Breeding terror

Across the world concerns over security have been heightened following the devastating suicide bombings that claimed the lives of dozens of innocent people in the Saudi capital Riyadh, immediately reinforced by the terror attack in Casablanca, Morocco.

The US and Britain, braced for attacks by Al-Qa'eda, temporarily closed their embassies in Riyadh and consulates in Jeddah. The US has raised its terror alert to "high", fearing that the attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco are but the crest of a wave. But neither Washington nor London should pretend that they do not shoulder at least part of the blame for this situation.

Human rights activists in the Arab and Muslim worlds are concerned that the marked escalation in violence in recent weeks will undermine what little progress democratisation has made in the past few years in the Arab and Muslim worlds. Democrats fear new anti-terror legislation that will broaden the definition of terrorism, stiffen penalties, lengthen periods of detention without charge, permit phone tapping and night-time searches and curb other hard-won civil liberties.

The vast majority of ordinary Arabs and Muslims are against terrorism. Hundreds of Moroccans demonstrated against terrorism on Tuesday, appealing for peace and tolerance in the wake of last week's string of suicide bombings in Casablanca.

Militant Islamists are tarnishing the image of Islam. And the US and Britain stand guilty of fanning the fires of fury and discontent in the Arab and Muslim worlds. The Bush administration is in many ways directly responsible for unleashing this unprecedented wave of terror, nurtured on an unending diet of US double standards.

Poverty, underdevelopment, the absence of educational and job opportunities, the whole panoply of hopelessness breeds terror. Development and democracy quench those flames.

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 22 - 28 May 2003 (Issue No. 639)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/639/ed.htm