Bogey of Terrorism

 V.Thangavelu

The countries raising the bogey of  global terrorism   have a common denominator. Each one of them has a wound in its back viz fighting national liberation wars led by numerically smaller nationalities demanding self-determination.   

Sri Lanka, Russia, India, China, Philippines, Indonesia etc. are ganging up because all of them have more than one liberation wars  in their hands!  Even Canada a model for pluralistic polity is preoccupied with  Quebec separatism. To all of them the bogey of “terrorism” comes in handy to camouflage their own state terrorism! That explains why these countries are scratching each others backs to " fight terrorism, which jeopardise the sovereignty, territorial integrity, security and the stability."  Like democracy being the last refuge of scoundrels, so too global terrorism has become the subterfuge of racists and fascists!

Russia like Sri Lanka  has unleashed state terrorism against the tiny  Muslim Republic of Chechnya. To break the will of Chechens, Stalin  deported hundreds of thousands of Chechens to Siberia during world war two.   Even after the over throw of the communist dictatorship, Chechens continue to be oppressed by  Russian imperialists. 

Majority of  Chechens and non-Chechens consider Mr. Basayev and Mr. Hattab heroes for their courageous struggle against the hegemonic and brutal rule of  Russia. For Moscow, however, Basayev and Hattab are dangerous criminals intent on destroying the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.  

We can see the parallel closer home. India is fighting a losing battle in Kashmir because the government mistakenly thinks the territory  belongs to it when the  people are not. For Sinhala supremacists  like President Chandrika and  Ratnasiri Wickramanayake  Prabhakaran is a “terrorist”, but for millions of Tamils he is a hero comparable to Lord Murugan! So there is little wonder that imperial Russia and racist Sri Lanka have signed an agreement recently  to combat “terrorism!”  

The fascist government of Sri Lanka is in the grip of  imminent financial collapse because of the endless economic haemorrhage  caused by the unjust war against the Tamil people. Even the European Union and other aid agencies appear to have abandoned  Sri Lanka, because of bad governance, economic mis-management and sub-standard human rights record.  

Terrorism, if that is the right word to use, is a symptom and not the disease. Countries which beat their chests  about the bogey of terrorism should try to find out the political and economic  causes that led to the birth of terrorism.  Injustice, oppression and  denial of basic rights of national minorities like the Tamils, Kurds, Kashmir Muslims and  Chechens are the causes behind the liberation wars and armed struggles. Those who are fighting the bogey of terrorism are well advised to bear these in mind.