tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/terror-attacks-26048/articlesTerror attacks – The Conversation2024-03-28T12:58:02Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2265702024-03-28T12:58:02Z2024-03-28T12:58:02ZMoscow terror attack showed growing reach of ISIS-K – could the US be next?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584987/original/file-20240328-18-qt434b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C270%2C5115%2C3160&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More than 140 people died in the Crocus City Hall assualt in Moscow on March 22, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-shows-the-burning-crocus-city-hall-concert-hall-news-photo/2097708778?adppopup=true">AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-moscow-terror-attack-fits-isis-k-strategy-to-widen-agenda-take-fight-to-its-perceived-enemies-226469">deadly attack in Moscow</a> on March 22, 2024, exposed the vulnerability of the Russian capital to the threat of the Islamic State group and its affiliate ISIS-K. But it also displayed the reach of the network, leading some <a href="https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/03/26/isis-k-moscow-attack/">terror experts to ponder</a>: Could a U.S. city be next?</p>
<p>There has not been a mass casualty assault in the U.S. carried out in the name of the Islamic State group since 2017, when a truck <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/sayfullo-saipov-be-sentenced-life-prison-2017-truck-attack-isis">mowed down cyclists and pedestrians on a New York City bikeway</a>, leaving eight dead.</p>
<p>Yet <a href="https://www.state.gov/the-islamic-state-five-years-later-persistent-threats-u-s-options/">five years after the Islamic State group’s territorial defeat</a> in Baghuz, Syria, had prompted hopes that the terrorist network was in terminal decline, a recent spate of attacks has thrust the group back into the spotlight. On the same day as the Moscow atrocity, an <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/21/at-least-three-killed-in-suicide-bombing-in-afghan-city-of-kandahar">ISIS-K suicide bombing in Kandahar, Afghanistan</a>, resulted in the deaths of at least 21 people.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.american.edu/profiles/students/sh5958a.cfm">terrorism expert and a scholar</a> specializing in radical Islamist militant groups and the geographical scope of their attacks, I believe these incidents underscore the growing threat of ISIS-K both within the region it draws support from and on an international scale. </p>
<h2>Amplifying influence</h2>
<p>A successful terror attack on a Western capital is certainly something ISIS-K, or Islamic State Khorasan Province, aspires to. The intent behind the group’s activities is to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-moscow-terror-attack-fits-isis-k-strategy-to-widen-agenda-take-fight-to-its-perceived-enemies-226469">bolster its position among jihadist factions</a> by means of audacious and sophisticated attacks.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A man sits looking at screens with Tome, Madrid and London on." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584899/original/file-20240327-24-xitpw9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584899/original/file-20240327-24-xitpw9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584899/original/file-20240327-24-xitpw9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584899/original/file-20240327-24-xitpw9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584899/original/file-20240327-24-xitpw9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584899/original/file-20240327-24-xitpw9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584899/original/file-20240327-24-xitpw9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=714&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An image released by pro-Islamic State media outlet Al Battar Foundation reads ‘After Moscow, who is next?’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.memri.org/jttm/posters-pro-islamic-state-isis-media-groups-celebrate-moscow-attack-threaten-and-incite-further">Al-Battar Foundation</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is a strategy that showcases ISIS-K’s capabilities for spectacular operations, distinguishing it from potential rival groups. But it also enhances ISIS-K’s appeal, attracting both supporters and resources in the shape of funding and fighters.</p>
<p>By establishing a unique identity in a crowded extremist landscape, ISIS-K aims to undercut its competitors’ influence and assert its dominance in the jihadist sphere of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/09/25/the-strange-story-behind-the-khorasan-groups-name/">Khorasan region</a> it targets, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and other Central Asian countries.</p>
<p>ISIS-K’s ambition <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2024/03/moscow-concert-hall-attack-will-have-far-reaching-impact">extends</a> beyond territorial control, engaging in a broader contest for ideological supremacy and resource acquisition globally.</p>
<h2>An expanding threat</h2>
<p>This global reach and ambition are evident in ISIS-K’s recent planned operations.</p>
<p>These include a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/kerman-us-warning-isisk-bombings-bcb47f04165b3eb7b9bc7b4868c8399c">suicide bombing in Iran</a> in January 2024 and thwarted attacks across Europe, notably <a href="https://english.aawsat.com/world/4418496-germany-netherlands-arrest-9-over-alleged-plan-attacks-line-isis">the foiled plots</a> in Germany and the Netherlands in July 2023.</p>
<p>And without a doubt, a successful attack in the United States is <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/islamic-state-khorasan-could-be-first-afghan-terror-group-to-put-us-in-its-sights/6241617.html">seen within ISIS-K’s hierarchy as a major goal</a>.</p>
<p>Since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/25/1240780292/us-officials-warn-of-isis-k-threat">officials in the Biden administration have repeatedly</a> warned of ISIS-K’s escalating danger to American interests, both at home and abroad.</p>
<p>ISIS-K’s <a href="https://www.militantwire.com/p/islamic-state-khurasan-mocks-us-hysteria">propaganda has persistently framed</a> the U.S. as its principal enemy – a narrative that is fueled by America’s <a href="https://ca.usembassy.gov/fact-sheets-the-global-coalition-working-to-defeat-isis/">extensive</a> military and economic efforts to dismantle Islamic State operations since 2014.</p>
<p>The United States’ involvement, especially in <a href="https://ctc.westpoint.edu/commentary-no-good-choices-the-counterterrorism-dilemmas-in-afghanistan-and-pakistan/">collaboration</a> with the Taliban — ISIS-K’s primary regional adversary — has <a href="https://www.congress.gov/event/115th-congress/house-event/108344/text">placed America firmly</a> in the group’s crosshairs. </p>
<p>Employing <a href="https://ctc.westpoint.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/CTC-Beyond-the-Caliphate-Belgium.pdf">tactics refined during</a> the period that the Islamic State group was most active, ISIS-K seeks to inspire lone-wolf attacks and radicalize individuals in the U.S.</p>
<p>The 2015 mass shooting in <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/05/us/san-bernardino-shooting/index.html">San Bernardino</a>, California, which left 14 dead, and the 2016 shooting at a nightclub in <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/12/us/orlando-nightclub-shooting/index.html">Orlando</a>, Florida, that resulted in at least 49 deaths, were both attacks inspired by the Islamic State group.</p>
<h2>Targeting major powers</h2>
<p>Taking its lead from the Islamic State group, ISIS-K in 2022 <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/05/09/islamic-state-afghanistan-khorasan-propaganda-russia-ukraine-war/">publicly condemned</a> America, calling it an enemy of Islam.</p>
<p>Of course, ISIS-K had by then already demonstrated its intention to harm U.S. interests, notably in a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/15/us-to-conduct-new-interviews-into-the-deadly-2021-bombing-at-kabul-airport">2021 Kabul airport attack</a> in which 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghans were killed.</p>
<p>ISIS-K views the U.S. in much the same way as it does Russia: both as a military and an ideological foe.</p>
<p>Russia became a prime target due in part to its <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/10/1/what-has-russia-gained-from-five-years-of-fighting-in-syria">partnering with the Bashar al-Assad government</a> in Syria in operations against Islamic State group affiliates. Similarly, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/10/22/taliban-isis-drones-afghanistan/">Washington has worked with the Taliban</a> in Afghanistan in countering ISIS-K operations.</p>
<p>While it is easier for ISIS-K to penetrate Russian territory, given the country’s geographical proximity to major <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/24/islamic-state-recruiting-militants-from-tajikistan-and-other-central-asian-countries">Islamist recruitment centers, such as Tajikistan</a>, the potential for strikes in the United States remains significant. </p>
<p>In 2023, U.S. authorities <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/29/politics/migrants-us-southern-border-smuggler-isis-ties/index.html">investigated</a> a group of Uzbek nationals suspected of entering the country from Mexico with the assistance of traffickers linked to the Islamic State group, underscoring the group’s threat.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The wreckage of a truck under a blue sheet is seen being towed away." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584913/original/file-20240328-28-g95pq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C2314%2C1367&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584913/original/file-20240328-28-g95pq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584913/original/file-20240328-28-g95pq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584913/original/file-20240328-28-g95pq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584913/original/file-20240328-28-g95pq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584913/original/file-20240328-28-g95pq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584913/original/file-20240328-28-g95pq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eight people died in a truck attack in New York City in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BikePathAttack/c09a4360d6b74c0c968a3897dbfa37f0/photo?Query=hudson%20bike%20%20attack&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=38&currentItemNo=27">AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Targeting American interests serve multiple purposes for ISIS-K. By striking against the U.S., ISIS-K not only retaliates against Washington’s counterterrorism efforts but also aims to deter U.S. involvement in regions of interest to ISIS-K.</p>
<p>It also taps into historical grievances against the U.S. and Western interventions in Muslim countries – from the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq to the stationing of U.S. troops in significant Islamic centers in the Middle East, <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/osama-bin-laden">notably Saudi Arabia</a>.</p>
<h2>Countering a persistent threat</h2>
<p>In response to the growing threat of Islamic State group affiliates, the United States has <a href="https://dod.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/June_2017_1225_Report_to_Congress.pdf">adopted a comprehensive strategy</a> combining military, intelligence and law enforcement efforts. </p>
<p>Military operations have targeted ISIS-K leaders and infrastructure in Afghanistan, while security cooperation with regional and international <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-uzbekistan-relations/">partners such as Uzbekistan</a> continues to monitor and counter the group’s activities. </p>
<p>On the home front, law enforcement and homeland security agencies remain vigilant, <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2023-03-28%20-%20Testimony%20-%20Mayorkas.pdf">working to identify</a> and thwart potential ISIS-K plots.</p>
<p>But as <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-cia-terrorism-government-and-politics-87fb25aa94f4e4a8a46d82368f907be9">many experts had warned</a>, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 has posed new challenges, <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2023/11/al-qaeda-a-defeated-threat-think-again/">inadvertently transforming</a> that country once again into a safe haven and operational base for terrorist groups.</p>
<p>This <a href="https://ctc.westpoint.edu/commentary-no-good-choices-the-counterterrorism-dilemmas-in-afghanistan-and-pakistan/">retreat has also resulted</a> in a significant loss of on-the-ground intelligence amid <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/us-general-islamic-state-afghan-affiliate-closer-to-attacking-western-targets/7008633.html">doubts</a> over the efficacy of relying on the Taliban for counterterrorism operations.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the <a href="https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-enduring-duel-islamic-state-khorasans-survival-under-afghanistans-new-rulers/">Taliban are struggling</a> to prevent or counteract ISIS-K attacks within their own borders.</p>
<p>The successful ISIS-K plots against Iran and Russia also reveal another vulnerability: When a country is distracted or <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/isis-k-allowed-slipped-into-moscow-massacre-because-war-zelenskyy-2024-3#:%7E:text=The%20war%20in%20Ukraine%20distracted,in%20his%20Saturday%20night%20address.">preoccupied with other security concerns or conflicts</a>, it can potentially compromise the effectiveness of its counterterrorism efforts.</p>
<p>Recent years have witnessed a decrease in high-profile attacks by groups like the Islamic State, leading many to <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/u-s-sees-islamic-state-effectiveness-decreasing-but-analysts-warn-resurgence-still-possible-/7238289.html">conclude</a> that the threat was waning. As a result, global attention — and with it, intelligence and security resources — has shifted toward escalating power rivalries and conflicts across the Pacific, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.</p>
<p>Yet, this shift risks underestimating the enduring threat terrorist groups pose, laying bare the dangers of complacency.</p>
<p>The Moscow attack emphasizes ISIS-K’s resolve to expand its influence, raising concerns about the potential threat to Western nations, including the United States. Considering ISIS-K’s track record and clear aspirations, it would be naive to dismiss the possibility of an attack on American soil.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226570/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara Harmouch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A spate of terror operations carried out by the Islamic State group affiliate has raised concerns over a potential attack on US soil.Sara Harmouch, PhD Candidate, School of Public Affairs, American UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2154102023-10-11T20:01:27Z2023-10-11T20:01:27ZHow did Israeli intelligence miss Hamas’ preparations to attack? A US counterterrorism expert explains how Israeli intelligence works<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553317/original/file-20231011-21-3o0xk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Israeli soldiers move past a military medical vehicle on Oct. 10, 2023, at Kfar Aza, a kibbutz where Hamas militants killed Israelis days before.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/soldiers-move-past-a-medical-idf-vehicle-at-kibbutz-kfar-news-photo/1728299509?adppopup=true">Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Israel is widely recognized as having highly sophisticated intelligence capabilities, both in terms of its ability to collect information about potential threats within its own country and outside of it. And so as details unfold about the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-war-hamas-deaths-killings.html">full extent of Hamas’</a> <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-hamas-rockets-airstrikes-tel-aviv-11fb98655c256d54ecb5329284fc37d2">unprecedented and surprise attack</a> on 20 Israeli towns and several army bases on Oct. 7, 2023, the question lingers: How did <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/israels-intelligence-disaster">Israel fail to piece together</a> clues about this large-scale and highly complex plot in advance?</em> </p>
<p><em>Israeli intelligence <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67082047">did detect some suspicious</a> activity on Hamas militant networks before the attack, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-security-failure.html">The New York Times reported</a> on Oct. 10, 2023. But the warning wasn’t acted upon or fully understood in its entirety – similar to what happened in the United States <a href="https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/s0606/chapter6.htm#:%7E:text=The%20FBI%20did%20little%20with,intelligence%20information%2C%20and%20the%20lack">shortly before the terrorist attacks</a> on Sept. 11, 2001.</em> </p>
<p><em>“Intelligence analysis is like putting a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle together from individual pieces of intelligence every day and trying to make judgments for policymakers to actually do something with those insights,” said <a href="https://fordschool.umich.edu/faculty/javed-ali">Javed Ali</a>, a counterterrorism and intelligence scholar who spent years working in U.S. intelligence.</em> </p>
<p><em>We spoke with Ali to try to better understand how Israeli intelligence works and the potential gaps in the system that paved the way for the Hamas incursion.</em> </p>
<h2>1. What questions did you have as you watched the attacks unfold?</h2>
<p>This took an enormous amount of deliberate and careful planning, and Hamas must have gone to great lengths to conceal the plotting from Israeli intelligence. This plotting <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-security-failure.html">may indeed have been hidden</a> as the plot was being coordinated. </p>
<p>Because of the attack’s advanced features, I also thought that Iran almost certainly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/11/us/politics/iran-israel-gaza-hamas-us-intelligence.html">played a role in supporting the operation</a> – although some U.S. officials have so far said <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-israel-iranian-officials-surprised-by-hamas-attack-israel/#textThe20US20has20intelligence20indicatingthe20deadly20Oct20720assault">they do not have intelligence evidence of that happening</a>. </p>
<p>Finally, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/graphics/ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/MAPS/movajdladpa/">Hamas is on Israel’s doorstep</a>. One would think Israel could better understand what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank, as opposed to 1,000 miles away in Iran. How did Israel not see something this advanced right next door? Some Israeli officials have said <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-security-failure.html">they believed Hamas was already deterred</a> by recent Israeli counterterrorism operations, and that the group lacked the capability to launch an attack on the scope and scale of what occurred. </p>
<h2>2. How does Israeli intelligence work, and how is it regarded internationally?</h2>
<p>Israel has one of the most capable and sophisticated intelligence enterprises at the international level. The current design and functioning of Israel’s intelligence system broadly mirrors that in the U.S., with respect to roles and responsibilities. </p>
<p>In Israel, Shin Bet is the Israeli domestic security service, so the equivalent of the FBI, which monitors threats within the country. On the foreign security side, <a href="https://spyscape.com/article/inside-mossad">Israel has Mossad</a>, which is equivalent to the CIA. Third, there is an Israeli military intelligence agency, similar to the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency – and there are other, smaller organizations within military intelligence that are focused on different intelligence issues. </p>
<p>Like most Western countries, Israel relies on a combination of different intelligence sources. This includes recruiting people to provide intelligence agencies with the sensitive information they have direct access to, which is known as human intelligence – think spies. There is what is called signals intelligence, which can be different forms of electronic communications like phone calls, emails or texts that the Israelis gain access to. Then there is imagery intelligence, which could be a satellite, for example, that captures photos of, say, militant training camps or equipment. </p>
<p>A fourth kind of intelligence is open source, or publicly available information that is already out there for anyone to get, such as internet chat forums. While I was winding down my work in intelligence a few years ago, there was a shift to seeing much more publicly available intelligence than other kinds of traditional intelligence.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553315/original/file-20231011-17-kjoqg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man with a suit stands at a podium that says 'ICT's 22nd world summit on counter-terrorism' and next to a large screen that shows headshots of people" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553315/original/file-20231011-17-kjoqg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553315/original/file-20231011-17-kjoqg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553315/original/file-20231011-17-kjoqg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553315/original/file-20231011-17-kjoqg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553315/original/file-20231011-17-kjoqg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553315/original/file-20231011-17-kjoqg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553315/original/file-20231011-17-kjoqg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">David Barnea, the director of Israel’s Mossad, shows a video that depicts Iranian intelligence operatives during a counterterrorism summit in September 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/israels-mossad-director-david-barnea-speaks-on-the-backdrop-news-photo/1656972994?adppopup=true">Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. How does Israel’s intelligence system differ from the US system?</h2>
<p>Unlike the U.S., one thing that Israel doesn’t have is an overall intelligence coordinator, a single representative who knows about and oversees all of the different intelligence components. </p>
<p>The U.S. system has a director of national intelligence position, who runs the <a href="https://www.dni.gov/index.php/who-we-are/history">Office of the Director of National Intelligence</a>, which was created in 2004. These were both recommendations of the <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/implementing-911-commission-recommendations">9/11 Commission</a>, after it found that the U.S. approach to intelligence was too fragmented across different agencies and offices. </p>
<p>So, when there are tough issues that no one agency could resolve on its own, or analytic differences in intelligence, you need an independent office of experts to help work through those issues. That’s what this office does.</p>
<p>I spent several years working within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. In one of my jobs there, I reported to the director of national intelligence. </p>
<p>There is no equivalent to that central office and function in Israel. In my opinion, Israel might consider down the road how a comprehensive intelligence coordinator could help avoid this challenge in the future. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553320/original/file-20231011-15-o1rjo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Several bodies covered in white cloths are seen on the ground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553320/original/file-20231011-15-o1rjo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553320/original/file-20231011-15-o1rjo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553320/original/file-20231011-15-o1rjo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553320/original/file-20231011-15-o1rjo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553320/original/file-20231011-15-o1rjo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553320/original/file-20231011-15-o1rjo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553320/original/file-20231011-15-o1rjo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Bodies of Israelis lie on the ground following Hamas’ attack in Sderot, Israel, on Oct. 7, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/october-2023-israel-sderot-bodies-of-dead-israelis-lie-on-news-photo/1711934608?adppopup=true">Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>4. What role does the US have in monitoring threats to Israel, if any?</h2>
<p>The U.S. and Israel have a very strong intelligence relationship. That partnership is bilateral, meaning it is just between the two countries. It is not part of a <a href="https://www.dni.gov/index.php/ncsc-how-we-work/217-about/organization/icig-pages/2660-icig-fiorc">larger international group</a> of countries that share intelligence. </p>
<p>The U.S. also has a broader intelligence partnership, <a href="https://theconversation.com/nato-isnt-the-only-alliance-that-countries-are-eager-to-join-a-brief-history-of-the-five-eyes-209763">known as “Five Eyes,”</a> with Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Nevertheless, the general rule in these strong bilateral relationships is that when one side picks up intelligence about threats to the other, it should automatically get passed on. </p>
<p>This may be a case where the U.S. is shifting its intelligence priorities to other parts of the world, like Ukraine, Russia and China. As a result, we may not have had significant intelligence on this particular Hamas plot, and so there was nothing to pass to Israel to warn them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215410/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Javed Ali does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Israel’s intelligence capacities are considered some of the best in the world – but unlike the US, it does not have a central organization coordinating all intelligence.Javed Ali, Associate Professor of Practice in Counterterrorism, Domestic Terrorrism, Cybersecurity and National Security Law and Policy, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1945892022-11-24T11:32:45Z2022-11-24T11:32:45ZAl-Shabaab: sensational media reports about Kenyan terror attacks keep kids out of school<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495610/original/file-20221116-18-ek5k2x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pupils in Kenya hold prayers for victims of a 2013 terror attack in Nairobi. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joseph Kanyi/Nation Media/Gallo Images/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sensational reporting on terror attacks in Kenya is keeping children out of school, with dire consequences for their education and their futures. </p>
<p>That is the conclusion we came to in a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jeea/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jeea/jvac054/6754733?searchresult=1#378488194">recent paper</a> that examines how local media reporting on terrorist attacks affected primary school enrolment in Kenya between 2001 and 2014. </p>
<p>We found that households with access to such media reports were more likely than homes without access to feel that they and their children could die in terrorist attacks.</p>
<p>Based on <a href="https://www.knbs.or.ke/publications/">Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics</a> data on the country-wide number of primary school children, we estimate that in 2014, for instance, more than 70,000 learners didn’t enter school on time because of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/kenya/terrorism">terrorist attacks</a>. Our analysis finds that half of this number can be attributed to an over-response fuelled by media reporting. </p>
<p>We estimate that for the average affected learner, this will lower their lifetime earning potential by around 25% of a year’s income. This loss in earnings can be expected to have severe consequences for the country’s broader economic development. </p>
<p>To arrive at these insights, we built a model of how parents choose whether to send their children to school, have them work for pay or keep them at home. We incorporated the effects of terrorist violence into these choices. </p>
<p>Our results can be considered as a caution, not against reporting on terrorism, but against sensationalism. Moderate, facts-oriented reporting on terrorist events is not problematic. However, as a <a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/terrorism-and-media-handbook-journalists">UNESCO report</a> puts it, the media are “often operating in over-drive”, thus inadvertently becoming “the megaphone of terrorism to attract audiences”. </p>
<h2>Fear as disruption</h2>
<p>Terrorists use violence strategically to spread fear and disruption beyond the violent act itself. Media platforms, because of their reach, are the <a href="https://icct.nl/app/uploads/2021/11/The_Battlefield_of_Media_SynthesisReport2-2.pdf">ideal vehicles</a> to disseminate this disruption. </p>
<p>As a result of the interplay between terrorism and media, terrorists can affect pillars of economic development, such as education. This does not mainly happen through destroying infrastructure or harming staff and pupils, but by affecting the demand for schooling. </p>
<p>This parallels the effects of terrorism seen elsewhere. In attacks in Europe or the US, the economic effects are not derived from the immediate destruction of capital, but from changes in people’s attitudes and expectations. </p>
<p>We set out to examine how incidents of terrorism, together with access to mass media, affect education by changing its perceived risks and rewards. We selected Kenya for our analysis. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-al-shabaab-targets-kenya-and-what-the-country-can-do-about-it-87371">Why Al-Shabaab targets Kenya – and what the country can do about it</a>
