The Sunday News
Terrorism: The Phenomenon
As a phenomenon, terrorism dates back to biblical times and has its origins far outside what is now called Africa and the Middle East. Suicide bombing too, as a terroristic method, is neither an African or Asian phenomenon in its origins. Historians know that on 13 March 1881 Ignaty Grinevitsky ran to the feet of Tsar Alexander II as if to worship him after an accident only to drop a bomb that reduced him and the Tsar to ash.
Ignaty the suicide bomber and the Tsar that was the victim were not Muslims or Asians, and were not Africans. It is also a true but little-known historical reality that suicide bombers of the Mujahideen Islamic warriors were trained elsewhere away from Africa and the Middle East.
The conquest of Africa by Europe that led to the enslavement of Africans and colonisation of Africa was accompanied by diabolic cruelty, evil and genocides but has never been called terrorism. Yet the violence of slavish and colonial conquest in Africa was everything terroristic. So, politically and intellectually, it matters who is called a terrorist and who is not. Important to note is that terrorists never call themselves terrorists but they find other more convenient and comforting names for their dark work. And many powers and forces of the world that claim to fight terrorism actually cultivate terrorism, incubate terrorists and irrigate terror under the heavens. And yes for some among us in the world terrorism is a business opportunity where many guns and explosives are sold to both terrorists and those that are fighting them.
Gun-runners and dealers feed fat on terror and war. Some rogue big multinational corporations also build and fund terrorist groups to fight off competition and create a climate of disorder where smuggling of money and minerals can take place as governments concentrate on fighting terror and not enforcing laws.
Some big and powerful governments of the world and some small ones have been known to foster terror to create a climate, political and economic, where they can pursue some of their dark goals.
Mercenaries and private security companies, those guns for hire, are also entities that frequently see business opportunities in terror. Those individuals that tend to make big money out of fighting terrorism, or pretending to fight it, are most likely to be interested in the existence and growth of terrorism.
Who exactly is a Terrorist?
My observation has always been that those human beings that use their hands to commit acts of terror are not the real terrorists but are the hirelings and servants. The real terrorists are never seen they remain concealed behind the scenes and some of them are people and organisations that would never be suspected of evil.
So what you and I have to ponder now is what sort of people get recruited by terrorists and terrorist organisations.
As terrorism seems to set into Africa it is important for Africans not to be available converts and recruits of terrorist groups and networks. Students of African literature, especially those that read, Things Fall Apart, that 1958 classic by Albert Chinualumogu Achebe remember that there were certain Africans that became more than ready to be recruited by conquering and invading colonialists.
These people eventually became the black runners and foot soldiers for colonialism on behalf of the white settlers and Empire builders.
In African history and in that narrative of Achebe, the people who felt that they had no share or ownership of their societies became tools of colonialism that promised them civilisation and freedom.
The rejects of society, the efulefu, the living dead of every society that have lost everything and have been lost by everything are ready and willing vessels of such evils as terrorism and colonialism.
Those that have been excluded from states and nations that find themselves stateless and nationless run out of the patriotic love that compels them to defend their nations and states become the entry point of colonialism and terrorism. Terrorist runners and foot soldiers are normally angry and sad people that have lost inner and outer peace, first, they want to kill themselves, then they want to kill other people and God himself in revenge for whatever wounds they think life and the world have dealt them.
They have inferiority complex and are terrible attention seekers that do not only want to be noticed but they also do not want to be ignored hence their violence is extreme and spectacular. They are also cowards that quickly kill themselves before they are punished and their targets are easy and soft targets that cannot defend themselves, women, workers and schoolchildren.
Such people that become ready terrorist recruits are the defeated, marginalised, excluded and forgotten of any society that looks for life in the dark corners of the world and feels they have no court to appeal to for what they believe are their rights and freedoms. That is why almost all terrorist groups and their runners imagine themselves to be gallant fighters for freedom. Some believe their life and freedom are somewhere hence their love death, even their own death.
Decolonising Counter-Terrorism in Africa
What has been called counter-terrorism in the West is another form of terrorism that has allowed the invasion of other countries and some acts of regime change. As Africa faces its fight against terrorism the continent must not copy and paste western and colonial counter-terrorism that is terroristic in style and nature. I have suggested above that in Africa terrorism is a foreign phenomenon that has been, like many other problems, turned into an African problem. The continent must not just build strong states but also strong nations where there are no citizens that find themselves excluded from the national cake. Our countries should not have excluded and angry people that have been drained of all the patriotism and are left open for recruitment by enemies from elsewhere. Equitable sharing of resources and life opportunities within an African country should be good enough to unite citizens of one country and fortify them against external enemies. Pan-Africanism, the unity of all Africans should bind all African states and nations against foreign ideologies, religions and agendas that fertilise the ground for terrorism. In short, Africa should insulate and fortify itself against terrorisms by avoiding internal African national and state terrorisms that produce angry and suicidal Africans that lack the love for their continent.
Cetshwayo Zindabazezwe Mabhena writes from Gezina, Pretoria, in South Africa. Contacts:[email protected].
