasions of other countries under the banner of upholding human rights, coalesce to trigger profound disenchantment among a wide variety of people across the globe?
I may be wrong but there is no denying that the direct interventions in Libya and Iraq, with covert string-pulling in Egypt and other nations during the Arab Spring, have been deemed by many as neo-imperialism masquerading as moves to safeguard democracy.
The West welcomed the phenomenon called the Arab Spring with marked enthusiasm in the international TV channels going into an overdrive with fiery terms like “mass uprising,” “democracy invoked by the people,” and so and such.
About five years later, the “liberty leading the people” fantasy has certainly soured for many countries -- a proof once more that revolutions sound spectacular in fiction and during planning; the aftermath is usually a maelstrom.
When people refer to the French Revolution, they only talk about the mass upsurge plus the storming of the Bastille, forgetting the reign of terror following it, resulting in millions of savage deaths, pestilence, starvation, and a litany of social afflictions.
Growing discontent may have the foundation in several social/political afflictions within the country and abroad. One must admit, this is the downside of an open world where something in Venezuela can have resonance in some other country in a different continent
Coming to the point, for some reason, I feel that, while a common umbrella of some organisation is used -- IS in current terror attacks -- many of the isolated individuals lash out against the society they live in because either they failed to integrate or they have endured years of subtle racial/sectarian discrimination.
Take the lorry driver who wreaked havoc in Nice, France -- we do not know much about his past, but from what has been given to us, it seems he was facing low self-esteem and social angst which later snowballed into fanatical thoughts.
Again, I may be wrong, though, from experience, I feel that in Western societies which have large diaspora communities from the countries which these nations once ruled as a colonial power, there is always a sense of disgruntlement -- sometimes visible, otherwise veiled.
Failure to integrate appears to be a probable cause, triggering people to search for meanings that often lead them to be sucked into a vortex of pernicious credo.
Naturally, when a person with a secular lifestyle suddenly decides to make a total reversal of his outlook, it becomes difficult for the authority to track him/her.
Ramping up security can work against groups, never the solitary militant.
In the Bangladeshi context, one feels that a lot of young people may decide to take the route towards extremism inflamed by the pervasive culture of political cronyism, wanton manipulation of power, plus a rising disparity between the affluent and the struggling.
Perhaps we need to look deeply at how society functions, along with the skewed dynamics. A simple example is the reckless disregard of the traffic signals by those who have the official seal, using that dreaded horn, sounding like a monster shrieking.
The general people on the road can only see and curse -- however, the resentment is growing. These violations won’t inspire anyone to acts of brutality but one day, as many now opine, there will be an eruption, a large one.
Same goes for people’s attitude towards the custodians of law.
A common question: Do the masses trust them, avoid them, or revile them?
How trustworthy is society, in general, of law enforcers? A prudent move would be to have a public survey.
If young people here are becoming rebellious to the extreme, then maybe, misinterpretation of faith is not the only reason.
Growing discontent may have the foundation in several social/political afflictions within the country and abroad.
One must admit, this is the downside of an open world where something in Venezuela can have resonance in some other country in a different continent.
For first-world nations, focus should be more on the migrant communities and trying to pinpoint issues that may sow seeds of revulsion in apparently young, liberal men is crucial.
To end, mistakes of poking noses into the affairs of other nations need to be admitted, apology sought, not sidelined with obfuscation.
Who made the beast? Straightforward answers, anyone?