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<p>Parts of the country, since the late 2000s, have experienced a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-al-shabaab-targets-kenya-and-what-the-country-can-do-about-it-87371">stark increase</a> in terrorist activity by <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-drives-al-shabaab-in-somalia-foreign-forces-out-sharia-law-in-and-overthrow-the-government-191366">Al-Shabaab</a>, a Somali terrorist group.</p>
<h2>How we did it</h2>
<p>We analysed the spatial concentration of terrorist attacks in Kenya using precise information from the <a href="https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/about/">Global Terrorism Database</a>. We also studied the chronology of attacks between 2001 and 2014 – a time period that saw a steep rise in terrorist violence in the country and for which good data is available. </p>
<p>We then used two independent data sources on school attendance and enrolment in Kenya – the <a href="https://www.hsnp.or.ke/">Hunger Safety Net Programme</a>, and the <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/fr229/fr229.pdf">2009</a> and <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR308/FR308.pdf">2014</a> rounds of country-wide demographic health surveys, which are the latest available. To capture public attitudes to violence, we complemented our analysis with <a href="https://www.afrobarometer.org/data/">Afrobarometer</a> data. </p>
<p>Using the geographic coordinates of respondents provided by these surveys and three types of wireless signal coverage (radio, GSM telephone and television), we were able to identify variations and trends in the data. </p>
<p>We looked at the trends in primary school enrolment in relation to media coverage and the incidence of attacks. </p>
<h2>The findings</h2>
<p>We found that while Al-Shabaab rarely targeted educational institutions in Kenya, its attacks substantially decreased school enrolments by about 0.5 percentage points for families outside the reach of mass media. Crucially, our results show that this negative effect doubled if parents had access to mass media.</p>
<p>We found that Kenyan families with access to radio, mobile phones or TV were significantly more afraid of terrorism than those without signal coverage. </p>
<p>Specifically, Kenyan parents with access to mass media believed that the risk of dying in a terrorist attack was 12 times larger than actual rates. As a result, these parents were more likely to keep their children out of school. </p>
<p>Our analysis also shows that families without media access reacted predominantly to attacks close to their homes. However, families with access to media kept their children out of school in response to terrorist attacks happening more than 100 kilometres away.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-photographs-of-dead-in-nairobi-terror-attack-failed-journalism-and-dishonoured-victims-110010">Why photographs of dead in Nairobi terror attack failed journalism -- and dishonoured victims</a>
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<p>Comparing school enrolment rates over time, our study found that the negative effect of terrorist attacks on school enrolment was twice as large for children with access to mass media as it was for children without access. </p>
<p>This suggests that media coverage plays a crucial role in stoking fears and keeping children out of school.</p>
<p>To investigate the long-term impact of missing school on lifetime earnings, we estimated a model of how parents chose whether to keep their children at home, send them to school or have them work outside the household. </p>
<p>We found that the decline in school enrolment led to decreased earnings later in life. This decrease was about three times as pronounced if parents had access to mass media. Overall, sensational media coverage of terrorist events reduced children’s incomes in their later life by around 25% of a year’s income.</p>
<h2>Way forward</h2>
<p>The study is informative for the Kenyan government and other similar African nations striving to boost school attendance and the quality of education for young people. </p>
<p>The results show that access to media has significantly increased the fear of terrorism in the country. This has had a significant ripple effect on younger generations who are being kept out of school and will suffer financially later in life. </p>
<p>Our finding that distance to school increases the negative effect of a terrorist attack suggests that reliable and secure transport to school is important. Providing transport would likely make a considerable difference to children’s education, and Kenya’s long-term growth and development.</p>
<p>Governments could counteract over-responses with informational campaigns. Informing parents of the actual risks posed by terrorist attacks could counteract the fears stoked by the media, resulting in higher school enrolments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194589/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Kenyan families with access to mass media are significantly more afraid of terrorism than those without access.Marco Alfano, Lecturer, Lancaster UniversityJoseph-Simon Goerlach, Assistant Professor, Bocconi UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1942952022-11-20T06:29:48Z2022-11-20T06:29:48ZAl-Shabaab in Somalia has resisted military force: now is the time for a new strategy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495037/original/file-20221114-22-1j0dek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Somali soldier looks out from a military base where a US special operations soldier was killed by a mortar attack south of Mogadishu in 2018.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mohamed Abdiwahab/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In October 2022, Somalia’s capital Mogadishu suffered yet another <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/30/hundreds-killed-wounded-in-heinous-mogadishu-car-bombings">massive suicidal attack</a>. More than 100 people were killed. Hundreds more were wounded and thousands will have been traumatised by an attack claimed by the Somali insurgent group Al-Shabaab.</p>
<p>The attack was carried out on the fifth anniversary of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/15/truck-bomb-mogadishu-kills-people-somalia">most destructive suicide attack</a> in Somalia’s history, on 14 October 2017. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for that one too.</p>
<p>The devastation continues despite more than 15 years of effort by successive federal regimes in Mogadishu and the international community to end Al-Shabaab’s insurgent activities. These counter strategies included attacking them from the sky and sending Somali and African Union forces to fight them on the ground.</p>
<p>Some, such as Somalia’s recently elected president Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud and his inner circle, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/somalia-will-eliminate-terrorism-president-tells-un-general-assembly-/6760778.html">argue</a> that the organisation is a spent force. They say Al-Shabaab has been <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/strengthening-somalias-security-conversation-he-president-hassan-sheikh-mohamud">enfeebled and is now on the run</a>.</p>
<p>But in my perspective, based on my extensive <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01436597.2018.1479186">studies</a> of Al-Shabaab since the time when it was part of the Union of Islamic Courts which governed Somalia in the mid-2000s, this isn’t true.</p>
<p>Al-Shabaab remains a strong regional actor and has proved itself to be a resilient force. It has so far defeated all attempts (both internal and external) at eradicating it on the battlefield. This includes the deployment of Somali, western and African Union troops. </p>
<p>As the eminent Cambridge Horn of Africa veteran scholar Christopher Clapham rightly <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Horn_of_Africa.html?id=_SYFMQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">wrote</a> in 2017, Al-Shabaab </p>
<blockquote>
<p>remains better placed than the officially recognised regime to build up its authority from below, by acting as the most visible defender of Somali nationalism and identity against an international attempt to impose political order from above. It remains a strong regional actor and is able to inflict terrible damage on Somalia itself.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This suggests that pro-western local Somali actors should rethink the combative approach that has failed for the past 15 years. The federal regime in Mogadishu, which enjoys international support, should also change tack.</p>
<p>A non-war strategic option would aim at direct talks with Al-Shabaab leadership, just as the United States did with the Taliban in Afghanistan. This started with a series of talks in Qatar that culminated in the US <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa/topics/us-withdrawal-from-afghanistan-107386">withdrawal</a> from Kabul.</p>
<p>The image of Al-Shabaab described by Somalis living under their territories is that of a movement that is adaptable and incorruptible. This is in contrast to alternative centres of power built around clans and clan power dynamics in the periphery. This reveals that the organisation has remarkably disciplined leadership, despite the continuous elimination of its senior leaders by US drones. All in all, Al-Shabaab’s persistence is also due to its unique Islamic (though militant) leadership development, which promotes meritocracy in place of clannism.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/citizens-of-fragile-states-can-fund-public-services-directly-its-working-in-somalia-171541">Citizens of fragile states can fund public services directly – it's working in Somalia</a>
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<h2>Al-Shabaab’s strength and the government’s weakness</h2>
<p>Al-Shabaab continues to show its might on the streets of Mogadishu. Following the October <a href="https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/news/africa/twin-blasts-rock-mogadishu-as-somali-president-sheikh-mohamud-meets-security-officials-4001982">attack</a>, Al-Shabaab forces also <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/somalia-president-least-100-people-killed-car-bombs-2022-10-30/">bombed</a> the busiest road during the day in Mogadishu. </p>
<p>A few days later, they shelled Maka Al-Mukarammah Road, the busiest road during the night in Mogadishu. This prompted a Somali security company to <a href="https://eagleranges.com/2022/10/15/eagle-ranges-services-security-bulletin-vol-2/">report</a> that Al-Shabaab had become more organised, dangerous and wealthy than it was before.</p>
<p>The armed group has gained informal control of Mogadishu. This is clear from its capture of the Laba-Buundaale settlement on the outskirts of Mogadishu in September.</p>
<p>This imperils a regime that is still standing only because of the continued presence of regional forces as well as the fact that the international community is sustaining it financially.</p>
<p>Somalia is profoundly fragmented, and the dysfunctionality of the state is unprecedented in the Africa. In my observation, Somalia has no functioning state and is no longer a state capable of protecting itself from Al-Shabaab, let alone protecting its people.</p>
<p>The federal government is both weak and without public legitimacy. This lack of legitimacy – developed from its lack of inclusiveness and unwillingness to share power – prevents the federal regime from consolidating its authority outside of Mogadishu. Since the ouster of the military regime in January 1991, no group or government has proved capable of restoring the once unified state, let alone controlling the entirety of Somalia.</p>
<p>Al-Shabaab is now on the verge of capturing the capital, especially its concentration is geared towards seizing the presidential palace and the airport. They are back clandestinely to Mogadishu after many trained rank-and-file members were forced by the US airstrikes in recent months to flee to the southern port city of Kismayu for sanctuary.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-somali-clan-elders-could-hold-the-key-to-opening-dialogue-with-al-shabaab-152759">Why Somali clan elders could hold the key to opening dialogue with Al-Shabaab</a>
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<h2>The case for power-sharing</h2>
<p>Successive Somali regimes, including the current one, have never attempted to officially negotiate with Al-Shabaab. Instead, all presidents wore military fatigues and insisted on the military approach. But they didn’t achieve a decisive victory.</p>
<p>The current regime has gone even further by <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/farmers-turned-fighters-in-somalias-grassroots-offensive-against-al-shabaab-12719627">declaring</a> a clan-based war on Al-Shabaab. To this end, various clans in central Somalia regions have been mobilising ragtag militia to fight Al-Shabaab alongside the federal regime forces. Hundreds of peripheral clan militias were involved in clashes that began in August.</p>
<p>While encouraging clans to fight against Al-Shabaab, the federal regime did not provide those clans with the necessary resources and equipment. Al-Shabaab has taken advantage of the disorganised nature of these clans to seize more territory and to attack in the centre of Mogadishu in broad daylight.</p>
<p>The military strategy of dealing with Al-Shabaab through clan militias ignores the fact that it, in the first place, operates freely in areas run by clans that feel marginalised by the broader clan-dominated “federal” fiefdoms. The current “federal” state structure in Mogadishu, which is <a href="https://hiiraan.com/op4/2022/jun/186645/clan_federalism_in_somalia.aspx">clan-centric</a> in nature, is legitimate in the eyes of the international community that <a href="https://www.c-r.org/accord/somalia/political-representation-somalia-citizenship-clanism-and-territoriality">imposed</a> it. But it is not legitimate in the eyes of so many Somalis, both inside and outside Somalia.</p>
<h2>A political settlement</h2>
<p>The calls for clans to intensify the war against Al-Shabaab without the lead of the centre is the last desperate attempts to face Al-Shabaab militarily. American drones have failed to do that. So has more than 15 years of the African Union armed mission inside Somalia. The clan strategy appears to be ending up in failure after failure.</p>
<p>The military approach cannot continue to be the only one approach. What’s needed is support for a Somali-owned political settlement between the federal regime and Al-Shabaab. Without seeking domestic legitimacy through genuine power-sharing, it would be hard for the federal regime to win over Al-Shabaab. The only way left for dealing with Al-Shabaab is initiating a political settlement. This is the right time to seize such an opportunity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194295/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mohamed Haji Ingiriis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Al-Shabaab remains a strong regional actor and has proved itself to be a resilient force. It’s time to weigh a non-war strategic optionMohamed Haji Ingiriis, Fellow, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1760722022-02-08T07:28:12Z2022-02-08T07:28:12ZKenya terror alerts: political scientist unpacks the intelligence behind them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443436/original/file-20220131-13-73ocyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Special forces arrive at the scene of a terrorist attack at the DusitD2 hotel complex in Nairobi, Kenya, in January 2019.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Terror alerts are issued in Kenya periodically by foreign governments and international institutions due to the threat posed by the Somali Islamist group Al-Shabaab. Kenya has, over the years, suffered several deadly terror attacks which have been claimed by the group. Oscar Gakuo Mwangi, who has studied Kenya’s counter-terrorism policies and strategies, unpacks the intelligence behind terror alerts and what you need to know about them.</em></p>
<h2>How is intelligence on impending terrorist attacks gathered?</h2>
<p>Cooperation between governments and security agencies is a crucial element in combating terrorism. This is more so for transnational terrorism. Effective <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10246029.2016.1264436">inter-agency cooperation</a> depends on the timely and accurate sharing of intelligence through established channels. </p>
<p>Kenya cooperates with various western countries to arrive at the conclusion that a terror attack is imminent. For instance Kenya and the UK have a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-and-kenya-sign-new-defence-cooperation-agreement-to-tackle-shared-threat-from-al-shabaab">mutual agreement</a> to counter Al-Shabaab’s threat. The two countries share information and identify new ways to disrupt the group’s operations in east Africa and beyond. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.mi5.gov.uk/gathering-intelligence">UK</a> and <a href="https://www.nis.go.ke/downloads/THE%20NATIONAL%20INTELLIGENCE%20SERVICE%20ACT,%202012.pdf">Kenya</a> gather information in a number of ways. These include covert human intelligence sources, directed surveillance, intercepting communications, data obtained from communications service providers, bulk personal data, intrusive surveillance and equipment interference. </p>
<p>The National Counter Terrorism Centre also provides <a href="https://counterterrorism.go.ke/countering-terrorism/">online channels</a> where the public can, anonymously, report terrorism-related activities.</p>
<p>Kenya’s government also <a href="https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Country_Reports_on_Terrorism_2020.pdf">cooperates</a> with the US. For instance the General Service Unit counterterorrism response team is funded by the US.</p>
<p>In addition, information on imminent attacks is also provided by terrorist groups themselves. As part of its publicity, Al-Shabaab provides <a href="https://ctc.usma.edu/addressing-enemy-al-shabaabs-psyops-media-warfare/">information on imminent attacks</a> through its media outlet, Al-Kaitab Media Foundation. </p>
<p>Individual states are responsible for providing travel advisories to their citizens based on the information shared. </p>
<h2>How reliable is the intelligence prompting alerts?</h2>
<p>Sound intelligence research and analysis identifies trends and specific terrorist groups’ strategies and tactics. </p>
<p>For the most part this means that sufficiently reliable data on imminent attacks is produced.</p>
<p>However, it’s not a perfect science. <a href="https://icct.nl/app/uploads/2021/03/Handbook-Ch-20-Duncan-Role-of-Intelligence-in-the-Prevention-of-Terrorism.pdf">Intelligence sources</a> sometimes offer opinions rather than hard evidence. Hence the analysis can at times be subjective rather than objective.</p>
<p>The reliability of the intelligence is determined by how correct or true the information is. The UK’s MI5, for example, records <a href="https://www.mi5.gov.uk/gathering-intelligence">credible intelligence</a> correctly by recording its origin and validity. Assessments of valid threats are regularly adjusted in view of new intelligence. </p>
<p>But terrorist groups behave in unpredictable ways. Some terrorist attacks are <a href="https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-785">commemorative</a>, that is to celebrate prior successful attacks. Attacks can be <a href="https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-785">symbolic</a>, intended to advance ideological aims and objectives. They can also be carried out in response to the target state’s counterterrorism interventions. </p>
<p>Diplomatic advisories or alerts are adjusted frequently as they are based on security information that is <a href="https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/ReiseUndSicherheit/10.2.8Reisewarnungen#content_3">constantly changing</a>. </p>
<p>In the case of Kenya, terror threat warnings have been vindicated time and again. Between January 2019 and December 2021, the US government <a href="https://ke.usembassy.gov/category/messages-for-citizens/">published</a> nine travel advisories and alerts warning of terrorist attacks around the Kenya-Somalia border and the country’s coastal areas. During this period, five attacks and two foiled attacks were reported in these areas. </p>
<p>On 5 January 2022, the US embassy in Nairobi issued a <a href="https://ke.usembassy.gov/january-5-2022-travel-advisory-for-u-s-citizens-kenya-level-3-reconsider-travel/">travel advisory</a> to US citizens warning them not to travel to some coastal areas because of terrorism. Kenya has since <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20220103-several-people-killed-in-suspected-al-shabaab-attack-in-kenya">witnessed attacks</a> conducted by Al-Shabaab in the coastal county of Lamu. </p>
<h2>Why are alerts usually general, rather than specific?</h2>
<p>It is often difficult to predict an imminent terrorist attack in a place or time. Terrorism, as a special form of political violence, is a <a href="https://www.language-and-society.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/7-Mwangi-_-Mwangi-For-Publication.pdf">complex and dynamic</a> phenomenon. Its strategies and tactics keep mutating rapidly to adapt to changing local-level, national, regional and international circumstances. </p>
<p>The tactics have been described as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10402659.2017.1344530">asymmetric warfare</a> – they are both ideological and military. The unconventional tactics aim at winning over marginalised local-level communities. Asymmetric warfare is therefore long-term and more sustainable than conventional warfare.</p>
<p>The unpredictability of this type of warfare based on ideological motives is a key defining feature of terrorism as a special form of political violence. Hence forecasting terrorism is problematic. </p>
<p>The more complex a terrorist group is in terms of organisation and ideology, the more difficult it is to predict its strategies and tactics. </p>
<h2>What steps should the public and security forces take?</h2>
<p>The public, once aware of the threats, are supposed to take precautions. These include avoiding crowded public spaces and avoiding specific areas where prior attacks have occurred. </p>
<p>The public should perceive these alerts and react to them in a positive rather than negative way. The primary responsibility of securing oneself begins with the individual. </p>
<p>It is also the responsibility of the state to provide basic security. The government should take additional security measures. Measures include additional installation of surveillance cameras, scanners, security barriers, and enhancing visible policing. </p>
<p>But a robust security response risks unintended consequences. For example, certain areas can become viewed as hotspots of terrorism. Communities in these areas can be unfairly profiled as “suspects”. This has a tendency of increasing suspicion and distrust, including intolerance between communities.</p>
<p>Security actors should also avoid employing repressive counterterrorism operations that target specific individuals and communities who live in volatile areas. Such operations only serve to entrench perceptions about human rights violations committed by the state. </p>
<p>The state and its security agencies should react to alerts using alternative methods. These include preventing and countering violent extremism and employing soft approaches. These are often ideological, communicative and social. They are based on trust not fear.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176072/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oscar Gakuo Mwangi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It is often difficult to place an imminent terrorist attack in a location or time.Oscar Gakuo Mwangi, Associate Professor, Political Science, National University of LesothoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1721542021-11-22T15:30:35Z2021-11-22T15:30:35ZEast Africa’s terrorism hotspots: examining the roots and solutions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432586/original/file-20211118-26-1jt7hvs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Somalia is one of East Africa's terrorism hotspots.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/SAID YUSUF WARSAME</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Uganda has had a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/16/suicide-bomb-attacks-kampala-uganda">string</a> of terror attacks lately. The most recent bombings took place in Kampala’s central business district and were <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/africa/islamic-state-claims-deadly-bombings-in-uganda-s-capital-kampala-3621676">claimed</a> by the Islamic State jihadist group. Tensions have been <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2021-11-17-kampala-bombings-kenya-tracking-terror-cells/">increasing</a> across the border too, in Kenya. The government has instructed security agencies to be more vigilant. Moina Spooner, of The Conversation Africa, asked terrorism researcher Dr Anneli Botha to provide insights into what drives terrorism in the region and how it should be addressed.</em></p>
<h2>Where are Eastern Africa’s terrorism hotspots?</h2>
<p>Eastern Africa has two primary terrorism hotspots.</p>
<p>The first is Somalia. It has experienced continuous instability since 1991, due to clan-based warlords and the lack of a functioning central government. The creation of ungoverned spaces provided Al-Qaeda with a foothold in the region. Ethiopian intervention in 2006 added fuel to the fire after the establishment of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) earlier in the 2000s. In 2005, Al-Shabaab was established as an offshoot of the ICU to become the most relevant actor in Somalia. Since then it has executed attacks beyond its area of operations in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36400842">Uganda</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-djibouti-attacks-idUSKBN0E72AA20140527">Djibouti</a> and Kenya.</p>
<p>Al-Shabaab has been <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328791465_Assessing_the_vulnerability_of_Kenyan_youths_to_radicalisation_and_extremism">recruiting</a> from marginalised communities in Kenya. It has also attracted fighters from Uganda, Tanzania, Djibouti, the US and Europe. </p>
<p>Secondly, similar to Somalia, the eastern part of the DRC has been a hotspot since its own civil war from <a href="https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/drc-conflict-facts">1997 to 2003</a>. An ungoverned part of the country provided a “safe” area where over 100 rebel organisations could base their operations. Groups such as the Allied Democratic Forces and Lord’s Resistance Army from Uganda, under pressure from Ugandan security forces, established themselves in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) along with others in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide in 1994. </p>
<p>The origins of the <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/54b642a14.html">Allied Democratic Forces</a> can be traced back to Christian-Muslim and ethnic divisions even before independence in 1962. The perception of government interference in Muslim affairs played a role in establishing the idea of fighting for an Islamic state (not Islamic State as we know it today). The change in leadership following the arrest of Jamil Mukulu introduced a new chapter under Seka Musa Baluku. Since 2019, the organisation has executed attacks under the umbrella of Islamic State in the Central African Province (IS-CAP), which is also linked to the instability in northern Mozambique.</p>
<p>In the DRC, the local communities within the organisation’s area of operations have had to bear the brunt of attacks. </p>
<h2>What have been the main root causes of terror attacks in the region?</h2>
<p>The root causes of terror attacks are domestic, with origins in each country’s history. There is no single “profile” or reason. It is always a combination of factors – political, social, and economic – that cannot be separated from regional and international events. </p>
<p>The main question is why anyone would want to join any violent extremist organisation, risking death or capture. </p>
<p>Some join voluntarily. Identity politics, due to existing ethnic and religious divisions and subsequent marginalisation and frustration, can drive people to join violent extremist organisations. Others will join for financial reasons.</p>
<p>The final “push” relates to the way security forces respond to the terrorist threat. In my <a href="https://issafrica.org/research/papers/radicalisation-in-kenya-recruitment-to-al-shabaab-and-the-mombasa-republican-council">research since 2011</a> and as part of <a href="https://journey-to-extremism.undp.org/?utm_source=EN&utm_medium=GSR&utm_content=US_UNDP_PaidSearch_Brand_English&utm_campaign=CENTRAL&c_src=CENTRAL&c_src2=GSR&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIma_5zYai9AIVDu3tCh0dDg36EAAYAiAAEgJk7fD_BwE">research projects</a> with the United Nations Development Programme and Finn Church Aid, involving interviews with former members of violent extremist organisations, I’ve heard repeatedly how revenge, anger and hatred of governments and their security forces drove people into joining.</p>
<p>Some are tricked into joining, not knowing what they’ve signed up for. Others are forced, especially where not joining could be interpreted as spying for the government, as <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/somalia-al-shabaab-executes-5-people-for-spying/2162149">witnessed</a> in Somalia. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-did-it-the-kenyan-women-and-girls-who-joined-al-shabaab-151592">Why we did it: the Kenyan women and girls who joined Al-Shabaab</a>
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<p>In Somalia there is also a nationalistic-religious component that facilitated recruitment into Al-Shabaab. This followed the intervention of Ethiopia (supported by the United States), then Uganda, Kenya and Djibouti (African Union Mission troop contributing countries). These are regarded as “Christian nations” invading a Muslim country. It played into a broader narrative starting with the US and western intervention in Afghanistan, but especially Iraq following 9/11.</p>
<h2>How have governments sought to deal with terror attacks and their root causes?</h2>
<p>Predominantly from a short-term security perspective, by “eliminating” the “problem” of suspected terrorists. This has included disappearances and extrajudicial killings. </p>
<p>The way governments respond depends on the level of government control over territory. Where government has no or limited control, the military takes the lead in counterinsurgency (as seen in Somalia and eastern DRC). Where government control increases, the police take the lead. Respecting human rights while countering violent extremism and terrorism has <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/03/mozambique-civilians-killed-as-war-crimes-committed-by-armed-group-government-forces-and-private-military-contractors-new-report/">proved</a> to be particularly <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/africa_nigerias-military-burns-villages-war-boko-haram-rights-group-says/6184250.html">difficult</a> under military command. One reason is that the military’s focus is not on collecting evidence to build a criminal case.</p>
<p>Governments worldwide seldom look into their role in communal marginalisation and frustration. But it’s a crucial root cause. People feel excluded if development in their part of the country is neglected because they don’t support certain politicians. </p>
<h2>Have governments been successful? If not, why?</h2>
<p>No, unfortunately not completely, due to two primary challenges.</p>
<p>First, limited capacity and training and a history of very limited relations between the state, its security forces and the public across the continent. Security sector reforms and community policing initiatives require trust, dedication and time. </p>
<p>Second, governments on the continent have tended to invest more in the military (securing their regime) and not in the police and the broader criminal justice framework (including the judiciary and prisons).</p>
<p>Third, addressing the root causes is not the responsibility of security agencies only. It requires an all of government approach starting with good governance and providing basic public goods equally.</p>
<h2>What else should they do?</h2>
<p>International organisations – for example the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, through its Regional Office for Eastern Africa and Interpol – and the international community have made considerable strides in building capacity and providing equipment to law enforcement agencies across the region. This happens under the guidance of the <a href="https://www.unodc.org/easternafrica/what-we-do/terrorism-prevention/supporting-the-eapcco-counter-terrorism-centre.html">Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation</a>. </p>
<p>Also NGOs and a growing civil society, through research and working with vulnerable communities, provide important guidance and support.</p>
<p>Government and security agencies must be willing to receive support and act in a responsible manner to prevent and counter violent extremism. In eastern Africa, this investment has started to show results. This is clear if one compares the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/16/africa/kenya-hotel-complex-terror-attack/index.html">DusitD2 attacks in Nairobi in 2019</a>, when law enforcement took the lead, with the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/04/westgate-mall-attacks-kenya">2013 Westgate attack</a>, when the military took the lead.</p>
<p>Not all countries have received assistance across the region. Nor can the threat of violent extremism be addressed by individual countries. Violent extremism and organised crime always present transnational challenges. Coordinated efforts, cooperation and capacity building are needed to address an increasing threat that is already having a ripple effect into southern Africa.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172154/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anneli Botha is a consultant for the UNODC in Eastern Africa. </span></em></p>All terrorism in the region has domestic origins but is linked to regional and international events.Anneli Botha, Senior Lecturer, Political Studies and Governance, University of the Free StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1665372021-09-10T12:28:29Z2021-09-10T12:28:29Z9/11 survivors’ exposure to toxic dust and the chronic health conditions that followed offer lessons that are still too often unheeded<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420128/original/file-20210908-22-728gm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C125%2C2775%2C1859&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Toxic dust hung in the air around ground zero for more than three months following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-unidentified-new-york-city-firefighter-walks-away-from-news-photo/1372804?adppopup=true">Anthony Correia/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York resulted in the loss of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/27/us/september-11-anniversary-fast-facts/index.html">2,753 people in the Twin Towers and surrounding area</a>. After the attack, more than 100,000 responders and recovery workers from every U.S. state – along with <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/wtc/history.html">some 400,000 residents</a> and other workers around ground zero – were exposed to a <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/september-11-toxic-world-trade-center-dust-cloud/story?id=14466933">toxic cloud of dust</a> that fell as a ghostly, thick layer of ash and then hung in the air for more than three months. </p>
<p>The World Trade Center dust plume, or <a href="https://doi.org/10.3109/10408444.2015.1044601">WTC dust</a>, consisted of a dangerous mixture of cement dust and particles, asbestos and a class of chemicals called <a href="https://www.epa.gov/international-cooperation/persistent-organic-pollutants-global-issue-global-response">persistent organic pollutants</a>. These include <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dioxin/learn-about-dioxin">cancer-causing dioxins</a> and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/PAHs_FactSheet.html">polyaromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs</a>, which are byproducts of fuel combustion. </p>
<p>The dust also contained heavy metals that are known <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health">to be poisonous to the human body and brain</a>, such as lead – used in the manufacturing of flexible electrical cables – and mercury, which is found in float valves, switches and fluorescent lamps. The dust also contained cadmium, a carcinogen <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-010-9328-y">toxic to the kidneys</a> that is used in the manufacturing of electric batteries and pigments for paints.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Smoke pours from the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420341/original/file-20210909-27-p4t2aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420341/original/file-20210909-27-p4t2aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420341/original/file-20210909-27-p4t2aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420341/original/file-20210909-27-p4t2aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420341/original/file-20210909-27-p4t2aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420341/original/file-20210909-27-p4t2aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420341/original/file-20210909-27-p4t2aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the haunting images from 9/11: Smoke pours from the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York after they were hit by two hijacked airliners.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/smoke-pours-from-the-twin-towers-of-the-world-trade-center-news-photo/1339505?adppopup=true">Robert Giroux via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p><a href="http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/factsheets/polychlorinatedbiphenyls.htm#:%7E:text=Polychlorinated%20biphenyls%20(PCBs)%20are%20a,equipment%20like%20capacitors%20and%20transformers.">Polychlorinated biphenyls</a>, human-made chemicals used in electrical transformers, were also part of the toxic stew. PCBs are <a href="https://www.epa.gov/pcbs/learn-about-polychlorinated-biphenyls-pcbs#healtheffects">known to be carcinogenic</a>, toxic to the nervous system and disruptive to the reproductive system. But they became even more harmful when incinerated at high heat from the jets’ fuel combustion and then carried by very fine particles. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3109/10408444.2015.1044601">WTC dust</a> was made up of both “large” particulate matter and very small, fine and ultrafine ones. These particularly small particles are known to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35398-0">highly toxic</a>, especially to the nervous system since they can travel directly through the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuro.2011.12.001">nasal cavity to the brain</a>. </p>
<p>Many first responders and others who were directly exposed to the dust developed a <a href="https://doi.org/10.3109/10408444.2015.1044601">severe and persistent cough</a> that lasted for a month, on average. They were treated at Mount Sinai Hospital and received care at the Clinic of Occupational Medicine, a well-known center for work-related diseases.</p>
<p>I am a physician specializing in occupational medicine who began working directly with 9/11 survivors in my role as director of the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/wtc/">WTC Health Program</a> <a href="https://icahn.mssm.edu/about/departments/environmental-public-health/research/wtc-data-center">Data Center</a> at Mount Sinai beginning in 2012. That program collects data, as well as monitors and oversees the public health of WTC rescue and recovery workers. After eight years in that role, I <a href="https://stempel.fiu.edu/faculty/roberto-lucchini/">moved to Florida International University</a> in Miami, where I am planning to continue working with 9/11 responders who are moving to Florida as they reach retirement age.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="In lower Manhattan near Ground Zero, people run away as the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420343/original/file-20210909-23-1bc9fnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420343/original/file-20210909-23-1bc9fnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420343/original/file-20210909-23-1bc9fnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420343/original/file-20210909-23-1bc9fnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420343/original/file-20210909-23-1bc9fnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420343/original/file-20210909-23-1bc9fnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420343/original/file-20210909-23-1bc9fnj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Remembering 9/11: As the north tower of the World Trade Center collapses, a cloud of toxic gas chases terrified residents and tourists.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-run-away-as-the-north-tower-of-world-trade-center-news-photo/1339533?adppopup=true">Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From acute to chronic conditions</h2>
<p>After the initial “acute” health problems that 9/11 responders faced, they soon began experiencing a wave of chronic diseases that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126383">continue to affect them</a> 20 years later. The persistent cough gave way to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/dmp.2011.58">respiratory diseases</a> such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and upper airway diseases such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2015-103094">chronic rhinosinusitis</a>, laryngitis and nasopharyngitis. </p>
<p>The litany of respiratory diseases also put many of them at risk for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ajg.2011.357">gastroesophageal reflux disease</a> (GERD), which occurs at a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0b013e3181845f9b">higher rate in WTC survivors</a> than in the general population. This condition occurs when stomach acids reenter the esophagus, or food pipe, that connects the stomach to the throat. As a consequence of either the airway or the digestive disorders, many of these survivors also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0b013e3182305282">struggle with sleep apnea</a>, which requires additional treatments.</p>
<p>Further compounding the tragedy, about eight years after the attacks, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jncics/pkz090">cancers began to turn up</a> in 9/11 survivors. These include tumors of the blood and lymphoid tissues such as lymphoma, myeloma and leukemia, which are well known to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1745-6673-8-14">affect workers exposed to carcinogens</a> in the workplace. But survivors also suffer from other cancers, including breast, head and neck, prostate, lung and thyroid cancers. </p>
<p>Some have also developed mesothelioma, an aggressive form of cancer related to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2013-204161">exposure to asbestos</a>. <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/9stories/september-11-death-toll-from-terror-attack-could-rise-by-millions-due-to-toxic-asbestos-dust/8bc90677-0032-42a2-82f9-4b9baad753d9">Asbestos</a> was used in the early construction of the north tower until public advocacy and broader awareness of its health dangers <a href="https://www.mesothelioma.com/states/new-york/world-trade-center/">brought its use to a halt</a>.</p>
<p>And the psychological trauma that 9/11 survivors experienced has left many suffering from persistent mental health challenges. One <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-019-00998-z">study</a> published in 2020 found that of more than 16,000 WTC responders for whom data was collected, nearly half reported a need for mental health care, and 20% of those who were directly affected developed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dadm.2016.08.001">post-traumatic stress disorder</a>. </p>
<p>Many have told me that the contact they had with parts of human bodies or with the deadly scene and the tragic days afterward left a permanent mark on their lives. They are unable to forget the images, and many of them suffer from mood disorders as well as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-019-0449-7">cognitive impairments and other behavioral issues</a>, including substance use disorder. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="On 9/11, shortly after the terrorist attack in New York City, a distraught survivor sits outside the World Trade Center." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420347/original/file-20210909-23-do7s5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420347/original/file-20210909-23-do7s5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420347/original/file-20210909-23-do7s5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420347/original/file-20210909-23-do7s5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420347/original/file-20210909-23-do7s5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420347/original/file-20210909-23-do7s5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420347/original/file-20210909-23-do7s5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Remembering 9/11: A distraught survivor sits outside the World Trade Center after the terrorist attack.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/survivor-sits-outside-the-world-trade-center-after-two-news-photo/50833029?adppopup=true">Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An aging generation of survivors</h2>
<p>Now, 20 years on, these survivors face a new challenge as they age and move toward retirement – a <a href="https://doi.org/10.3386/w12123">difficult life transition</a> that can sometimes lead to mental health decline. Prior to retirement, the daily drumbeat of work activity and a steady schedule often helps keep the mind busy. But retirement can sometimes leave a void – one that for 9/11 survivors is too often filled with unwanted memories of the noises, smells, fear and despair of that terrible day and the days that followed. Many survivors have told me they do not want to return to Manhattan and certainly not to the WTC. </p>
<p>Aging can also bring with it forgetfulness and other cognitive challenges. But studies show that these natural processes are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-019-0449-7">accelerated and more severe</a> in 9/11 survivors, similar to the experience of veterans from war zones. This is a concerning trend, but all the more so because a growing body of research, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-846359/v1">our own preliminary study</a>, is finding links between <a href="https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.105.014779">cognitive impairment in 9/11 responders and dementia</a>. A recent <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2021/08/30/911-first-responders-dementia/">Washington Post piece detailed</a> how 9/11 survivors are experiencing these dementia-like conditions in their 50s – far earlier than is typical. </p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic, too, has taken a toll on those who have already suffered from 9/11. People with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100515">preexisting conditions</a> have been at far higher risk during the pandemic. Not surprisingly, a recent study found a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254713">higher incidence of COVID-19</a> in WTC responders from January through August 2020.</p>
<h2>Honoring the 9/11 survivors</h2>
<p>The health risks posed by direct exposure to the acrid dust was underestimated at the time, and poorly understood. Appropriate personal protective equipment, such as P100 half-face respirators, was not available at that time. </p>
<p>But now, over 20 years on, we know much more about the risks – and we have much greater access to protective equipment that can keep responders and recovery workers safe following disasters. Yet, too often, I see that we have not learned and applied these lessons. </p>
<p>For instance, in the immediate aftermath of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/07/06/us/miami-building-collapse-updates">condominium collapse</a> near Miami Beach last June, it took days before P100 half-face respirators were fully available and made mandatory for the responders. Other examples around the world are even worse: One year after the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/08/04/1024275186/a-year-after-the-beirut-explosion-victims-families-continue-to-push-for-justice">Beirut explosion</a> in August 2020, very little action had been taken to investigate and manage the physical and <a href="https://timep.org/commentary/analysis/the-beirut-explosions-impact-on-mental-health/">mental health consequences </a> among responders and the impacted community.</p>
<p>Applying the lessons learned from 9/11 is a critically important way to honor the victims and the brave men and women who took part in the desperate rescue and recovery efforts back on those terrible days.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166537/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roberto Lucchini receives funding from CDC/NIOSH to study the cognitive impacts associated to the WTC exposure to neurotoxins and to intense psychological trauma. </span></em></p>Those directly exposed to toxic dust and trauma on and after 9/11 carry with them a generation of chronic health conditions, which are placing them at higher risk during the pandemic and as they age.Roberto Lucchini, Professor of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, Florida International UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1673532021-09-08T20:12:45Z2021-09-08T20:12:45Z9/11 conspiracy theories debunked: 20 years later, engineering experts explain how the twin towers collapsed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419912/original/file-20210908-7120-1nfd6c7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C26%2C4346%2C2900&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roberto Robanne/AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The collapse of the World Trade Center has been subject to intense public scrutiny over the 20 years, since the centre’s twin towers were struck by aircraft hijacked by terrorists. Both collapsed within two hours of impact, prompting several investigations and spawning a variety of conspiracy theories. </p>
<p>Construction on the World Trade Center 1 (the North Tower) and World Trade Center 2 (the South Tower) began in the 1960s. They were constructed from steel and concrete, using a design that was groundbreaking at the time. Most high-rise buildings since have used a similar structure.</p>
<p>The investigatory reports into the events of September 11, 2001 were undertaken by the <a href="https://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/fema403_ch2.pdf">US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)</a> and the <a href="https://www.nist.gov/el/final-reports-nist-world-trade-center-disaster-investigation">National Institute of Standards and Technology</a>. </p>
<p>FEMA’s report was published in 2002. This was followed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s three-year investigation, funded by the US Federal Government and published in 2005.</p>
<p>Some conspiracy theorists seized on the fact the NIST investigation was funded by the federal government — believing the government itself had caused the twin towers’ collapse, or was aware it would happen and deliberately didn’t act.</p>
<p>While there have been critics of both reports (and the investigations behind them weren’t flawless) — their explanation for the buildings’ collapse is widely accepted. They conclude it was not caused by direct impact by the aircraft, or the use of explosives, but by fires that burned inside the buildings after impact.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419934/original/file-20210908-18-1d6m7vf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Fire and rescue workers search through the rubble of the World Trade Centrr" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419934/original/file-20210908-18-1d6m7vf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419934/original/file-20210908-18-1d6m7vf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419934/original/file-20210908-18-1d6m7vf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419934/original/file-20210908-18-1d6m7vf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419934/original/file-20210908-18-1d6m7vf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419934/original/file-20210908-18-1d6m7vf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419934/original/file-20210908-18-1d6m7vf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fire and rescue workers search through the rubble of the World Trade Center in New York on 13 September 2001. On 11 September 2001, two aircrafts were flown into the centre’s twin towers, causing both to collapse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">BETH A. KEISER/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why did the towers collapse as they did?</h2>
<p>Some have questioned why the buildings did not “topple over” after being struck side-on by aircraft. But the answer becomes clear once you consider the details. </p>
<p>Aircraft are made from lightweight materials, such as aluminium. If you compare the mass of an aircraft with that of a skyscraper more than 400 metres tall and built from steel and concrete, it makes sense the building would not topple over.</p>
<p>The towers would have been more than 1,000 times the mass of the aircraft, and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11837-001-0003-1">designed to resist</a> steady wind loads more than 30 times the aircrafts’ weight.</p>
<p>That said, the aircraft did dislodge fireproofing material within the towers, which was coated on the steel columns and on the steel floor trusses (underneath concrete slabs). The lack of fireproofing left the steel unprotected.</p>
<p>As such, the impact also structurally <a href="https://www.nist.gov/el/final-reports-nist-world-trade-center-disaster-investigation">damaged</a> the supporting steel columns. When a few columns become damaged, the load they carry is transferred to other columns. This is why both towers withstood the initial impacts and didn’t collapse immediately.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/9-11-the-controversial-story-of-the-remains-of-the-world-trade-center-167481">9/11: the controversial story of the remains of the World Trade Center</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Progressive collapse</h2>
<p>The fact that the towers withstood initial impacts also spawned one of the most common conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11: that a bomb or explosives must have been detonated somewhere within the buildings. </p>
<p>These theories have developed from video footage showing the towers rapidly collapsing downwards some time after impact, similar to a controlled demolition. But it is possible for them to have collapsed this way without explosives. </p>
<p>It was fire that caused this. And the fire is believed to have come from the burning of remaining aircraft fuel. </p>
<p>According to the FEMA report, fire within the buildings caused thermal expansion of the floors in a horizontal and outwards direction, pushing against the rigid steel columns — which deflected to an extent but resisted further movement.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419729/original/file-20210907-17-ceifdd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419729/original/file-20210907-17-ceifdd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419729/original/file-20210907-17-ceifdd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419729/original/file-20210907-17-ceifdd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419729/original/file-20210907-17-ceifdd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419729/original/file-20210907-17-ceifdd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419729/original/file-20210907-17-ceifdd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This figure shows the expansion of floor slabs and framing which likely happened as a result of the fires.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">FEMA / https://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/fema403_ch2.pdf</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With the columns resisting movement, there was nowhere else for the concrete floors to expand to. This led to an increased buildup of stress in the sagging floors, until the floor framing and connections gave in. </p>
<p>The floors’ failure pulled the columns back inwards, eventually leading to them buckling, and the floors collapsing. The collapsing floors then fell on more floors below, leading to a progressive collapse.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419730/original/file-20210907-15-n8yw7s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419730/original/file-20210907-15-n8yw7s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419730/original/file-20210907-15-n8yw7s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419730/original/file-20210907-15-n8yw7s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419730/original/file-20210907-15-n8yw7s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419730/original/file-20210907-15-n8yw7s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419730/original/file-20210907-15-n8yw7s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The buckling of columns initiated by floor failure.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">FEMA / https://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/fema403_ch2.pdf</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This explanation, documented in the official reports, is widely accepted by experts as the cause of the twin towers’ collapse. It is <a href="https://www.nist.gov/el/final-reports-nist-world-trade-center-disaster-investigation">understood</a> the South Tower collapsed sooner because it suffered more damage from the initial aircraft impact, which also dislodged more fireproofing material. </p>
<p>The debris from the collapse of the North Tower set at least ten floors alight in the nearby World Trade Center 7 building, or “Building 7”, which also <a href="https://www.nist.gov/publications/final-report-collapse-world-trade-center-building-7-federal-building-and-fire-safety-0">collapsed</a> about seven hours later. </p>
<p>While there are different theories regarding how the progressive collapse of Building 7 was initiated, there is <a href="https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/data/UQ_9f81895/P003_UQ9f81895_Paper21.pdf?dsi_version=87e49663794e5734a13be9924e57b0a7&Expires=1631067602&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJKNBJ4MJBJNC6NLQ&Signature=BFjdytaaDOoZ4UkNnYkXUS5J5CZrVXDG0C%7E39s6s3ljwVyI8yeiKjFSWIbVMrPxD2J%7EYfBgk8AMGWZ2NfJCyn4EOn2KpKGZ8wY-eJXXLmwU3hRbIBGl9sFTIOwNIAuAgPjMPQtIJS6K9vRxvasOJpXnSWZYNc67UOKSZJ84HPu7es-4DcQPn18AmHVq6oBDaCjeIlWZmx9v05H8CaOi9VaT%7EHPxJR0J46QXyL4w72BoU287X58Z3n6wB5cyeeULUL7zIwQo0HLLofLKfyam5zaKDXghQNVTtwEfaX5l7pj2zVedjbpZiaNQ6KZcR7pO%7EXuCwmaRM0QgrU-GK2q4pCg">consensus among investigators</a> fire was the primary cause of failure.</p>
<p>Both official reports made a range of fire safety recommendations for other high-rise buildings, including to improve evacuation and emergency response. In 2007, the National Institute of Standards and Technology also published a <a href="https://www.nist.gov/publications/best-practices-reducing-potential-progressive-collapse-buildings">best practice guide</a> recommending solutions to reduce risk of progressive collapse.</p>
<h2>What does this mean for high-rise buildings?</h2>
<p>Before 9/11, progressive collapse wasn’t well understood by engineers. The disaster highlighted the importance of having a “global view” of fire safety for a building, as opposed to focusing on individual elements. </p>
<p>There have since been changes to building codes and standards on improving the structural performance of buildings on fire, as well as opportunities to escape (such as added stairwell requirements).</p>
<p>At the same time, the collapse of the twin towers demonstrated the very real dangers of fire in high-rise buildings. In the decades since the World Trade Center was designed, buildings have become taller and more complex, as societies demand sustainable and cost-effective housing in large cities.</p>
<p>Some 86 of the current <a href="https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/buildings">100 tallest</a> buildings in the world were built after 9/11. This has coincided with a significant increase in building façade fires globally, which have <a href="https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO201809355933912.page">gone up sevenfold</a> in the past three decades.</p>
<p>This can be partly attributed to the wide use of flammable cladding. It is marketed as an innovative, cost-effective and sustainable material, yet it has shown significant shortcomings in terms of fire safety — as witnessed in the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40301289">2017 Grenfell Disaster</a>. </p>
<p>The Grenfell fire (and similar cladding fires) are proof that fire safety in tall buildings is still a problem. And as structures get taller and more complex, with new and innovative designs and materials, questions around fire safety will only become more difficult to answer.</p>
<p>The events of 9/11 may have been challenging to foresee, but the fires that led to the towers’ collapse could have been better prepared for.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cladding-fire-risks-have-been-known-for-years-lives-depend-on-acting-now-with-no-more-delays-111186">Cladding fire risks have been known for years. Lives depend on acting now, with no more delays</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167353/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Oswald has received funding from various organisations including the Association of Researchers in Construction Management and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. He is affiliated with The Institute of Civil Engineers acting as a journal Associate Editor.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erica Kuligowski currently receives funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Measurement Science and Engineering Grants Program (as a subcontractor). She is affiliated with the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) as a Section Editor for their Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering (Human Behaviour Section) and as a member of the Board of Governors for the SFPE Foundation. Also, from 2002 to 2020, Erica worked as a research engineer and social scientist in the Engineering Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. While at NIST, Erica worked on NIST's Technical Investigation of the 2001 WTC Disaster as a team member of Project 7: Occupant Behavior, Egress, and Emergency Communications.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Nguyen receives funding from the Australian Research Council and other government/industry-funded programs. She is a member of the Society of Fire Safety, Engineers Australia. The view and opinion that she has in this article is her personal view and does not represent her employer's opinion. </span></em></p>The World Trade Center buildings were built to withstand wind loads more than 30 times the aircrafts’ weight.David Oswald, Senior Lecturer in Construction, RMIT UniversityErica Kuligowski, Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow, RMIT UniversityKate Nguyen, Senior Lecturer, ARC DECRA Fellow and Victoria Fellow, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1673372021-09-07T04:28:36Z2021-09-07T04:28:36ZDespite deportation and detention attempts, could New Zealand have done more to prevent Friday’s terror attack?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419702/original/file-20210907-21-19pvdjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C81%2C4945%2C3197&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fiona Goodall/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>New Zealand is fast-tracking <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/450833/cabinet-ministers-to-consider-whether-law-changes-needed-following-lynnmall-terror-attack">changes to counter-terrorism laws</a> in response to Friday’s terror attack, but several other laws are relevant in this case and further investigations must ask why they weren’t used to detain the attacker. </p>
<p>The terrorist was shot dead within moments of beginning a potentially lethal attack at an Auckland supermarket because he was considered dangerous enough to be under 24-hour police surveillance. A complex chain of prosecutions meant intensive monitoring was the only option police had to protect the public. </p>
<p>Efforts to ensure public safety included bringing criminal charges, which resulted in pre-trial detention. But preventive detention was not available, despite the terrorist setting, and this suggests a gap in the sentencing regime. </p>
<p>Under New Zealand criminal law, a person can be prosecuted for conspiring to commit an offence, but this requires at least two people to agree. For someone acting alone, planning an attack is not enough. This is a gap in the <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/0034/latest/DLM151491.html">Terrorism Suppression Act 2002</a> and New Zealand will likely follow other countries, including Australia, where preparing or planning a terrorist act constitutes an offence.</p>
<p>Apart from criminal law, there are two other areas of law that can be used to detain people considered dangerous: mental health law and, given the terrorist’s refugee status, immigration law. </p>
<h2>Sequence of prosecutions leads to supervision sentence</h2>
<p>The terrorist was prosecuted for various offences and spent a significant amount of time in detention, pending trial. </p>
<p>In 2017, having been arrested trying to leave New Zealand, nine charges were laid, including one of sharing ISIS-related material via Facebook, in breach of the <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0094/55.0/DLM312895.html">Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act 1993</a>, and another of having an offensive weapon. He was denied bail because he was considered at risk of further offending through sharing problematic material and carrying out violence.</p>
<p>Part of this case turned on how bad the shared material was. The censor concluded it was not “objectionable”, which is the worst kind, but “restricted”. This meant the charges relating to his social media activities carried at most three months’ imprisonment each. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Police Commissioner Andrew Coster during a media conference." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419703/original/file-20210907-19-ilaal5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419703/original/file-20210907-19-ilaal5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419703/original/file-20210907-19-ilaal5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419703/original/file-20210907-19-ilaal5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419703/original/file-20210907-19-ilaal5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419703/original/file-20210907-19-ilaal5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/419703/original/file-20210907-19-ilaal5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Police Commissioner Andrew Coster during a media conference. The terrorist was under police surveillance and known to authorities as a supporter of the Islamic State.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Mitchell - Pool/Getty Images</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>He was released on bail after pleading guilty to sharing ISIS propaganda because he had already spent 13 months in custody and the offences would not carry a sentence of that length for a first offender. But before being sentenced, he was arrested again in August 2018 and remanded in custody pre-trial. </p>
<p>The new charges covered further offences relating to problematic material. This time, it was possession of “objectionable” material, which carries a maximum sentence of ten years. There were also two new charges relating to offensive weapons, and an earlier charge was reinstated. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealand-needs-to-go-beyond-fast-tracking-counter-terrorism-laws-to-reduce-the-risk-of-future-attacks-167338">New Zealand needs to go beyond fast-tracking counter-terrorism laws to reduce the risk of future attacks</a>
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<p>The trigger for the second arrest was his purchase of another hunting knife. The prosecution argued this was a terrorist act because it showed he was planning to carry out an attack, but the courts rejected this. He was convicted of two offences relating to objectionable material, but sentenced to intensive supervision rather than a prison term.</p>
<p>This was because the Sentencing Act 2002 says the maximum sentence should be imposed only for examples of the worst offending, and the prosecution accepted he had already served more time in prison, awaiting trial, than would be imposed. </p>
<h2>Gaps in other laws</h2>
<p>There are two other sentencing matters to note. For several decades, New Zealand courts have been able to impose preventive detention, which is essentially a life sentence. But this power only arises in relation to a list of sexual or violent offences. It does not include the offending for which the terrorist was sentenced. This is a gap that requires further investigation.</p>
<p>New Zealand also allows for preventive detention under the <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2014/0068/latest/DLM4751015.html">Public Safety (Public Protection Orders) Act 2014</a>, but this requires a past conviction for a serious sexual or violent offence. Again, this case was outside this legislation. </p>
<p>Many reports about the attacker refer to his paranoia. This raises the question of detention under the <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1992/0046/latest/DLM262176.html">Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992</a>. This requires an “abnormal state of mind” and a “serious danger” to his own or others’ health and safety. </p>
<p>There was a psychiatric report for the 2018 sentencing decision, which records various symptoms of mental illness, but it does not appear there was an updated report in 2021. Further investigations should ask whether this was an avenue that should have been used.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealands-latest-terror-attack-shows-why-isis-is-harder-to-defeat-online-than-on-the-battlefield-167336">New Zealand's latest terror attack shows why ISIS is harder to defeat online than on the battlefield</a>
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<p>Finally, there is the immigration context. Several steps were taken to remove the terrorist’s refugee status, as a precursor to deportation from New Zealand. Refugee status can be lost on several grounds, including proof that it was obtained by fraud. </p>
<p>Deportation of refugees is also possible on national security grounds, but it cannot be to a country where the person would be placed at undue risk unless they have committed a very serious offence that reveals a danger to the community. For someone who has come from and can only be returned to a country where they face such a risk, deportation is very difficult. </p>
<p>These are all decisions that require very careful consideration. The Immigration Act 2009 has very significant limitations on detention, particularly for those who have <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/450892/opportunity-to-deport-lynnmall-terrorist-missed-if-considered-security-threat-lawyer">refugee status</a>. </p>
<p>Mental health legislation may have been more relevant in this case and the fact it wasn’t used calls for an investigation. As it was, the only power available was for the police to carry out a surveillance operation, complete with armed officers. This suggests they viewed the man as a clear and present danger.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167337/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kris Gledhill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The perpetrator of Friday’s terror attack in Auckland spent time in prison for sharing objectionable ISIS material, but under New Zealand’s criminal law he couldn’t be detained for planning an attack.Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1650542021-08-30T12:28:27Z2021-08-30T12:28:27ZWhy is it so difficult to fight domestic terrorism? 6 experts share their thoughts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417904/original/file-20210825-21-7ji19h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C0%2C4328%2C2883&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Domestic extremists were involved in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CapitolRiotSeattlePolice/13bcd4eca17e43b182f003faa18e9173/photo">AP Photo/John Minchillo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United States’ first-ever <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/15/us/politics/biden-domestic-terrorism-extremists.html">national strategy for countering domestic terrorism</a> calls for better information-sharing among law enforcement agencies and efforts to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/National-Strategy-for-Countering-Domestic-Terrorism.pdf">prevent extremist groups from recruiting online</a>. Published in June 2021, the document is bolstered by the recent introduction of several <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/964/text?r=8&s=1">counterterrorism bills</a>. The Department of Homeland Security has earmarked <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/04/us/politics/domestic-terrorism-biden.html">hundreds of millions of dollars</a> in funding to prevent attacks. </p>
<p>After two decades of <a href="https://www.ict.org.il/Article/2079/BUSH-OBAMA-AND-TRUMP#gsc.tab=0">successive administrations</a> focusing almost exclusively on the foreign militant Islamist threat, it appears that domestic far-right extremism, especially white supremacy and militia violence, is now at the top of the national security agenda. However, far-right political violence is not new, nor are coordinated efforts to eliminate it. </p>
<p>America has a long history of failed anti-terrorism programs, from the much-neglected <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/17/politics/ku-klux-klan-act-lawsuit-trump/index.html">Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871</a> to the quick and forceful <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/21/us/terror-oklahoma-congress-anti-terrorism-bill-blast-turns-snail-into-race-horse.html">legislative response</a> to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.</p>
<p>Experts are concerned that this latest plan will not represent a new direction, but rather a continuation of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-much-government-surveillance-will-americans-accept-42719">past counterterrorism efforts</a>, including <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/bidens-domestic-terrorism-strategy-entrenches-bias-and-harmful-law-enforcement-power/">violations of citizens’ rights</a> and discrimination against people of certain ethnic or religious backgrounds.</p>
<p>I, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=4skKJa4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Mikkel Dack</a>, am a historian of Germany who studies far-right violence and counter-radicalization projects in that country after World War II. But while what Germany called “<a href="https://www.alliiertenmuseum.de/en/topics/denazification.html">denazification</a>” does hold many lessons for today, the American context is vastly different from postwar Europe. So I asked a panel of counterterrorism experts what they see as the greatest practical challenges to fighting far-right violent extremism in the United States.</p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-important">Get The Conversation’s most important politics headlines, in our Politics Weekly newsletter</a>.</em>]</p>
<h2><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=IwjBNRIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Gary LaFree</a>, University of Maryland</h2>
<p>Excluding the coordinated attacks of 9/11, domestic right-wing terrorism has caused <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/R42536.pdf">more harm</a> to American citizens at home than radical Islamist attacks over the past two decades.</p>
<p>However, the urge to develop immediate legislation to confront the threat of domestic terrorism could cause trouble. Domestic attacks like the one that occurred on <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/capitol-riot-100238">Jan. 6, 2021</a> are rare, yet they encourage immediate and far-reaching responses that are not easily rolled back. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://bja.ojp.gov/program/it/privacy-civil-liberties/authorities/statutes/1281">USA PATRIOT Act</a> of 2001, which sailed through Congress in just three days after the 9/11 attacks, addressed very different circumstances than those involved in domestic extremism.</p>
<p>In particular, one provision of the Patriot Act criminalizes anyone who raises money, supplies propaganda or otherwise provides what the law calls “material support” to terrorist organizations, even if the person has no other connections to terrorism. If applied to U.S. citizens supporting groups based in the U.S., that would likely raise huge legal challenges under the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of assembly and association.</p>
<p>In addition, it’s politically complicated to even consider labeling domestic groups as terrorist organizations, as seen in the fractious efforts to decide whether <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-or-who-is-antifa-140147">antifa</a> or the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/proud-boys-extremist-group-fbi-2018-11?op=1">Proud Boys</a> are <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/05/02/992846086/proud-boys-named-terrorist-entity-in-canada">terrorist organizations</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361973/original/file-20201006-18-1k4gfyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two people wearing military-like gear" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361973/original/file-20201006-18-1k4gfyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361973/original/file-20201006-18-1k4gfyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361973/original/file-20201006-18-1k4gfyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361973/original/file-20201006-18-1k4gfyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361973/original/file-20201006-18-1k4gfyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361973/original/file-20201006-18-1k4gfyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361973/original/file-20201006-18-1k4gfyx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Two members of the Proud Boys wear military-like gear at a rally in Oregon in September 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-proud-boys-a-right-wing-pro-trump-group-are-heavily-news-photo/1228752071">John Rudoff/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=en3_dNwAAAAJ">Kurt Braddock</a>, American University</h2>
<p>Following (Donald) Trump’s election loss, some conservative politicians have rushed to appear ideologically consistent with the former president, including his <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/proud-boys-stand-back-and-stand-by-trump-refuses-to-condemn-white-supremacists/">allusions of support</a> for the far-right. Many make <a href="https://www.al.com/news/2021/01/mo-brooks-today-patriots-start-kicking-ass-in-fighting-vote-results.html">statements</a> that tacitly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/technology/twitter-matt-gaetz-warning.html">approve</a> of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2021/01/02/gop-rep-gohmert-says-violence-is-only-recourse-after-election-lawsuit-dismissal/?sh=7499496d66c0">violence</a> in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/02/05/madison-cawthorn-capitol-riot-rally/">the service</a> of political objectives.</p>
<p>These politicians tend to avoid overt directives, providing them with plausible deniability should violence occur. But when statements reach millions of people, at least some will <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/25/capitol-riots-garret-miller-says-he-was-following-trumps-orders-apologizes-to-aoc.html">interpret them as orders</a>.</p>
<p>The difficulty posed by this phenomenon, called “<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/jargon-watch-rising-danger-stochastic-terrorism/">stochastic terrorism</a>,” is couched in the speech protections of the First Amendment and judicial precedents. In 1969, the Supreme Court decided that <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/395/444/">speech in support of terrorism</a> is protected by the First Amendment unless it incites violence immediately. This renders the link between speech and violence subjective. </p>
<p>In some cases, politicians have been prosecuted for <a href="http://houserepublicans.wa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/RampartGroupReport.pdf">influencing extremist violence</a>. In others, the speaker <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/13/us/politics/trump-impeachment.html">avoided punishment</a>. Because implied support for violent extremism remains only subjectively punishable, some politicians will likely continue to make implicit statements that increase the likelihood of right-wing domestic terrorism.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417882/original/file-20210825-21-zoxc6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a suit stands with his arms spread on a platform lined with U.S. flags, in front of the White House and a crowd of people" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417882/original/file-20210825-21-zoxc6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417882/original/file-20210825-21-zoxc6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417882/original/file-20210825-21-zoxc6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417882/original/file-20210825-21-zoxc6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417882/original/file-20210825-21-zoxc6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417882/original/file-20210825-21-zoxc6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417882/original/file-20210825-21-zoxc6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Right-wing politicians, including former President Donald Trump, at times make statements that seem right on the line between free speech and incitement to violence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CapitalBreachRecords/33e8b2b0b95441e3b42c1dc58ddff80f/photo">AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin</a></span>
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<h2><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=e_JYQCkAAAAJ">John Horgan</a>, Georgia State University</h2>
<p>On July 19, 2021, 38-year-old Florida resident Paul Hodgkins received an <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/07/19/1017916061/capitol-rioter-who-walked-on-senate-floor-on-jan-6-sentenced-to-8-months-in-pris">eight-month prison sentence</a> for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. His conviction, and dozens more <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/capitol-riot-arrests-latest-2021-07-29/">expected to follow</a>, raises questions of what will happen to them while in prison – and after their release. </p>
<p>In the past, neither the national security agencies nor the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Prisons has seriously considered how to handle extremist inmates while they serve their sentences, nor how to offer them a road to reintegration with the country they attacked, or planned to.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.resolvenet.org/system/files/2021-08/RSVE%20Policy%20Note_Horgan_August%202021.pdf">Deradicalization</a> efforts to address the increasingly diverse population of homegrown terrorists could include <a href="https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/20200729-pw_163-violent_extremist_disengagement_and_reconciliation_a_peacebuilding_approach-pw.pdf">psychological counseling and restorative justice</a>. The benefits could extend beyond the decreased risk of future extremism, to rebuilding trust in government agencies and <a href="https://www.resolvenet.org/research/violent-extremist-disengagement-and-reintegration-lessons-over-30-years-ddr">communities torn apart by political and cultural discord</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417883/original/file-20210825-23-1f1btzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people link arms and stand together in a line as one person walks in front of them" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417883/original/file-20210825-23-1f1btzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417883/original/file-20210825-23-1f1btzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417883/original/file-20210825-23-1f1btzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417883/original/file-20210825-23-1f1btzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417883/original/file-20210825-23-1f1btzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417883/original/file-20210825-23-1f1btzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417883/original/file-20210825-23-1f1btzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former Boko Haram fighters mark the end of their deradicalization training in Niger in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/former-boko-haram-fighters-attend-a-ceremony-marking-the-news-photo/1189312339">Boureima Hama/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=IEFeHiAAAAAJ">Colleen Murphy</a>, University of Illinois, and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=3sQFwYYAAAAJ">Monika Nalepa</a>, University of Chicago</h2>
<p>The problem of domestic terrorism is not just something to be tackled by the government, but is a fundamental challenge within government agencies. Radicalization is particularly dangerous within <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/white-supremacist-links-law-enforcement-are-urgent-concern">law enforcement</a> and the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/01/21/958915267/nearly-one-in-five-defendants-in-capitol-riot-cases-served-in-the-military">military</a>, whose members are armed and hold positions of power in society.</p>
<p>Screening military and other government officials for <a href="https://theconversation.com/americans-arent-worried-about-white-nationalism-in-the-military-because-they-dont-know-its-there-147341">ties to extremist groups</a> is key to the success of the other components of the White House strategy. But most government background checks rely heavily on friends and family members. That system will not be reliable if many of those people themselves have deep distrust in the government and may be radicalized or otherwise misguided by <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/01/971436680/from-the-u-s-capitol-to-local-governments-disinformation-disrupts">disinformation</a>.</p>
<p>Vetting systems could be adapted to include questions that will elicit information about radicalism. In addition, government agencies could require job candidates – or existing employees – to disclose their own connections to extremist groups and ideologies, coupled with penalties for failing to do so.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165054/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gary LaFree receives funding from the National Institute of Justice and the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Horgan receives funding from the National Institute of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. He has conducted research and co-authored with Kurt Braddock, another author on this piece.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kurt Braddock receives funding from the US Department of Homeland Security to perform research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monika Nalepa receives funding from The National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colleen Murphy and Mikkel Dack do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Addressing American domestic radicalism will require new ways of thinking about the nation’s problems, and new ways of solving them.Mikkel Dack, Assistant Professor of History, Research Director of Rowan Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights, Rowan UniversityColleen Murphy, Roger and Stephany Joslin Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy and Political Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignGary LaFree, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of MarylandJohn Horgan, Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, Georgia State UniversityKurt Braddock, Assistant Professor of Public Communication, American University School of CommunicationMonika Nalepa, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of ChicagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1627052021-08-15T16:36:56Z2021-08-15T16:36:56ZFrance’s new ‘separatism’ law stigmatises minorities and could backfire badly<p>France’s constitutional council has approved, with minor amendments, the “law consolidating respect for the principles of the Republic”, a <a href="https://www.vie-publique.fr/loi/277621-loi-respect-des-principes-de-la-republique">bill</a> that aims to counter “separatism” in French society. It is part of President Emmanuel Macron’s program to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/23/world/europe/france-terrorism-islamist-extremism-laws-passed.html">combat terrorism</a>.</p>
<p>The bill includes measures to oblige neutrality in organisations that collaborate with public services, allow the government exert more control over charities and NGOs, require authorisation for home schooling and outlaw “virginity certificates”.</p>
<p>The law has been the subject of much controversy since it was drafted. Some on the left, including NGOs and university groups, <a href="https://www.liberation.fr/debats/2021/01/21/loi-separatisme-une-grave-atteinte-aux-libertes-associatives_1818075/">say it is an attack on civil liberties</a>, while others, including right-wing politicians, consider it <a href="https://www.liberation.fr/politique/loi-separatisme-lr-ressort-ses-ficelles-securitaires-20210202_FOTNIZIA5VD3FDZQZGAZUP7UW4/">too weak</a> in its refusal to use the term “communitarianism” instead of “separatism” or to ban the veil in public spaces for minors.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Lire cet article en Français</em>: <strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/lutte-contre-le-separatisme-une-loi-qui-stigmatise-les-minorites-159576">“Lutte contre le séparatisme”, une loi qui stigmatise les minorités?</a></strong></p>
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<h2>Separatism vs. universalism</h2>
<p>In France, it is not forbidden to form a community – it is even part of the <a href="https://www.vie-publique.fr/fiches/23865-libertes-et-droits-fondamentaux-de-quoi-sagit-il">fundamental freedoms</a> enshrined in the constitution, through the guarantee of freedom of association, worship, trade unionism and politics.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.openedition.org/cpuc/425#tocto1n1">Sociologically speaking</a>, forming a community means grouping together with others due to a feeling of belonging or shared common interests. It can be a good thing for society. But the term “separatism” in French has a purely negative meaning. Historically, the term “separatist” has been used to stigmatise attempts to organise religious, territorial or racial minorities in France.</p>
<p>This raises questions about the effects of this law on an already marginalised population, who are <a href="https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/15/textes/l15t0641_texte-adopte-seance#">not mentioned in the text</a>, but who are directly targeted by it: French Muslims.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Print from 1793 using a common motif of the First Republic bearing the slogan: ‘Unity, Indivisibility of the Republic, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity or Death’" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415699/original/file-20210811-15-1kyh7m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415699/original/file-20210811-15-1kyh7m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415699/original/file-20210811-15-1kyh7m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415699/original/file-20210811-15-1kyh7m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415699/original/file-20210811-15-1kyh7m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=980&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415699/original/file-20210811-15-1kyh7m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=980&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415699/original/file-20210811-15-1kyh7m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=980&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">France has valued the principle of universalism since the 1789 revolution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universalisme_r%C3%A9publicain#/media/Fichier:Unit%C3%A9_Indivisibilit%C3%A9_de_la_R%C3%A9publique.jpg">Bibliothèque en ligne Gallica</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In France, the notion of separatism resonates because of its counterpart: universalism. The political theory of the French nation is based on <a href="https://www.rosalux.eu/en/article/1812.21st-century-universalism-will-be-anti-racist-or-it-won-t-be-at-all.html">republican universalism</a>, i.e. on a nation understood as one and indivisible, with universal values, which apply to all its components, regardless of their origin, race, gender or social class.</p>
<p>In this context, the term “separatist” refers to communities that are supposedly <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-migrations-societe-2021-1-page-3.htm">hostile to the nation as a whole</a>. The idea that some Muslims in France might place their faith and the norms of their religious community above their national belonging and the laws of the Republic would be characteristic of what is now often referred to as “Islamic separatism”.</p>
<h2>A history of separatism</h2>
<p>Muslims are not the first group of people on French territory to be suspected of separatism. Since the French Revolution, any attempt to promote the recognition of composite identities within the French nation (either religious, political or regional) been met with <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1468-229X.1980.tb01951.x">significant repression</a>.</p>
<p>The term “separatism” was first used in 1939, according to criminal justice expert Vanessa Codaccioni. Back then, it targeted <a href="https://www.rfi.fr/fr/france/20200912-quoi-s%C3%A9paratisme-est-il-le-nom-france-loi-laicite-republique">communists, suspected of promoting the interests of the USSR from within</a>.</p>
<p>The notion has also been used to disqualify <a href="https://www.decitre.fr/livres/justice-d-exception-9782271085986.html">struggles against French colonialism</a>, notably those of the Algerian people, and also autonomist movements within French territory, be they Basque, Guyanese or Martinican. It was above all President Charles De Gaulle who promoted the idea of the “separatist”, using it to <a href="https://www.franceculture.fr/histoire/separatisme-de-lanti-france-chez-les-soviets-a-lislam-en-passant-par-la-negritude">attack his political opponents</a>.</p>
<p>Accusing some Muslims today of being separatists is therefore part of France’s revolutionary and colonial heritage. It implies that a part of the national community behaves like an <a href="https://www.editionsladecouverte.fr/l_ennemi_interieur-9782707169150">enemy within</a> who would like to see territories (mainly the banlieues) and institutions (such as shools and hospitals) governed by the particular laws of a religious group, and not the universal laws of the national community.</p>
<h2>Separatism or disadvantage?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.rfi.fr/fr/france/20180616-etude-ocde-six-generations-necessaires-sortir-pauvrete">According to an OECD study, it takes no less than six generations</a> before an individual from the poorest categories can emerge from poverty in France.</p>
<p>Muslims, being predominantly members of these categories – both for historical reasons linked to colonial and migratory history and for sociological reasons linked to the <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2020/01/08/une-etude-montre-des-discriminations-a-l-embauche-significatives-en-fonction-de-l-origine_6025227_3224.html">discrimination they face</a> – are directly affected by social and educational inequalities.</p>
<p>The law proposes greater scrutiny over families’ decision to home school their children. But initiatives to remove children from school among Muslim families could be attributed not so much to a desire to separate from the Republic for religious purpose, as to a desire to find an alternative to the endemic educational failures in working class neighbourhoods of France, as shown by the repeated conclusions of the <a href="http://www.cnesco.fr/fr/inegalites-sociales/">National Council for the Evaluation of the School System</a>.</p>
<p>Following the example of <a href="https://calmann-levy.fr/livre/la-condition-noire-9782702138076">“ black condition ” described by French historian Pap Ndiaye</a>, Muslim populations in France could be seen as sharing a “Muslim condition”. The concept of condition encompasses that of ethnic, cultural or social belonging without falling into the biological or homogenising aspects of the terms “community” or “race”.</p>
<p>In this case, “the Muslim condition” cannot be reduced to the sole question of religiosity, radical or not, but refers to a common social, economic or even spatial experience of a minority.</p>
<p>In other words, a person with an “Arab-Muslim” sounding name or one who comes from North Africa – thus racialised as “Arab” – will be <a href="https://www.cairn.info/islamophobie-comment-les-elites-francaises--9782707189462-page-25.htm">assigned to the Muslim condition</a>, whether they are religious or not.</p>
<p>Consequently, behaviour stigmatised as “separatist” could be understood not as a sign of religious radicalism, but as a strategy aimed at reducing the social inequalities suffered by people of this “Muslim condition”, the extent of which has only been highlighted by the <a href="https://www.parismatch.com/Actu/Societe/Covid-etat-d-urgence-en-Seine-Saint-Denis-1736915">pandemic</a>.</p>
<h2>How the bill could backfire</h2>
<p>Adopting policies that restrict religious freedoms in this context are inappropriate and could even be counterproductive, by validating the radicalised narrative that France is “the enemy of Islam”.</p>
<p>The measures announced in the bill extending “neutrality” to people who work for private contractors of a public service reinforce existing infringements on <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/questionsdecommunication/12107">the religious freedom of Muslim women who wear headscarves</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/03/france-crackdown-76-mosques-suspected-separatism">closure of mosques</a>, which began in 2020 and will be easier to do under the new law, seem unfounded when we know that very few of the <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/religions/article/2013/05/31/la-radicalisation-dans-les-mosquees-est-devenue-quasiment-impossible_6002478_1653130.html">perpetrators of terrorist acts were radicalised in French mosques</a>.</p>
<p>In targeting Islam in this way, the government risks creating religious deserts for Muslims by closing local places of worship in a religious landscape saturated <a href="https://www.fayard.fr/documents-temoignages/la-question-musulmane-en-france-9782213682488">by demand</a>, thus undermining freedom of worship as guaranteed in Article 1 of the Law of 1905, also known as the principle of “laicité”, or secularism.</p>
<p>The law against separatism could thus weaken the Republican principles it claims to strengthen and further exclude an already marginalised population by denying its members any form of social visibility or the right to mobilise, either individually or as a collective.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162705/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fatima Khemilat ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The term “separatist” has a long history in France. Now it’s being used to target Muslims in a new law.Fatima Khemilat, Chargée de cours, doctorante à Sciences Po Aix, Université Paris-Est Créteil Val de Marne (UPEC)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1624962021-06-10T19:27:02Z2021-06-10T19:27:02ZWas the London attack against a Muslim family terrorism? Legally, it’s not that simple<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405763/original/file-20210610-17-17udozp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C0%2C4000%2C2664&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mourners visit the site where a Muslim family of five was deliberately run over by a driver on June 6, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Brett Gundlock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Issues of hate-motivated violence, Islamophobia and domestic terrorism have again been thrust into the centre of Canada’s public discourse. The June 6 incident of a pickup truck driver targeting a Muslim family in London, Ont., is not being considered a motor vehicle accident – it is being <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/06/07/canada-london-vehicle-attack-hate-veltman/">treated as an intentional act</a>.</p>
<p>While the attacker has been <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-trudeau-denounces-london-incident-as-terrorist-attack/">called a terrorist by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau</a>, authorities have not yet laid terrorism charges. Past hate-motivated attacks in Canada have included <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/crown-150-years-sentence-quebec-mosque-shooting-1.4712343">mass shootings</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/minassian-admits-planning-toronto-van-attack-1.5486848">vehicular ramming attacks</a>. These have not been treated as terrorism under <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/laws/stat/rsc-1985-c-c-46/latest/rsc-1985-c-c-46.html">Canada’s Criminal Code</a>.</p>
<p>Even when an attack appears to be terrorism, legally labelling it as such is not that simple.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/muslim-family-killed-in-terror-attack-in-london-ontario-islamophobic-violence-surfaces-once-again-in-canada-162400">Muslim family killed in terror attack in London, Ontario: Islamophobic violence surfaces once again in Canada</a>
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</p>
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<h2>After the attack</h2>
<p>London’s Muslim residents, along with Canada’s larger Muslim community, are grieving. A <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7930240/london-ontario-family-killed-identified-mosque-host-vigil/">public vigil in London on June 8</a> brought out thousands of mourners to a local mosque. Funeral plans are being made for the victims of the attack, who are tragically all from the same family.</p>
<p>The attacker is in police custody as the investigation continues. At this point, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/terrorism-charges-london-muslim-1.6057483">the attacker is not being held under terrorism charges</a> but under four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.</p>
<p>Under the Canadian Criminal Code, <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-231.html">murder in the first degree is defined as a planned and deliberate act</a>. During the apprehension of the London attack suspect, police were able to decide relatively quickly that murder charges were warranted. Investigators have said that evidence exists to indicate it was a premeditated act motivated by hate, but at this point <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/06/10/lack-of-warning-signs-on-alleged-london-attacker-show-how-radicalization-can-happen-in-the-dark-experts-say.html">police have not revealed what information led them to that conclusion</a>. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x0aZEg_idrY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Global News considers whether terrorism was involved in the London incident.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Advantages and disadvantages of terrorism charges</h2>
<p>If in the future, Crown prosecutors were to add terrorism offences to the existing murder charges, the arguments for treating the attack as terrorism would likely be based on some of the same evidence used to establish the first-degree murder charges.</p>
<p>Legal experts suggest that during the first week after the attack, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-terror-charges-so-soon-after-london-attack-would-be-unprecedented/">it’s probably too early for terror charges</a> because investigators need time to gather sufficient evidence of motives on which to base terrorism offences.</p>
<p>An advantage of laying terrorism charges now would be to send a strong message that the London attack will be treated as what it is perceived to be by many: an act of terror.</p>
<p>Perhaps those Canadian Muslims who are <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/06/09/for-many-canadian-muslims-traumatized-by-london-attack-a-simple-walk-after-dinner-becomes-a-heavy-decision.html">still living in fear after the attack</a> would be comforted by the strong condemnation of calling the vehicular attack terrorism. Politicians would be able to curry favour in the impacted community by invoking terrorism. Also, quickly defining the act as terrorism may serve as a deterrent to those contemplating future copycat attacks.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405762/original/file-20210610-15-rhunvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An artist sketch of a video court appearance with the accused, a justice of the peace and lawyer represented" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405762/original/file-20210610-15-rhunvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405762/original/file-20210610-15-rhunvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405762/original/file-20210610-15-rhunvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405762/original/file-20210610-15-rhunvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405762/original/file-20210610-15-rhunvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405762/original/file-20210610-15-rhunvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405762/original/file-20210610-15-rhunvt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In this artist’s sketch, Nathaniel Veltman — accused of deliberately running over and killing four members of a Muslim family in London, Ont. — makes a video court appearance as Justice of the Peace Robert Seneshen (top left) and lawyer Alayna Jay look on.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Alexandra Newbould )</span></span>
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<p>A disadvantage of laying terrorism charges right now is that there is a very high bar for evidence and investigation standards required to prove a terrorism motive. The findings of an <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/commentary/doc/2020CanLIIDocs495">empirical study of terrorism prosecutions in Canada</a> suggest that while terrorism has not been impossible to prove, such cases raise a host of complex questions for the courts. </p>
<h2>Similar past attacks were not labelled as terrorism</h2>
<p>In 2017, six men were killed and five others seriously wounded when <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/quebec-city-mosque-shooting">a shooter opened fire inside a Québec City mosque</a>. Immediately after the mass shooting in a place of worship, questions of Islamophobia and terrorism were present.</p>
<p>The shooter was sanctioned with <a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/alexandre-bissonnette-sentenced-to-six-life-sentences-with-no-parole-for-40-years-1.4288653">six sentences of 25 years concurrently for the murder charges</a>. Terrorism charges did not come into play. </p>
<p>In 2018, 10 people were killed and 16 injured when a man rammed a van into pedestrians on Toronto’s Yonge Street. Questions of gender-based violence — the attacker targeted female pedestrians — and terrorism <a href="https://cdnjem.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/CJEM-v1n1-Rozdilsky-Snowden.-Toronto-Van-Attack.pdf">were raised immediately after the attack</a>.</p>
<p>In the end, the perpetrator was found guilty of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/03/world/canada/toronto-van-alek-minassian.html">10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder</a>, with sentencing yet to be determined. Again, terrorism charges did not come into play. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/toronto-van-attack-guilty-verdict-but-canada-still-needs-to-tackle-ideological-violence-156452">Toronto van attack: Guilty verdict, but Canada still needs to tackle ideological violence</a>
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<hr>
<h2>The spectre of domestic terrorism</h2>
<p>If the London attack were to be immediately called an act of terrorism by the legal system, such an action would provide relief for many persons. One outcome of the London vigil held to memorialize the victims is that fear and anxiety are being replaced with <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadian-muslim-community-reaction-london-1.6056690">calls for action</a>.</p>
<p>Terrorism is a powerful motivator for public action. After a <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20201110-three-men-go-on-trial-over-deadly-2017-van-attack-in-barcelona">terrorist van attack in Barcelona in 2017</a>, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/we-won-t-let-the-terrorists-win-says-barcelona-phj2vtfxb">not “letting the terrorists win”</a> became a rallying cry among the city’s residents. </p>
<p>The calls for action in the wake of the London attack must be met with tangible steps to counter Islamophobia and measures to redouble defences for all marginalized communities in Canada that are threatened by violent extremism.</p>
<p>Whether the London attack is legally treated as terrorism by the Canadian legal system, it’s clear that the spectre of domestic terrorism has once again reared its ugly head.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162496/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack L. Rozdilsky is a Professor at York University who receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research as a co-investigator on a project supported under operating grant Canadian 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Rapid Research Funding.</span></em></p>Whether the perpetrator in the attack on a Muslim family that left four dead is charged with terrorism remains to be seen. But laying terrorism charges is legally complex.Jack L. Rozdilsky, Associate Professor of Disaster and Emergency Management, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1624002021-06-09T00:24:52Z2021-06-09T00:24:52ZMuslim family killed in terror attack in London, Ontario: Islamophobic violence surfaces once again in Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405211/original/file-20210608-170923-bpnvxm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C33%2C5549%2C3356&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mourners gather at the scene of the hate-motivated vehicle attack in London, Ont., which left four members of a Muslim family dead and sent their youngest son to hospital. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Geoff Robins </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A Pakistani-Canadian family out on a stroll on a warm weekend evening was murdered in a horrific act of Islamophobic violence in London, Ont. A nine-year-old boy, hospitalized with serious injuries, is the only survivor of a terror attack that killed his sister, father, mother and grandmother.</p>
<p>How will he make sense of this unthinkable tragedy? This was not an accident. Police have said his family — his father, Salman Afzaal, his mother Madiha Salman, his 15-year-old sister Yumna Afzaal and his grandmother, Talat Afzaal — <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-pedestrians-killed-man-in-custody-1.6056238">was “targeted because of their Muslim faith”</a> and hit by a speeding truck. How do you process this targeted hate and violence at such a young age? </p>
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<img alt="Four members of a family line up for a family photo" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405216/original/file-20210608-142679-1lvwq9n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405216/original/file-20210608-142679-1lvwq9n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405216/original/file-20210608-142679-1lvwq9n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405216/original/file-20210608-142679-1lvwq9n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405216/original/file-20210608-142679-1lvwq9n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405216/original/file-20210608-142679-1lvwq9n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405216/original/file-20210608-142679-1lvwq9n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Four members of a Pakistani-Canadian family were killed by a man in a truck in what police are calling a hate-motivated attack. This photo, released by the family, shows the victims (left to right): Yumna Afzaal, 15, Madiha Salman, 44, Talat Afzaal, 74, and Salman Afzaal, 46.</span>
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<p>While Canadians may be shocked and blindsided by this mass murder, the ingredients for this tragedy have long been in the making. The warning signs of white nationalist violence have been glaring.</p>
<p>Hate crimes against Muslims in Canada <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3523535/hate-crimes-canada-muslim/">grew 253 per cent between 2012 and 2015</a>. The <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/02/04/what-happened-the-night-of-the-quebec-mosque-attack.html">2017 terror attack in a mosque in Québec</a> left six men dead after offering their evening prayers. Last year, a caretaker in <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/mosque-stabbing-suspect-1.5732078">a Toronto mosque was stabbed and killed and the person charged with his murder is alleged to have been influenced by neo-Nazi social media posts</a>. </p>
<h2>Not just far-right groups</h2>
<p>But it’s not only far-right fringe groups that hold anti-Muslim views. </p>
<p>Results from a <a href="https://poll.forumresearch.com/m/post/2646/muslims-the-target-of-most-racial-bias/">2016 Forum Poll revealed that 41 per cent of Canadian adults expressed some level of bias</a> against identifiable racial groups, with Muslims having the highest negative rating at 28 per cent.</p>
<p>Another survey published in 2016, by <a href="https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-polls-on-islam-muslims-and-islamophobia-in-canada/">the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants</a>, found that only 32 per cent of Ontarians had a “positive impression” of Islam. </p>
<p>The following year, a survey done for Radio Canada revealed that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/canadian-immigration-poll-quebec-1.4022664">almost one in four Canadians would favour a ban on Muslim immigration</a>, with the level of support for this ban rising to 32 per cent in Québec. Most respondents (51 per cent in Canada, 57 per cent in Québec) felt the presence of Muslims in this country made them “somewhat” or “very worried” about security.</p>
<h2>A breeding ground for violence</h2>
<p>These negative views of the Muslim presence in Canada create a breeding ground for xenophobic racial violence.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.wlu.ca/academics/faculties/faculty-of-arts/faculty-profiles/jasmin-zine/canadian-islamophobia-industry-research-project/index.html">I research Canadian Islamophobia</a> and its networks that produce hate and circulate destructive ideologies.</p>
<p>There is a networked ecosystem of Islamophobic hate groups in Canada that promote conspiracy theories about Muslims threatening “Canadian values” and western civilization, plotting to impose “creeping shariah law” and political Islamism.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-had-a-front-row-seat-to-hate-and-was-physically-assaulted-the-liberal-washing-of-white-nationalism-114002">I had a front-row seat to hate and was physically assaulted: The liberal-washing of white nationalism</a>
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<p>Other problematic rhetoric includes the liberal washing of white nationalism that politically camouflages xenophobic, Islamophobic and racist ideologies <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-had-a-front-row-seat-to-hate-and-was-physically-assaulted-the-liberal-washing-of-white-nationalism-114002">under the guise of “protecting democracy,” “freedom” and the “rule of law”</a> from what are regarded as illiberal, anti-modern and anti-democratic Muslims.</p>
<p>Once again, it is not just extremist groups that promote Islamophobia. Canadian security policies have <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/securitized-citizens-2">targeted Muslim communities for surveillance and scrutiny leading to targeted racial and religious profiling </a>. Bill 21, the Québec law that bans certain civil servants from wearing religious symbols, follows decades of policies mandating <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/bill-21-quebec-women_ca_6045524fc5b60208555f904f">the coerced unveiling of Muslim women who wear Islamic attire</a> that effectively institutionalizes gendered Islamophobia.</p>
<h2>Anti-Muslim racism is normalized</h2>
<p>Through these policies and practices, liberal Islamophobia normalizes anti-Muslim racism and constructs Muslims as suspect and inferior citizens. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.wlu.ca/academics/faculties/faculty-of-arts/faculty-profiles/jasmin-zine/index.html">My research on Islamophobia</a>, spanning more than a decade, has underscored these and other concerns that anti-Muslim racism poses in Canada. I have documented the repercussions of anti-Muslim racism on Muslim youth in my forthcoming book <em>Under Siege: Islamophobia and the 9/11 Generation</em>.</p>
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<img alt="Mourners at a funeral are in tears and console each other as they lean over caskets" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405218/original/file-20210608-135197-ovtucy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405218/original/file-20210608-135197-ovtucy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405218/original/file-20210608-135197-ovtucy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405218/original/file-20210608-135197-ovtucy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405218/original/file-20210608-135197-ovtucy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405218/original/file-20210608-135197-ovtucy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405218/original/file-20210608-135197-ovtucy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A man breaks down next to the caskets of three of the six victims of the 2017 Québec City mosque shooting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span>
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<p>The 9/11 generation of Muslim youth have come of age at a time when their faith and identity are under siege. This is a condition that has been exacerbated with two hate crimes resulting in mass murder in Canada in the past four years. The risks for the Muslim community are palpable. There is heightened fear and anxiety along with grief and mourning.</p>
<p>The calls to action from the local Muslim community in London, Ont., include an immediate national summit on Islamophobia in Canada. This is an important step to begin the work that needs to be done challenging Canadian Islamophobia.</p>
<h2>Call for national summit on Islamophobia</h2>
<p>This summit should have been undertaken after the Québec mosque shooting four years ago. Canada’s national amnesia surrounding this attack was finally addressed with a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/news/2021/01/the-government-of-canada-intends-to-create-national-day-of-remembrance-of-the-quebec-city-mosque-attack-and-action-against-islamophobia.html">National Day of Remembrance of the Quebec City Mosque Attack and Action Against Islamophobia</a>. We now have another horrific tragedy to remember and mourn and yet very little action on Islamophobia. </p>
<p>For Fayez Salman, the nine-year-old survivor whose world has been shattered by this hatred, none of this matters right now. As a scholar of Islamophobia studies, I can analyze what kinds of social, cultural and political factors precipitated the racist Islamophobic violence that destroyed his family and permanently altered the course of his life, but in the end God only knows how Fayez will make sense of this tragedy. Our prayers are with him.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162400/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jasmin Zine receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).</span></em></p>Four members of a Muslim family out for a walk were killed in what police say was a hate crime. A researcher on Islamophobia in Canada says it’s not just fringe groups that hold anti-Muslim views.Jasmin Zine, Professor of Sociology, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1473472020-10-06T01:43:46Z2020-10-06T01:43:46ZHate crimes against Muslims spiked after the mosque attacks, and Ardern promises to make such abuse illegal<p>What is the relationship between hate crimes and terrorism? </p>
<p>Could we have predicted the terror attacks at Masjid Al Noor and the Linwood Islamic Centre on March 15 last year if we had been able to identify a rising number of verbal and physical attacks against Muslims in the preceding months and years? </p>
<p>In New Zealand, we currently can’t answer these questions. Authorities don’t maintain a register of hate crimes (defined as verbal and physical assaults motivated by hatred of the victim’s group identity). Nor does our legal system recognise hate crime as a separate offence. </p>
<p>Amending the <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0082/latest/DLM304212.html">Human Rights Act 1993</a> has now become an election issue, with Prime Minister and Labour leader Jacinda Ardern saying it is her party’s <a href="https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/labour-promise-tougher-hate-speech-laws-if-re-elected">intention to revise the law</a> to make it illegal to abuse or threaten people because of their religious identity.</p>
<p>This would add to the provisions against intimidation along ethnic, national and racial lines <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0082/latest/DLM304643.html#DLM304643">already covered by the law</a>. </p>
<p>But ACT Party leader David Seymour has said any such move would threaten New Zealanders’ freedom of expression. He called proposed hate speech laws “<a href="https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2009/S00195/hate-speech-laws-divisive-and-dangerous.htm">divisive and dangerous</a>”.</p>
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<h2>A preliminary register of hate crimes</h2>
<p>The lack of data means we have no way of knowing if hate crimes against minorities are becoming more common. And we can’t tell if they are more prevalent in certain regions of New Zealand or if particular groups are targeted more than others.</p>
<p>We also can’t determine the relationship between hate crimes and major events such as the Christchurch terrorist attacks or COVID-19. This means we can’t predict when and where identity-related crime might take place, or act to prevent it.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/far-right-extremists-still-threaten-new-zealand-a-year-on-from-the-christchurch-attacks-133050">Far-right extremists still threaten New Zealand, a year on from the Christchurch attacks</a>
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<p>To address this gap and begin to answer these questions, we, along with students from the University of Auckland, have searched media reports for any verbal or physical assaults motivated by the perpetrator’s hatred of the victim’s ethnic or religious identity. Hate crimes also include targeting people because of their gender or sexual identity, but we have focused on ethnicity and religion.</p>
<p>This is far from the most ideal way to collect data, but it is a first step in gaining a more systematic view of identity crime in New Zealand. The result is a preliminary dataset of hate crime incidents in this country between 2013 and August 2020.</p>
<p>Our data demonstrate a steady if slight increase in hate crimes until 2019 when the number of incidents rose sharply. Here, we focus on the relationship between the Christchurch terrorist attacks and verbal and physical hate crimes against Muslims.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361520/original/file-20201005-18-iw93vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361520/original/file-20201005-18-iw93vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361520/original/file-20201005-18-iw93vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361520/original/file-20201005-18-iw93vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361520/original/file-20201005-18-iw93vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361520/original/file-20201005-18-iw93vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361520/original/file-20201005-18-iw93vo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>Academic studies show hate crimes sometimes act as a “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0011128715620626">red flag</a>” of an impending terrorist attack. More commonly, terrorist attacks can <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0011128712452956">spur a rise in hate crimes</a>, as members of the group targeted by terrorism exact revenge against the terrorists’ ethnic or religious community.</p>
<p>After the September 11 twin-tower attacks in the United States in 2001, hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs increased 1,600% <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-09-12/data-hate-crimes-against-muslims-increased-after-911">from 28 incidents in 2000 to 481 in 2001</a>. A smaller but still substantial increase in hate crimes occurred after the 7/7 London bombings in July 2005.</p>
<p>We have found a similar pattern in New Zealand. Rather than rising before the attacks, hate crimes against Muslims instead increased dramatically afterwards. All types of incidents — verbal, online and physical abuse — went up markedly in 2020, the vast majority (35 of 42) after March 15.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361521/original/file-20201005-18-4lu8m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361521/original/file-20201005-18-4lu8m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361521/original/file-20201005-18-4lu8m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361521/original/file-20201005-18-4lu8m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361521/original/file-20201005-18-4lu8m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361521/original/file-20201005-18-4lu8m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361521/original/file-20201005-18-4lu8m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>Most notably, Islamophobic abuse rose by a staggering 1,300% from three to 42 incidents. The largest number (15) occurred in Christchurch, although eight were in Auckland and the remainder distributed throughout the country. These attacks have a major psychological impact, not only on the victims but their community as a whole.</p>
<h2>Hate crimes against victims of terrorism</h2>
<p>Our findings mirror <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0011128712452956">research elsewhere</a>, which finds hate crimes most often rise after terrorist attacks. But there is a key difference. </p>
<p>Elsewhere, these crimes took the form of “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1207/s15327957pspr1004_6">vicarious retribution</a>”. Victims were targeted because they were seen to be of the same community as the terrorists. Following the Christchurch attacks, there was a surge in hate crimes against the victims of the attacks. </p>
<p>This targeting also occurred elsewhere in the West. In the week after Christchurch, hate crimes against Muslims in the UK <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/22/anti-muslim-hate-crimes-soar-in-uk-after-christchurch-shootings">rose by 593%</a> with 95 incidents reported to police. Perpetrators mimicked firing a weapon at Muslims or made the noises of a gun as they walked past.</p>
<p>These crimes are therefore a perpetuation of the Christchurch attacks. Their increase after March 15 demonstrates that, despite the best intentions of many in New Zealand, the attacks have made the country more, not less, dangerous for Muslims and other minorities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-ways-social-media-platforms-could-stop-the-spread-of-hateful-content-in-aftermath-of-terror-attacks-113785">Four ways social media platforms could stop the spread of hateful content in aftermath of terror attacks</a>
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<p>The rising incidence of verbal hate crimes against Muslims also underlines the importance of legislating against such intimidation and abuse along religious lines (currently excluded from the Human Rights Act). Resources should be provided to police or other government agencies, or to an independent research centre, to maintain a register of such offences to better monitor patterns in offending.</p>
<p>Studies elsewhere have shown more minor forms of identity-related crime sometimes develop into more extreme and ideological violence. Each unpunished attack normalises intimidation and violence and emboldens those with racist or extremist world views. </p>
<p>The next government should therefore take these preliminary indications of rising hate crimes extremely seriously.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147347/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hate crimes after a terrorist attack usually target people from the terrorist’s background. But the Christchurch mosque shootings led to a surge in abuse directed at victims of the attacks.Chris Wilson, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauSanjal Shastri, Doctoral Candidate in Politics and International Relations, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1434792020-08-10T12:59:31Z2020-08-10T12:59:31ZWhy terrorism continues in Nigeria and how to turn the tide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351766/original/file-20200807-24-6uaber.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nigerian-soldiers-are-seen-after-an-operation-against-boko-news-photo/518038832?adppopup=true">Anadolu Agency/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For ten years, the Nigerian authorities have engaged the terror group Boko Haram in the northeast without making much headway. After what appeared to be <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/nigeria/analysis-scrutinising-boko-haram-resurgence">some success</a> in 2015 and 2016, there was a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-825X.2020.09241.x">resurgence</a> of Boko Haram violence in 2017. </p>
<p>This worsened with the emergence of Islamic State in West Africa and, in more recent times, <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/boko-haram-nigeria">banditry and kidnap gangs</a> all over the northern Nigeria region. </p>
<p>Having studied this crisis over the years as a political scientist, my view is that it is rooted in ethnic, religious and partisan politics and corruption. National security springs from mutual respect, peaceful co-existence and equality of social groups. But as argued in <a href="http://journals.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/index.php/cujpia/article/viewFile/122/117">a paper</a> I co-authored, the affiliation of Nigerian leaders to identity groups poses a challenge to national security. </p>
<p>We conclude that the government must show the will to fight the terrorists and eschew nepotism and ethnic or religious sentiments in the war. It must also deal decisively with corruption.</p>
<p>Additionally, we underscore that neither Boko Haram or Islamic State in West Africa is Nigerian or Muslim. No responsible or patriotic leader should see it as such. Nigeria should be unified in the struggle and united against terrorism. This is how to beat it into a permanent retreat. </p>
<h2>Ebbs and flows</h2>
<p>Religious fundamentalism has long been a feature of social existence and relations in northern Nigeria. But religion-inspired terrorism emerged from 2009 after <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2009/07/2009730174233896352.html">the murder by security forces</a> in Maiduguri of the Boko Haram leader, Muhammed Yusuf, and hundreds of his followers. What started as targeting some members of the political elite in Borno by Boko Haram soon turned into organised bombings of public places. </p>
<p>Despite involvement of the military, foreign partners and counter-terrorism measures from 2011 to 2015, the government seemed unable to get a grip of the situation. Boko Haram grew stronger, expanded its operations and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13809501">declared</a> an Islamic Caliphate. </p>
<p>By 2015, <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/west-africa/nigeria/288-violence-nigerias-north-west-rolling-back-mayhem">over 10,000 people</a> had been killed and about 3 million internally displaced. Hundreds of thousands had to flee into neighbouring countries. </p>
<p>The emergence of a former military ruler as president in <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/05/29/410493750/muhammadu-buhari-becomes-nigerias-president">2015</a> created the expectation that the terror group could be brought under control. Instead, the <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/west-africa/nigeria/288-violence-nigerias-north-west-rolling-back-mayhem">Islamic State’s West African Province</a> also emerged – a breakaway faction of Boko Haram. Violence escalated and <a href="https://thesoufancenter.org/tsg-intelbrief-boko-haram-threat-to-southern-nigeria-fact-fiction/">spread</a>. </p>
<p>There were some successes in rolling back the expansion of Boko Haram. Between mid-2015 and late 2016, the federal government moved the terror and counter-terror “situation room” to Maiduguri, the heart of the crisis. The military halted the expansion of the “Caliphate” and took back the 14 local governments seized by the terror group. Flights and normal business returned to most parts of the northeast. Attacks stopped and the military could claim that Boko Haram had been technically defeated. </p>
<p>But then, just when it seemed the menace of Boko Haram had been ended by sheer military force, the federal government suggested dialogue and ransoms. Aggression and violence returned in Northern Nigeria and still hasn’t been completely controlled. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-boko-haram-has-evolved-over-the-past-ten-years-126436">How Boko Haram has evolved over the past ten years</a>
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<p>One school of thought argues that the will and dynamic approach in the fight against Boko Haram were short-lived, which wasted the success achieved in two years. When the government sought <a href="https://www.africaportal.org/features/dialogue-boko-haram-back-agenda/">dialogue</a> and <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201909020046.html">negotiation</a> and paid <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/280418-lai-mohammed-lied-nigerian-govt-paid-large-ransom-to-free-dapchigirls-un.html">ransoms</a>, it re-energised the terror group. </p>
<p>Another view is that the current administration was weakened when it began considering amnesty for repentant members of the group and swapping their prisoners for release of innocent Nigerian and foreign captives. </p>
<p>Yet another view is that the group’s breakup into factions fueled internal competition, with the groups’ targets on the receiving end.</p>
<p>For me, two theories explain the protracted crisis. They also amplify the other perspectives.</p>
<h2>Factors at play</h2>
<p>First is that there are people in government who lack the will to fight because of religious and ethnic affiliations or connections. <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/06/ramadan-buhari-appeals-to-misguided-brothers-to-drop-arms-embrace-peace/#sthash.UW9DtHDb.dpuf">Some in government</a> consider Boko Haram members as northerners or Muslims who should therefore be dealt with cautiously. </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/187538-how-fifth-columnists-in-nigerian-military-leaked-operational-plans-to-boko-haram-ex-defence-chief.html">military leaders</a> have been accused of nepotism and of giving away vital details to compromise the onslaught against the terror gangs. The Borno State governor recently <a href="https://thenationonlineng.net/governor-accuses-military-of-sabotage-in-convoy-attack/">accused the military</a> of sabotage in an attack on his convoy. </p>
<p>The second explanation is corruption. Since 2014, some senior soldiers and their civilian counterparts directing the war have come to see the war budget as an endless means to draw money for personal enrichment. There are examples of counter-terrorism or so-called counter-insurgency funds stolen by the national security adviser and dozens of others as well as some isolated cases of stolen war money by <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36192390">some security or service chiefs</a>. While some opted for <a href="https://guardian.ng/news/again-ex-air-marshal-adesola-amosu-others-opt-for-plea-bargain/">plea bargains</a>, others are still undergoing trial. </p>
<p>The recent <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53009704">rise in banditry</a> and <a href="https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/06/protests-against-banditry-rock-katsina/">demonstrations</a> against it show that the people can no longer accept the circumstances. Boko Haram, Islamic State, bandits and kidnap gangs are threats to Nigeria’s peace, stability, security and economic prosperity. Everyone wants a stop to it. What do we do?</p>
<h2>How to break the vicious circle</h2>
<p>Government has the responsibility to provide genuine leadership in the war. The <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/404083-only-nigerians-can-determine-when-insurgency-banditry-will-end-buratai.html">statement</a> credited recently to the army chief that the crisis can only be stopped by Nigerians, thus passing the buck to civilians, is irresponsible. It’s only the armed forces that have the arsenals and training to fight Boko Haram and other such groups.</p>
<p>Corruption must be fought and conquered. The Borno governor <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/371382-just-in-furious-borno-governor-accuses-soldiers-of-extortion.html">once accused soldiers</a> of extorting money from motorists where Boko Haram has a strong presence. Such practices – as well as instances of compromised military intelligence – are a big problem the military high command must stop by itself.</p>
<p>Dialogue, negotiation, ransom payments, amnesty and <a href="https://punchng.com/601-repentant-terrorists-graduate-paid-n20000-each/">integration</a> of repentant insurgents into the army and society are not the solution. They will only serve as the internal seeds of destruction of the army and its efforts against terrorism. </p>
<p>And, in my view, any attempt to integrate “repentant” terrorists in the army will expose the military and security architecture to intelligence and operational compromises.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143479/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sheriff Folarin received funding from the United States Department of State and Carnegie Corporation.</span></em></p>Nigeria must eschew nepotism and ethnic or religious sentiments in the war against terror.Sheriff Folarin, Professor of International Relations, Covenant UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1311692020-02-05T14:34:36Z2020-02-05T14:34:36Z‘No evidence to back up emergency terror law change’ – human rights expert<p>In the aftermath of a terrorist attack, when people are frightened and in need of reassurance, it’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/vague-promises-about-seizing-passports-wont-fight-off-the-islamic-state-31149">common for governments to propose a tough response and new laws</a>. </p>
<p>This is what recently happened in the UK after an attack in Streatham, London, by convicted terrorist <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51351885">Sudesh Amman</a>. On Streatham High Road, Amman stabbed two people before being shot dead by police. He had been under police surveillance since his release from prison in January 2020 for terror offences. </p>
<p>Since the attack, the UK government said <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51364047">emergency legislation</a> would be introduced to end the automatic early release from prison of terror offenders after they have served half of their sentence. Instead, they will be required to serve two-thirds of their sentence. </p>
<p>But there is a major issue with this proposal: it’s not at all clear that such a move <a href="https://theconversation.com/london-bridge-attack-why-longer-sentences-for-terrorist-offences-are-not-the-answer-128154">would stop people</a> committing these types of atrocities in the first place. And it also raises significant human rights concerns. </p>
<h2>“Rehabilitation rarely works”</h2>
<p>This latest attack follows another <a href="https://theconversation.com/london-bridge-attack-why-longer-sentences-for-terrorist-offences-are-not-the-answer-128154">recent incident in London</a> where two Cambridge University graduates were stabbed to death and at least three other people were seriously wounded by convicted terrorist Usman Khan.</p>
<p>In the aftermath of the Streatham attack, Boris Johnson <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2020/feb/03/streatham-attack-sudesh-amman-freed-after-serving-half-his-sentence-live-news?CMP=share_btn_tw&page=with:block-5e37ffc08f08e1332473c0e3#block-5e37ffc08f08e1332473c0e3">boldly stated</a> that rehabilitation for convicted terrorists “rarely works”. So by his own admission, it seems the plan to increase the length of time terrorists will serve by 17% will also fail. </p>
<p>That said, there are no statistics in the UK to either back up or refute the prime minister’s claim. The former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation and now member of the House of Lords, Lord Anderson, <a href="https://twitter.com/bricksilk/status/1224247206003298304">recently asked the Ministry of Justice</a> for figures on how many convicted terrorists commit further terror offences when released from prison. It remains to be seen what the answer is.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1224247206003298304"}"></div></p>
<p>There is some evidence from elsewhere that <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pops.12428">deradicalisation programmes in prisons</a> can work to some extent. But care is needed when comparing different state programmes and different groups labelled as terrorist. </p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pops.12428">Evidence from Sri Lanka</a>, for example, looks at deradicalisation with a group of Tamil Tigers – who sought to secure an independent state of Tamil Eelam. In this instance, the group had a distinct goal that could be identified and engaged with. Likewise, the conflict in Northern Ireland came to an end with the peace settlement of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-belfast-agreement">the Good Friday Agreement</a>. It was this, rather than any deradicalisation programme that ended the violence there. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/uk/permanent-states-of-emergency-and-the-rule-of-law-9781509906154/">My research</a>, however, has shown that a key factor to the endless “war on terror” is the idea that Islamic extremist terrorism has no feasible goal – so there is nothing to negotiate with. </p>
<p>This raises the question of whether rehabilitation programmes would work on Islamic extremist terrorists or the ever increasing numbers of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/sep/05/rise-in-rightwing-extremists-held-under-anti-terror-laws-in-uk">far-right extremists</a> in UK prisons. </p>
<h2>Retroactive punishment?</h2>
<p>The proposals to change terrorist sentences also raise enormous human rights concerns. <a href="https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Guide_Art_7_ENG.pdf">Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights</a> prohibits retrospective criminal laws. This means a person cannot be punished for something that was not a crime at the time they committed an act and that if the act was already criminalised, they cannot be made to suffer a harsher sentence.</p>
<p>So it may be the government’s proposals to change the automatic release dates will be found by the courts to amount to retrospective punishment. In some cases people will have pleaded guilty on the basis they would be released at the halfway point of their sentences. </p>
<p>Retrospective criminal punishment was a notorious tool used by <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/1962-ps.asp">Nazi Germany</a> to target their enemies. The stigma attached to retrospective criminal laws is so strong, the European Convention on Human Rights does not even allow states to use this during a state of emergency. So it’s inevitable that a challenge to these laws will end up before the courts – and may set the stage for a future clash between the UK government and the European Court of Human Rights.</p>
<h2>Restrictions and relocation</h2>
<p>The UK already has some of the most robust counter-terrorist laws in the world. Indeed, the home secretary, Priti Patel, has the power to place an array of restrictions on a person she suspects is involved in terrorism-related activity.</p>
<p>Known as TPIM (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/terrorism-prevention-and-investigation-measures-act">Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures</a>), this can include electronic tagging, periodic reporting to a police station, house arrest for certain periods of the day, excluding a person from certain areas and restricting their electronic communications. In certain instances, people can even be subjected to forced relocation orders, requiring them to move away from their home address. </p>
<p>Police had been following Sudesh Amman closely since his release, as they believed he posed a high risk of committing an attack. But the home secretary did not make him subject to a TPIM. This seems an oversight given his risk of re-offending was thought to be so high that <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/streatham-terror-attack-london-stabbing-shooting-police-met-a9313976.html">police were monitoring him closely</a> in the lead up to the attack. This also raises further questions: when are TPIMs being used and how often?</p>
<h2>Eroding democracy</h2>
<p>Two attacks by recently released offenders would suggest terrorists re-offending is a genuine issue. But without the statistics to show how many convicted terrorists commit further terror offences when released from prison, it’s hard to know the scale of the problem. And going by the available evidence, it’s difficult to say whether such changes in law would make us safer.</p>
<p>Yet with every new attack and the new counter-terrorist laws that follow, what is certain is that human rights are being eroded further still. This is not to take away from the suffering of victims, but governments must think very carefully before sacrificing those very human rights that give the state its identity and democracy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131169/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Greene does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Governments must think very carefully before sacrificing the very human rights that give the state its identity and democracy.Alan Greene, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1229542019-09-09T13:14:03Z2019-09-09T13:14:03ZWhat must happen for Mozambique to have lasting peace after accord<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291284/original/file-20190906-175700-130zm6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi (L) and Renamo leader Ossufo Momade (R) after both signed an agreement to cease hostilities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ANDRE CATUEIRA/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Mozambican government recently signed a peace deal with the Renamo opposition party, in time for <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/mozambique-president-renamo-leader-sign-peace-deal-190801115411693.html">elections in October</a>. This is the most decisive step so far towards ending a low-intensity yet persistent conflict that began in 2013. </p>
<p>But the peace deal is haunted by at least three important potential issues. These are a splinter group within Renamo, the willingness of the ruling Frelimo to devolve power to the provinces, and how clean the upcoming elections are.</p>
<p>This time, Renamo’s leader <a href="https://clubofmozambique.com/news/mozambique-who-is-ossufo-momade-renamos-newly-appointed-interim-leader/">Ossufo Momade</a> is on board. But not all of Renamo’s soldiers are behind him. Major-general Mariano Nhongo, claiming to be the leader of a faction called the Renamo Military Junta, has said the men under his command will not disarm until Renamo <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201908290006.html">elects a new leader</a>.</p>
<p>This splintering in Renamo has its origins in the <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/mozambique-veteran-rebel-leader-dhlakama-dead-party-sources-20180503-2">unexpected death last May</a> of Afonso Dhlakama, its leader of 39 years. He had led Renamo since the late 1970s, through more than a decade of civil war and tortuous negotiations in the early 1990s followed by <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-05-04-mozambique-instability-feared-in-the-wake-of-veteran-renamo-leaders-demise/">20 years of peace</a>. </p>
<p>At the end of July this year some buses were attacked, reminiscent of what happened in 2013, although Nhongo has denied involvement. Four vehicles were shot at in early September on the borders of the Gorongoza district where Nhongo is operating.</p>
<h2>Afonso Dhlakama and Renamo</h2>
<p>So closely identified was Renamo with Dhlakama that even after he left Maputo, claiming not to be safe in the capital, and retreated to his wartime redoubt at Gorongosa in 2012, he was able simultaneously to command the loyalty of a small army of ageing guerrillas and the opposition bench in Parliament. </p>
<p>Groups of veterans from the 1976-92 war began to gather at sites across central and northern Mozambique. A confrontation with riot police in the central Mozambican market town of Muxúnguè in April 2013 triggered a wave of violence that began with Renamo ambushes on government vehicles. It escalated as government forces attacked communities suspected of <a href="https://theconversation.com/old-soldiers-old-divisions-are-central-in-new-mozambique-conflict-62130">harbouring Renamo fighters</a>.</p>
<p>In successive rounds of peace talks, interspersed with periods of violence, Dhlakama made political demands including the devolution of power to provincial level. Party-to-party talks, first with local and then international mediators, proved too unwieldy to make any progress. </p>
<p>Then, when the situation appeared intractable, Dhlakama <a href="https://theconversation.com/mozambiques-unexpected-truce-still-hangs-in-the-balance-71365">started talking to Mozambican President Felipe Nyusi</a>, who is also the leader of Frelimo, by phone from his hideout in Gorongosa. Unrestrained by fractious party colleagues, in a matter of weeks, they made more progress than was made in months at the negotiating table. </p>
<p>Dhlakama’s death did not halt the peace process. Now his successor, Momade, has won the trust of the Renamo politicians, but not all of the old soldiers. Will they raise their weapons once more? </p>
<p>To understand the new peace settlement we have to consider its different components, and what they mean for the Renamo leadership, for the soldiers, and for civilians.</p>
<h2>Renamo soldiers and leaders</h2>
<p>First, there’s a process of granting posts in the police and army to a small number of Renamo soldiers. This only became an issue because two parties interpreted the <a href="https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/accord/general-peace-agreement-mozambique">1992 peace accord</a> differently, but in recent months have reached a consensus. As long as the officers who benefit in this way are chosen from among those who played an important role in the 2013-16 violence, then it makes a continuation of that violence less likely.</p>
<p>The next component of the peace agreement is disarming and demobilising the Renamo men who fought in the recent conflict. This is more complicated, because nobody knows how many of these men there are, or how many weapons they have. </p>
<p>The fighting forces were small and lightly armed – ambush tactics gave them a strategic advantage. Equally, there may be some ambiguities over who was a soldier and who wasn’t: some would travel back and forth between their home villages and the Renamo bases. </p>
<p>Nhongo and his self-styled junta make things still more unpredictable, because it’s unknown how many soldiers will do his bidding – <a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/hope-peace-and-reconciliation-pope-francis-mozambique">though this is likely not more than 80</a>, and they’re confined to one area. Even when the conflict was at its worst in 2013-14 and 2015-16, it was never certain to what extent the initiative was coming from the soldiers and to what extent it was from the leadership. </p>
<p>This brings us to the question of civilian support.</p>
<h2>Civilian support</h2>
<p>During the 2013 and 2016 violence there was a widespread feeling in central and northern Mozambique that Renamo was fighting for a just cause, namely a better distribution of power and wealth across the country.</p>
<p>Renamo kept this constituency onside by avoiding civilian casualties. Until there is any concrete progress in addressing <a href="http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/moz1009a.php">regional inequality</a> within Mozambique, there will still be some popular support for continued military mobilisation.</p>
<p>Given this combination of errant soldiers and sympathetic civilians, there should be no surprises if there are further sporadic attacks on government vehicles and installations. The government needs to accept the good faith of Momade’s leadership that Renamo as a party does not bear responsibility for such attacks.</p>
<h2>Elections</h2>
<p>The third element of the agreement is political: provincial governors will now be elected in each province, in contrast to the current system in which the central government appoints provincial governors. </p>
<p>Under the new arrangements, Renamo should be able to win some elections at provincial level. Most obviously, this is good for Momade: candidacies for provincial governorship’s will be his to dispense as favours, and provincial budgets will, in theory, be at Renamo’s disposal.</p>
<p>Devolved elections will help address a widespread complaint that central and northern Mozambique are neglected by a distant government in Maputo. The removal of the immediate political motivation for the conflict would make it harder for the soldiers to retain the trust that they have enjoyed in recent years.</p>
<p>However, Mozambican elections have always been <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2016/03/09/mozambique-returns-to-war-as-opposition-claims-electoral-fraud/">tainted by fraud</a>, and it is possible that this could be used to keep Renamo away from provincial government. Also, the lesson of municipal-level government, where there has been local devolution for many years, is that Frelimo can use its control of the centre to constrain the power of opposition parties that get elected locally. </p>
<h2>Prospects for peace</h2>
<p>In short, the political agreement may well keep Renamo’s leaders content for now, provided that Frelimo is wise enough to concede some substantive power to Renamo at provincial level.</p>
<p>Ultimately, age may be the decisive factor in preventing a repetition of the events of 2013-16. The recent conflict was waged by veterans aged 40 and older, some as old as 70. They’re not getting younger, and it’s unlikely that Nhongo can come anywhere near Dhlakama’s ability to mobilise such an unlikely army across much of the country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122954/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin Pearce has received funding from The Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p>The splintering in Renamo has its origins in the unexpected death last May of Afonso Dhlakama, its leader of 39 years.Justin Pearce, Teaching Associate in Politics and International Studies, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1213162019-08-01T14:01:09Z2019-08-01T14:01:09ZKenya’s terror survivors, and their families, need more trauma support<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286573/original/file-20190801-169718-fb0jut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Civilians run for safety as police provide cover during the suicide bombing and mass shooting attack on the 14 Riverside complex
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The Dusit hotel, which was part of the complex attacked by terrorists in Nairobi in January 2019, has reopened. 21 people died in the attack, bringing the number killed in terror attacks in Kenya to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/kenyans-face-homegrown-threat-hotel-attack-190120143030412.html">at least</a> 300 in the past five years. These attacks have been traumatic for many of those affected. Stephen Asatsa tells The Conversation Africa’s Moina Spooner what needs to be done to support them.</em></p>
<p><strong>How does trauma affect people who are directly or indirectly involved in a terror attack?</strong></p>
<p>When a person feels like they’re in a crisis, the <a href="https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain/brain-anatomy/hindbrain">hindbrain</a> (lower back of the brain) is activated while the forebrain is switched off. The hindbrain deals with survival functions: fight, flight or freeze. The forebrain deals with higher functions like logical reasoning, language and imagination. The forebrain isn’t helpful in times of crisis because it’s slow to make decisions.</p>
<p>This means that initial interventions must target the hindbrain to normalise the body from its state of emergency. Meditation, breathing exercises, massage and physical activities – like dance and games – can all help to relax the hindbrain. Later it can process the traumatic event during long term counselling. </p>
<p>Once the body returns to normal, it is important to track unprocessed emotions and help the survivors to express them. Social support is one of survivors’ greatest resources for survivors. This can be offered by strengthening family and friend ties to promote long term recovery, even after counselling stops. Family members should also be actively involved in crisis interventions.</p>
<p>Untreated trauma is dangerous. It may develop into other mental health issues <a href="https://www.apa.org/research/action/ptsd">that lead</a> to drug abuse, depression, anger and hatred.</p>
<p><strong>What does research show about the type of trauma people experience and the effectiveness of counselling at overcoming it?</strong></p>
<p>Threatening events lead to direct or secondary trauma. Direct trauma involves physically experiencing or witnessing the event – people who survive the threatening event, as well as those who may not have faced the threat but saw others being attacked. It would also apply to rescue staff like the police, fire fighters and doctors. </p>
<p>Secondary trauma involves people who were not physically present during the event but learn about it through others or through the mass media. </p>
<p>Symptoms are similar in both types of trauma. Traumatised people tend to be hyper vigilant, agitated, suffer from negative mood swings and avoid reminders of the crisis. But often, those who experience secondary trauma are neglected. </p>
<p>Yet research <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Impact-of-terrorism-on-health-and-Hospital-Anxiety-Nasim-Khan/5b5d8b1d30aa54c86d74f7f35af973e8054e98e3">shows</a> that from a single traumatic event, there are instances where more people have secondary trauma. For example <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Impact-of-terrorism-on-health-and-Hospital-Anxiety-Nasim-Khan/5b5d8b1d30aa54c86d74f7f35af973e8054e98e3">a survey</a> on the effects of terrorism in Pakistan reported 3.9% physical effects (direct trauma – meaning they were present at the location of the crisis), while 79.2% reported mental health effects (secondary trauma). </p>
<p><strong>How prevalent has counselling been for those affected by terror attacks in Kenya?</strong></p>
<p>The use of counselling services in Kenya is very low. During the crisis intervention that followed the <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001291021/picture-power-the-1998-terror-attack">1998 terror attack</a> on the US embassy in Nairobi, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3928/0048-5713-20040801-19">just 15%</a> of survivors sought counselling services. </p>
<p>Recently there’s been an improvement, possibly because of <a href="https://www.theelephant.info/reflections/2019/05/03/am-i-going-mad-a-reflection-on-mental-health-in-kenya/">increased awareness</a> and <a href="https://www.daystar.ac.ke/ajcp/downloads/articles/Stephen%20Asatsa.pdf">more</a> trained psychologists. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326785611_Counseling_as_a_Predictor_of_Posttraumatic_Growth_among_the_Garissa_University_Terrorist_Attack_Survivors">my study</a> on the Garissa University terror attack survivors – in which 148 people were killed – I found that most survivors <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326785611_Counseling_as_a_Predictor_of_Posttraumatic_Growth_among_the_Garissa_University_Terrorist_Attack_Survivors">received</a> counselling services. Only 16.5% didn’t. But a large number only had “critical incident debriefing”, which usually involves fewer than three counselling sessions. Survivors may need longer forms of intervention to give the healing process enough time. </p>
<p>I also found that women were more likely to attend long-term counselling. This could be attributed to cultural reasons: men <a href="https://www.apa.org/pi/about/newsletter/2015/11/black-males-cry">are socialised</a> not to ask for help even when they need it.</p>
<p><strong>What type of counselling works best in these situations?</strong></p>
<p>Many different approaches can be used to help terror survivors.</p>
<p>Psychological first aid focuses on initial emotional support offered to victims of trauma in a bid to reduce distress and prevent further trauma. This is not necessarily offered by mental health practitioners, but by any available helper. </p>
<p>Critical incident debriefing is offered to trauma victims with the aim of preventing the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a severe condition that could drastically affect a person’s normal functioning by keeping them withdrawn, highly agitated, restless, and sometimes suicidal. </p>
<p>These trauma interventions are the most prevalent forms of psychological support in times of crises. But they are short-term. Missing out on long-term counselling poses a threat to survivors’ mental health. Survivors of the Garissa terrorist attack, for instance, pinpointed a few painful experiences that slowed their recovery. These included the short term nature of counselling, counselling being stopped too soon and relatives being excluded from crisis intervention.</p>
<p>There needs to be a shift to long-term counselling which targets the survivors, their family members, rescue workers, counsellors, news reporters and the general public. </p>
<p><strong>Are there lessons from other countries on how best to support victims?</strong></p>
<p>There’s <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/04/taboo-mental-illness-kenya-160406093345546.html">a lack of awareness</a> in Kenya about the importance of mental health. This may be partly why people don’t seek out counselling. <a href="https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.201700412">In some</a> developed countries, by contrast, mental health is fully entrenched in public health institutions. </p>
<p>In Kenya, the mental health sector is not well regulated, compromising the quality of services. Legal frameworks – like the Counsellors and Psychologists Act of 2014 – haven’t been implemented because of competing professional bodies that make it hard to monitor the profession. The ministry of health also <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256284946_Professional_Counseling_in_Kenya_History_Current_Status_and_Future_Trends">seems reluctant</a> to register and license counsellors and psychologists, which could be the reason why humanitarian organisations often take the lead in coordinating psychologists during a crisis. </p>
<p>If the government allocated funds to mental health, and took it seriously, there would be better services for survivors of traumatic events, like terrorism, who would receive proper psychological help.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121316/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Asatsa does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Untreated trauma is dangerous as it may develop into other mental health complications that lead to drug abuse, depression, anger and hatred.Stephen Asatsa, Lecturer of Psychology, Catholic University of Eastern AfricaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1167252019-05-15T01:08:12Z2019-05-15T01:08:12ZThe site of the Bali bombings has been a vacant lot for 16 years. It’s time to build a proper memorial<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274309/original/file-20190514-60549-11aev3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Photos of the victims of the Bali bombings currently hang on a fence outside the vacant lot where the Sari Club once stood.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Made Nagi/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The author of this piece, Carmen Jacques, is available for a reader Q&A today (May 15) from 3-4pm AEST to take questions on this topic. Please post your questions in the comments below.</em></p>
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<p>On October 12, 2002, a terrorist detonated a bomb inside Paddy’s Nightclub in Kuta, Bali. Seconds later, as people fled the club, a larger bomb was detonated outside the Sari Club. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-19881138">More than 200 people lost their lives</a>, 88 of them Australian.</p>
<p>On the first anniversary of the Bali bombings, the idea to build a Peace Park on the site of the Sari Club was conceived by survivors, responders and the victims’ families. A few years later, the Bali Peace Park Association (<a href="https://www.balipeacepark.com.au/">BPPA</a>) was founded in Perth with the aim of creating a permanent memorial at the site. It has maintained strong political support ever since, both at home and in Bali. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/remembering-the-bali-bombings-ten-years-on-10040">Remembering the Bali bombings ten years on</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Despite this, the Sari Club site has remained an empty lot for the past 16 years. <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/we-have-to-preserve-the-relationship-bali-governor-intervenes-in-sari-club-dispute-20190509-p51lgw.html">Recent negotiations</a> to purchase the land from its owner have broken down, with the owner demanding A$4.9 million for the site itself, plus an additional A$9 million in compensation for predicted future financial losses. The BPPA have agreed to the land price, but are only offering compensation of A$500,000.</p>
<p>The Bali governor, Wayan Koster, cannot force the sale, but <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-03/bali-governor-offer-land-swap-away-from-sari-club-for-peace-park/11075588">has offered the owner another parcel of land</a> about 1.5km away and urged the owner to consider the relationship between Australia and Indonesia as a priority in the negotiations. </p>
<p>But a compromise now appears remote. Last week, the BPPA chairman David Napoli was told by the owners:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Either put in an offer to buy the land or we are closing the site and preparing for heavy equipment to come in.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Why the memorial has been contentious</h2>
<p>From 2013-16, I was part of a research team studying how the proposed Bali Peace Park could become <a href="https://www.rmit.edu.au/about/our-education/academic-schools/media-and-communication/research/publications/communication-politics--culture-journal/archive/volume-47-2014-part-2">a site of collective resistance to terrorism</a>. </p>
<p>During our research, we travelled to Bali and spoke to many community members and political supporters of the memorial, including the then-governor, <a href="https://indonesiaexpat.biz/travel/history-culture/i-made-mangku-pastika-a-governor-of-the-people/">Made Pastika</a>. The local government has long supported the idea of a memorial at the site, but couldn’t build on the land itself since it is privately owned. Instead, Made Pastika put an embargo on commercial development of the site, while the BPPA negotiated with the owners to purchase the land.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-refusing-to-build-memorials-for-terror-attacks-is-a-bold-political-statement-61556">Why refusing to build memorials for terror attacks is a bold political statement</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, this embargo recently lapsed and the owners now want to build a five-story commercial complex at the site.</p>
<p>The Indonesian government did create a monument in between the old Paddy’s and the Sari Club site across the road, and it considers this enough. But the BPPA argues a Peace Park is needed because the design of the monument fails to say anything about the attacks. It only functions to remember the dead, not what actually happened on the day of the attacks, nor how or what we might learn from them. The BPPA wants the park to counter violent extremism by educating visitors about the attacks from a position of non-violence. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274480/original/file-20190515-60549-16gyzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274480/original/file-20190515-60549-16gyzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274480/original/file-20190515-60549-16gyzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274480/original/file-20190515-60549-16gyzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274480/original/file-20190515-60549-16gyzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274480/original/file-20190515-60549-16gyzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274480/original/file-20190515-60549-16gyzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The current memorial near the site of the bombings in Kuta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Made Nagi/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our research, we also found there were significant cultural barriers to a memorial of this sort. Ancestor veneration is done at home in Bali and it is not local custom to otherwise memorialise the dead. The places where people die are “cleansed” by Hindu priests, allowing the spirits to return home. This means the ground is not considered sacred as it no longer contains the dead. </p>
<p>We were also told by one supporter of the park, Nyoman Jarna, that the Balinese prefer to “forget” disaster – they don’t want to be reminded of such tragedy. Bali is a place of happy holidays and its entire economy relies on this.</p>
<h2>What memorials should do</h2>
<p>In my view, the current monument erected by the government is static – it does not allow for any kind of deeper engagement with visitors. It stands on a small strip of land between the two bomb sites. It is too hot and exposed during the day for people to spend any real time there. At night, it is now closed to the public to prevent possible desecration by drunk tourists.</p>
<p>Anthropologist <a href="https://www.ethnologie.uni-halle.de/personal/schramm_katharina/?lang=en">Katharina Schramm</a> has <a href="http://muse.jhu.edu/article/424060">argued</a> that sites where violent acts have taken place are dynamic spaces that are constantly being reinterpreted through the memories of survivors, responders and other visitors. Reflecting on Ground Zero in New York where the September 11 attacks took place, social psychologist Eric Miller <a href="https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.ecu.edu.au/stable/41887494?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">says</a> memorials of this sort must provide future generations with an accurate representation of the devastation that occurred there. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/reclaiming-our-home-away-from-home-the-bali-bombings-10100">Reclaiming our home away from home: the Bali bombings</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>A static monument does not adequately explain what happened. During our research, many of the tourists we spoke with had no idea what had occurred at the site of the current monument in Bali and regularly asked us what it was for.</p>
<p>Memorials that have achieved a deeper engagement – such as the <a href="https://washington.org/dc-guide-to/vietnam-veterans-memorial">Vietnam Veterans Memorial</a> in Washington, the <a href="https://oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/">Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum</a>, and the <a href="https://www.911memorial.org/">9/11 Memorial and Museum</a> in New York – create a space for reflection and conversations with the dead. They also tell a story about what happened. </p>
<p>In my research, Gill Hicks, a survivor of the 2005 London terror attacks and now a prominent peace activist, told me: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Memorials like the one at Ground Zero should respect the lives lost and focus on ‘whatever happened’, as the victims didn’t deserve to die such a horrific death.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is what many people in Bali told me is important to them. Maria Katronikas, who lost her bridal party, two sisters and two cousins during her honeymoon said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I know how happy the girls were when I left them, I know what mood they were in, this is where they took last breath. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>And Kevin Paltridge, who lost his son, Corey, told me: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I come here to talk to Corey, sometimes for his birthday, sometimes for mine, sometimes just because I need to have a chat, I just get a couple of beers and one for him and one for me and we talk. </p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1123225292179251201"}"></div></p>
<p>As the fight over the Sari Club site continues in Bali, it’s worth keeping in mind the significance of places of remembrance. The way in which we memorialise the sites of terror attacks is particularly important because, as a society, we have a responsibility to the dead – and the living – to remember what happened. </p>
<p>If the BPPA succeeds in purchasing the land, the next challenge will be to create a peaceful place like this within the chaos of Kuta – a shady space for reflection and peace, which speaks to a future without terrorism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116725/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Aly's research in Bali was DECRA funded project - Carmen Jacques was her Research Assistant and employed/paid through the grant.</span></em></p>A land dispute has left a potential peace park at the site in doubt. Here’s why a memorial that explains what happened the day of the attacks is important.Carmen Jacques, PhD Candiate, Global Issues Practice Centre, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1151432019-05-03T05:20:00Z2019-05-03T05:20:00ZIssues that swung elections: Tampa and the national security election of 2001<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271658/original/file-20190430-194620-1fbunak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C16%2C1572%2C1432&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Front pages from Australian newspapers covering terrorist attacks on the United States. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://photos.aap.com.au/search/2001%20australia%20terrorist?q=%7B%22pageSize%22:100,%22pageNumber%22:1%7D">AAP Image</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>With taxes and health care emerging as key issues in the upcoming federal election, we’re running a series this week looking at the main issues that swung elections in the past, from agricultural workers’ wages to the Vietnam War. Read other stories in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/issues-that-swung-elections-69985">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The 2001 Australian federal election was a remarkable contest. Widely expected to see the Howard coalition government lose office after two lacklustre terms, the Tampa refugee crisis and the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States allowed the government to turn its political fortunes around. </p>
<p>Winning a presumed unwinnable election on the back of a strong national security agenda gave Howard’s team renewed impetus and assured its place in history. It fundamentally reshaped Australia’s political culture.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/leaders-try-to-dodge-them-voters-arent-watching-so-are-debates-still-relevant-115456">Leaders try to dodge them. Voters aren't watching. So, are debates still relevant?</a>
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<p>The Howard government had rocky start to 2001. It had won the 1998 GST election, but failed to gain a majority of the popular vote. Resentment over the GST remained strong. Ultraconservative voters were turning to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party, and Newspoll <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp0102/02rp11#app3">surveys</a> showed the Coalition’s approval ratings trailing Labor’s (39 to 45).</p>
<p>Conservative governments fell in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, and voter support for the coalition parties collapsed in the Queensland state election. The loss of the once safe seat of Ryan, and the leaking of a report by the Liberal Party president stating that the Coalition was <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/tablet/former-liberal-chief-shane-stone-speaks-out-over-mean-memo-given-to-john-howard/news-story/353b85ba891095d60d3a9734255f8d75">mean, tricky and out of touch</a>, added fuel to the fire. Most political analysts agreed that the government was doomed. </p>
<h2>The Tampa crisis</h2>
<p>Howard tried to stem the flow, and victory in a byelection in the Victorian seat of Aston in July suggested some progress. But, the real circuit-breaker came in August, with <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-mv-tampa-and-the-transformation-of-asylum-seeker-policy-74078">the Tampa crisis</a>. Those dramatic events saw the arrival of a Norwegian tanker in Australian waters – and the refusal of the Howard government to accept the passengers seeking asylum – give birth to the infamous “Pacific Solution”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271655/original/file-20190430-194633-1efbah5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271655/original/file-20190430-194633-1efbah5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271655/original/file-20190430-194633-1efbah5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271655/original/file-20190430-194633-1efbah5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271655/original/file-20190430-194633-1efbah5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271655/original/file-20190430-194633-1efbah5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271655/original/file-20190430-194633-1efbah5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Asylum seekers wait on board the MS Tampa after being denied entry to Australian waters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://photos.aap.com.au/search/tampa%20boat?q=%7B%22pageSize%22:100,%22pageNumber%22:1%7D">Wallenius Wilhelmsen/AAP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What followed was a highly politicised and militarised <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Former_Committees/maritimeincident/report/c01">response</a> to the “problem” of unauthorised maritime arrivals. This included the excising of islands from Australia’s migration zone in order to prevent asylum-seekers making visa applications, the legalisation of offshore processing, the removal of boats from Australian territorial waters by the navy, and the co-opting of Pacific nations like Nauru and Papua New Guinea into offshore detention management programs.</p>
<p>Some commentators have interpreted <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-mv-tampa-and-the-transformation-of-asylum-seeker-policy-74078">Howard’s Tampa battle</a> as pure political opportunism. But, this ignores the evidence that his government was already primed for a fight on border control. After <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/Quick_Guides/BoatTurnbacks">low levels of boat arrivals</a> for most of the 1990s, they rose to 3,721 in 1999, declined slightly in 2000 then rose significantly again in 2001 to 5,516. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fixing-the-gap-between-labors-greenhouse-gas-goals-and-their-policies-115550">Fixing the gap between Labor's greenhouse gas goals and their policies</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Concern for the irregular boat arrivals began to build. This was made visible by increasingly strident public discourse and tough border control measures, like the Border Protection Legislation Amendment Act 1999 and Migration Legislation Amendment Act 1999. The treatment of asylum-seekers caught in indefinite mainland detention was a source of constant media attention and political embarrassment for the government. </p>
<p>Tampa was Howard’s line in the sand. It profoundly challenged his commitment as leader to the protection of national security and sovereignty. It confirmed his affinity with the mood and aspirations of the Australian people – a bond powerfully articulated in his <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22library/partypol/1178395%22">declaration</a> that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>As a seasoned politician, Howard also recognised Tampa’s electoral potential. From the beginning, his government was willing to politicise the issue. Labor’s evident ambiguity towards the Border Protection bills – agreeing, then refusing to support the Coalition’s legislation, and finally buckling under political pressure – was seen as “wishy-washy”. <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id=chamber/hansardr/2001-09-19/0034;query=Id:%22chamber/hansardr/2001-09-19/0000%22">Claims were made</a>
in parliament that Labor was prepared to put the interests of people smugglers and “illegal immigrants” ahead of Australians.</p>
<h2>September 11</h2>
<p>Within weeks of Tampa, catastrophic terrorist attacks took place in the United States. Howard, in Washington DC at the time, was deeply affected and invoked the 50-year-old ANZUS treaty in support of its ally. </p>
<p>By October, when the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp0102/02rp11#app3">election</a> was called, the public mood had changed. Polls showed the Coalition’s approval ratings now at 50%, compared to Labor’s 35%. Howard’s personal rating was at a five-year high of 61%.</p>
<p>Incumbents enjoy advantages in campaigns. Nevertheless, <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9862161?selectedversion=NBD23251549">the Howard government’s political mastery</a> was evident in its ability to reframe the election as a referendum on national security. It created a link between the twin “threats” of terrorism and asylum-seekers in the public’s mind, and asserted its superior national security credentials. </p>
<p>The ALP campaigned well on some issues, but failed to provide a convincing counter-narrative to Howard’s agenda. Howard repeatedly pointed to Opposition Leader Kim Beazley’s ambivalence over the Pacific Solution as proof that he <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/beazleys-inner-demons-have-a-lot-to-answer-for-20030701-gdvyv1.html">lacked the “ticker”</a> to be prime minister. </p>
<p>Evidence that the government manipulated the facts surrounding the scandalous “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/credibility-overboard-20011108-gdf9oq.html">children overboard</a>” affair did not curb the popular view that dangerous times demanded strong leadership. In the end, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2004/guide/summary.htm">the government was re-elected</a> on November 10 with a swing of almost 2%, though barely any seats changed hands.</p>
<h2>National security still on the agenda</h2>
<p>The 2001 election changed Australia. It sealed Howard’s reputation as a strong leader, and gave him six more years in office. Success legitimated his hawkish outlook, and set the policy agenda for almost two decades. Australian troops, already committed to the conflict in Afghanistan as part of the US-led War on Terror, became ensnared in the illegal Iraq war.</p>
<p>Stringent anti-terrorism laws enhanced executive power, undermined civil liberties and alienated Muslim-Australians. Refugees, terrorism and national security remained major issues for both parties, but Labor struggled to establish its own agenda. Legislation to prevent irregular boat arrivals <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-boat-that-changed-it-all-20110819-1j2o2.html">hardened into</a> one of the harshest asylum-seeker regimes in the world, polarising public opinion.</p>
<p>Have the dynamics of that political contest dissipated? </p>
<p>In the current campaign, healthcare, climate change and economics have dominated, but the lure of “national security” for electoral advantage is <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/morrison-sets-test-for-shorten-over-security/news-story/9e50b332be28ac466871631c57d8b932">still difficult to resist</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/state-of-the-states-more-preference-deals-as-pre-polling-begins-116364">State of the states: more preference deals as pre-polling begins</a>
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<p>Many of the policy and political priorities established in 2001 remain intact. Both major parties are committed to offshore processing, mandatory detention and push-backs as deterrent mechanisms for asylum seekers. The fact that <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/operation-sovereign-borders-offshore-detention-statistics/2/">915 refugees and asylum-seekers</a> are still languishing on Nauru and Manus Island, confirm that politics, not pragmatism or human rights, still shapes Australian asylum-seeker policy. </p>
<p>The fight against terrorism continues. Extreme right-wing political movements are growing, emboldened by the the politics of hate unleashed in 2001. It is almost 20 years since Tampa and 9/11, but those events continue to cast their shadow over the Australian political landscape.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115143/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gwenda Tavan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 2001 federal election was a watershed moment for Australian national security that has set a policy agenda for almost two decades.Gwenda Tavan, Associate Professor, Politics and International Relations, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1158732019-04-29T10:44:50Z2019-04-29T10:44:50ZIs there a ‘feminine’ response to terrorism?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271097/original/file-20190425-121224-7ms9p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern wore a headscarf to comfort mourning family members after the Christchurch mosque shootings.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Muslims-Labelling-Terrorism/6754ed57839a4320be098f111b5b6ea7/54/0">AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After a terrorist shot and killed 50 people in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern responded <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/jacinda-ardern-has-rewritten-the-script-for-how-a-nation-grieves-after-a-terrorist-attack">differently</a>
than most leaders have after similar attacks. </p>
<p>Usually, history shows, presidents and prime ministers <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/our-rational-president/2015/12/21/977dcd56-a6cf-11e5-8318-bd8caed8c588_story.html">try to appear rational</a> after terrorism. They reassure people that the situation is under control, thank police and other first responders and offer updates on the investigations. Other world leaders, most of them male, have reacted by launching <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/6/2/8701499/patriot-act-explain">mass surveillance of the public</a>, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/2017/04/21/russia-st-petersburg-bombing-strengthening-putin-581681.html">repressing civil liberties</a>, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13504630.2016.1271740">strengthening law enforcement</a> or calling for a “<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/war-on-terror-timeline">war on terror</a>.” </p>
<p>Ardern demonstrated a more compassionate and empathetic handling of the Christchurch shootings. </p>
<p>She <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/03/22/five-ways-that-new-zealand-showed-solidarity-with-its-tiny-muslim-community-this-week/?utm_term=.7a8a88ae2995">wore a headscarf when comforting</a> Muslim victims and mourners. She cried. Her government <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-zealand-mosque-shootings-country-helping-pay-christchurch-shooting-victims-funerals-regardless-immigration-status/">offered to pay all funeral costs</a> for the victims, regardless of immigration status. And Ardern responded forcefully on the legislative front, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-47647786/christchurch-shootings-new-zealand-to-ban-military-style-weapons">pushing new gun control measures</a> through parliament, banning military-style assault weapons in New Zealand. </p>
<p>Arden has been almost universally <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/03/new-zealand-jacinda-ardern-lesson-leadership/585475/?fbclid=IwAR0nhW_UXP0CrtGE6p86k7dtgH0-2ZVSvZd3Cuwtx4aE4XWGzWkEZToEXGw">praised for her leadership through this crisis</a>, which some have identified as a “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01463379509369982?journalCode=rcqu20">feminine</a>” management style. Her <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2019/04/15/world/asia/15reuters-newzealand-politics-ardern.html">approval ratings</a> are the highest since she took office. </p>
<p>We wanted to understand how, exactly, Ardern acted differently than a man when facing down terrorism – if in fact she did.</p>
<h2>Our study: Categorizing leadership style</h2>
<p>To assess Arden’s “feminine” approach to terrorism, we have compared her rhetoric to that of other world leaders in the immediate aftermath of similar mass shootings – that is, lone wolf attacks that resulted in two or more deaths and were <a href="https://theconversation.com/white-nationalism-born-in-the-usa-is-now-a-global-terror-threat-113825">motivated by right-wing ideology</a>. </p>
<p>Six shooting incidents over the past 50 years meet all these criteria. They are: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks">Norway’s Utøya shooting</a> in 2011; the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Sikh_temple_shooting">Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting</a> in 2012; the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_church_shooting">Charleston, South Carolina, United Methodist Church shooting</a> in 2015; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City_mosque_shooting">Canada’s Quebec mosque attack</a> in 2017; last year’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_synagogue_shooting">Pittsburgh synagogue shooting</a>; and the Christchurch mosque shooting. </p>
<p>Our analysis therefore covered five different leaders’ reactions to domestic terrorism: Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, U.S. President Barack Obama, U. S. President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and New Zealand Prime Minister Ardern. </p>
<p>For each leader, we analyzed every sentence of their immediate post-attack statements – both spoken and written – and noted whether it focused on the perpetrator, the victims, both parties or neither. In total, we coded 314 sentences in this manner.</p>
<h2>Men lament victims, too</h2>
<p>Arden made headlines after Christchurch for talking about the victims and refusing to say the attacker’s name, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/3/19/18272635/new-zealand-mosque-shooting-name-notoriety">denying him notoriety</a>. </p>
<p>We found that all the male leaders in our sample also expressed empathy with the victims and, to a great extent, focused on the dead and injured rather than the perpetrator. Two actually focused their post-attack comments more strongly on the victims than Ardern, who devoted about 40% of her comment to the Christchurch victims.</p>
<p><iframe id="Vh37q" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Vh37q/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Nearly 44% of Prime Minister Stoltenberg’s sentences centered on victims, and he did not mention the terrorist at all. Stoltenberg said he was “<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/07/23/norway.pm.transcript/index.html">unable to express with words</a>” the depth of his feelings about the 77 people killed on Utøya island, many of whom were children at summer camp. </p>
<p>Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – who <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/29/512373761/two-people-arrested-following-multiple-shooting-deaths-at-quebec-city-mosque">mourned Quebec’s slain Muslim worshippers</a> as “brothers, uncles, fathers and friends” – followed, focusing 41% of his statement on the victims.</p>
<p>The two U.S. presidents in our analysis least emphasized the victims. </p>
<p>Obama, who shared his “<a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/06/18/statement-president-shooting-charleston-south-carolina">deep sorrow over the senseless murders</a>” of black worshippers in South Carolina, spoke about shooting victims in just 18% of his post-attack statements. Trump dedicated less than 5% of his speech after the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/10/27/18032692/trump-pittsburgh-shooting-synagogue-semitism-murder">Pittsburgh synagogue shooting</a> to the dead.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271099/original/file-20190425-121228-11p6sjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271099/original/file-20190425-121228-11p6sjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271099/original/file-20190425-121228-11p6sjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271099/original/file-20190425-121228-11p6sjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271099/original/file-20190425-121228-11p6sjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271099/original/file-20190425-121228-11p6sjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271099/original/file-20190425-121228-11p6sjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271099/original/file-20190425-121228-11p6sjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">President Barack Obama at a memorial service for the United Methodist Church worshipers killed in South Carolina in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Obama-Charleston-Shooting/a5dcafab79ad45b88b491846e4233fcf/6/0">AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster</a></span>
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<p>Both Obama and Trump spoke much more about the criminal investigations underway, the law enforcement response and how their government was handling the situation. </p>
<p>This emphasis on power – and, by implication, the strength of the nation’s leader – appears to be something of a male response to mass shooting. All the men in our sample dedicated at least half of their post-attack reactions to such topics. </p>
<p>Ardern, a woman, was the only leader in our sample who focused more than half of her comments on the human beings involved in the terrorist attack.</p>
<h2>When stereotypes work for women</h2>
<p>Ardern’s response to terrorism differed, too, in how openly she expressed her <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/i-m-deeply-sad-jacinda-ardern-opens-up-about-christchurch-attack-20190325-p517hk.html">sadness</a>.</p>
<p>Crying in public can be a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1017/s0022381611000053?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contentsStudies">political liability for both male and female politicians</a>, according to Dartmouth professor Deborah
Jordan Brooks. When President Obama in 2016 <a href="https://www.salon.com/2016/01/06/obama_cries_and_the_right_whines_conservatives_mock_president_for_his_tears_proving_again_theyre_heartless_fools/">struggled to hold back tears</a> after the Sandy Hook school shooting, for example, Fox News <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2016/01/05/fox-host-mr-president-do-you-think-isis-sees-yo/207781">mocked him</a>. Research shows that women leaders are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048984316000151">penalized particularly harshly</a> for showing emotion.</p>
<p>Ardern, however, has not been judged for crying in Christchurch. Traditional gender roles <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1065912917738579">depict women</a> as “emotional.” Perhaps, in this time of tragedy, social expectations actually worked in her favor.</p>
<p>Another <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-social-science-say-about-how-a-female-president-might-lead-61255">stereotypically female characteristic</a> – empathetic caring for the needs of others – was also on display after the Christchurch attack. </p>
<p>Ardern’s use of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2019/3/22/18277189/new-zealand-call-to-prayer-headscarf-haka-christchurch-hagley-park">Muslim headscarf when visiting the scene of the crime</a>, for example, was more than cultural sensitivity. It visually conveyed that Muslims are welcome in New Zealand. Muslim leaders worldwide <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47630129">praised the prime minister</a> for her compassionate gesture, and many non-Muslim women in New Zealand soon <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/new-zealand-women-wear-headscarves-to-support-mosque-shootings-victims-2011076">followed her lead</a>.</p>
<p>Even the Ardern government’s policy responses were arguably driven by empathy. Her government offered to pay funeral costs and made tax-free “survivor grants” available for the partners, children and dependents of the victims. </p>
<p>Research shows that women experience indirect but disproportionate <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3877825?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">harms when male heads of households die</a> from violence. The survivor grants indicate that Ardern considered women’s specific needs in planning government assistance.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2007-05-01/let-women-rule">Worldwide</a>, research shows, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/juaf.12066">female leaders</a> are most likely to champion these <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781135800758">kinds of social welfare policies</a> when in office.</p>
<p>After armed conflicts, <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/691056">female leaders</a> also tend to shift resources from military spending to social welfare, prolonging peace.</p>
<h2>Women being women</h2>
<p>There are, of course <a href="https://theconversation.com/female-presidents-dont-always-help-women-while-in-office-study-in-latin-america-finds-91707">notable exceptions</a> to the idea that female leaders are more compassionate, nurturing or nonviolent leaders.</p>
<p>As U.S. secretary of state, Hillary Clinton <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/07/27/hillary-the-hawk-a-history-clinton-2016-military-intervention-libya-iraq-syria/">advocated for a U.S. military involvement</a> to conflicts in Libya and Syria. <a href="https://qz.com/1115269/would-the-world-be-more-peaceful-if-there-were-more-women-leaders/">British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher</a> also started war while in office, and famously <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/apr/09/margaret-thatcher-policies-poor-society">slashed government funding for Britain’s social welfare services</a>. </p>
<p>Ardern’s willingness to embrace an openly female leadership style is a relatively new phenomenon. In the past, many women have felt the need to adopt traditionally masculine traits to succeed in the male-dominated world of politics.</p>
<p>In doing so, Ardern has showed the world that feminine leadership isn’t just acceptable – it is also, in times of trouble, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/30/opinion/women-leadership-jacinda-ardern.html">powerful force</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115873/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After the Christchurch mosque shootings, New Zealand’s prime minister didn’t start a war on terror. She covered her head, cried, paid for funerals and passed gun control. Is it because she’s a woman?Mona Krewel, Assistant Professor, Department of Government, Cornell UniversitySabrina Karim, Assistant Professor, Department of Government, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1158152019-04-22T21:19:58Z2019-04-22T21:19:58ZSri Lanka has a history of conflict, but the recent attacks appear different<p>Sri Lanka has long been subject to extremist violence. Easter Sunday’s coordinated bomb blasts, which killed almost 300 and injured hundreds more, are the latest in a long history of ethno-religious tragedies.</p>
<p>While no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/world/asia/sri-lanka-bombing-explosion.html">24 people</a> have been arrested. Three police were killed in their capture. </p>
<p>The Sri Lankan government has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/world/asia/ntj-sri-lanka-national-thowheeth-jamaath.html">blamed the attacks</a> on the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ), a radical Islamist group known for vandalising Buddhist statues.</p>
<p>These attacks are different from previous ethno-religious violence in Sri Lanka. By fomenting generalised religious hatred, they appear to have more in common with Al-Qaeda, which has sought specific political change.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-sri-lankas-christians-115799">Who are Sri Lanka's Christians?</a>
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<p>For many, the bomb blasts immediately recalled Sri Lanka’s ethnic civil war. The war was fought between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) and the Sri Lanka government from 1983 until 2009. </p>
<p>In its final weeks, around 40,000 mostly Tamil civilians were killed, bringing the war’s total toll to more than 100,000 from a population of around 20 million.</p>
<p>The Tamil Tigers were completely destroyed in 2009. Many Tigers, including their leader, were summarily executed. There remains much bitterness among Tamils towards the ethnic majority Sinhalese, but there is no appetite for renewing a war that ended so disastrously.</p>
<h2>A history of unrest</h2>
<p>Ethnic tensions in Sri Lanka were high prior to independence in 1948, and stoked by the 1956 election of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party under Prime Minister Solomon Bandaranaike. </p>
<p>Bandaranaike proclaimed himself “defender of the besieged Sinhalese culture”, and oversaw the introduction of the Sinhala Only Act. The act privileged the country’s majority Sinhalese population and their religion of Buddhism over the minority Hindu and Muslim Tamils. The fallout from this legislation forced Bandaranaike to backtrack, but he was assassinated in 1959 by an extremist Buddhist monk for doing so. </p>
<p>Inter-ethnic tensions continued with outbursts of mob violence. In 1962, there was an attempted military coup, and in 1964, around 600,000 third and fourth generation “Indian” Tamils were forcibly removed to India.</p>
<p>In 1972, and again in 1987, the predominantly Sinhalese Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party (JVP) launched insurrections that were bloodily suppressed. Clashes between Sinhalese and Tamils in 1983 led to an attack on a Sri Lankan army convoy. This sparked the “Black July” Sinhalese rampage against ethnic Tamils, leaving at least 3,000 dead and marking the start of the inter-ethnic civil war.</p>
<p>The war was noted for its bitterness, with the Tamil Tigers using suicide bombing as a tactical weapon, as well as for targeted political assassinations. India intervened in the war in 1987. In retribution, a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber assassinated former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/violent-buddhist-extremists-are-targeting-muslims-in-sri-lanka-92951">Violent Buddhist extremists are targeting Muslims in Sri Lanka</a>
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<h2>Extremist violence isn’t new</h2>
<p>Sri Lanka’s Muslims are predominantly ethnic Tamils and make up about 10% of the population. They have been at the margins of these more recent conflicts – excluded as Tamil speakers, but at odds with the more numerous Hindu Tamils. However, they also have long been subject to Sinhalese persecution, with anti-Muslim riots dating back at least as far as the early 20th century.</p>
<p>As the Tamil Tiger war progressed, Sinhalese Buddhism became more radicalised. Some Sinhalese claimed that all of Sri Lanka should be exclusively Buddhist. With the Tamil Tigers defeated, Sri Lanka’s non-Buddhist communities were again persecuted. This culminated in 2013 with a Buddhist attack on a mosque. Anti-Muslim riots in 2014 resulted in a ten day state of emergency. Last year, there were more anti-Muslim riots. Buddhist monks have also disrupted Christian church services.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-sri-lanka-is-sliding-into-political-turmoil-and-what-could-happen-next-106526">Explainer: Why Sri Lanka is sliding into political turmoil, and what could happen next</a>
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<p>Sri Lanka’s history of extremist violence, then, is far from new. Sinhalese Buddhist chauvinism has been the driver of much of this conflict. It may be that the Colombo East bombings are a reaction to recent ethnic persecution. </p>
<p>But if so, this raises the question of why Christian churches and upmarket hotels were bombed, rather than symbols of the Sinhalese Buddhist community. One can speculate about the logic of radicalisation and its possible manifestations. It is possible that, if Islamist-inspired, the bombings were not a direct retaliation for last year’s anti-Muslim riots, but part of a wider jihadi agenda.</p>
<p>It is instructive that, when the suspected terrorists were arrested and weapons found, three police were shot dead. Clearly, whoever was responsible was well trained, and there have been <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/22/asia/sri-lanka-investigation-easter-attacks/index.html">suggestions of international links</a>. This contributes to speculation of returned Islamic State fighters having joined NTJ.</p>
<p>The Sri Lankan government was slow to release details of those believed responsible, as it knows ethnic and religious tensions are easy to spark. Identification of responsibility could well provide fuel for another round of inter-ethnic bloodletting.</p>
<p>If NTJ links are proven, or if the more radical elements of the Buddhist community are persuaded by wider speculation, it is likely Sri Lanka’s Tamil Muslims will bear the brunt of their reprisals. It is in this manner that Sri Lanka’s wheel of ethno-religious conflict turns.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115815/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Damien Kingsbury does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By inciting religious hatred, the recent attacks in Sri Lanka appear to have more in common with Al-Qaeda than past ethno-religious violence, which has sought specific political change.Damien Kingsbury, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1140722019-03-22T04:11:41Z2019-03-22T04:11:41ZFinding dignity and grace in the aftermath of the Christchurch attack<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265226/original/file-20190321-93024-17z4r8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C0%2C5568%2C3692&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Victims are responding to the Christchurch mosque shooting with bravery and compassion, not anger and hate. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Following the tragic attack in Christchurch that killed 50 people as they prayed, I felt compelled to visit the injured in hospital, and meet their family and friends. </p>
<p>I also visited others in their homes, alongside an elder and pioneer of the New Zealand Islamic community, the man who helped establish Al Noor Mosque where most of the victims were killed.</p>
<p>Their stories of survival are moving, sometimes remarkable and often deeply sad.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-take-care-of-your-mental-health-after-the-christchurch-attacks-113733">How to take care of your mental health after the Christchurch attacks</a>
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<p>But the common thread in their response to the horrific events of March 15 is profound bravery, deep consideration and thoughtfulness, and a complete lack of desire for vengeance.</p>
<p>At the hospital, I met Ahmad, a middle-aged man from an Afghani background. He said he survived because he was buried under the dead bodies that piled up in the mosque. Although he was shot twice in the back and was lucky to survive, he was not angry or resentful.</p>
<p>When asked about his abiding thoughts now he said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>terrorism must not scare us. Racism must not divide us.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I then visited Fuad, another middle-aged man originally from Afghanistan who also escaped death. He had been struck by a bullet in the back and another just missing the back of his head.</p>
<p>His wounds were visible. He told me, with four children, he was just grateful to be alive. Not resentful or vengeful, he was full of praise for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her deep expression of humanity.</p>
<p>Mustafa, a young university student of Turkish heritage, was shot in the legs. One of the bullets exploded in his leg and it is difficult to know the long-term impacts – but he smiles and is cheerful, kind and respectful to the nurses who care for him.</p>
<p>Like the other two, he was not hateful. He said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We trust in God. Don’t be scared to go to Mosques and schools. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>He was quick to point out terrorism would serve its purpose if it made people afraid – our fear is their victory.</p>
<p>Still in shock from seeing the events at Al Noor mosque unfold, Burhan, a Sudanese man in his 60s, stood in the hospital corridor. That Friday at the mosque, he heard the shooting but was not sure if it was real.</p>
<p>He then saw two men shot dead, one on his right and the other behind him.</p>
<p>He ran outside and hid behind a car but could see the shoes of the terrorist as he continued to fire. He watched as a father ran out with his three-year-old daughter in his arms calling out “my daughter!”.</p>
<p>Both had been shot multiple times and both remain in critical care.</p>
<p>A young man in his 20s whom I had met when we completed the hajj pilgrimage last year, witnessed the gunman as he shot that young father and child.</p>
<p>Not unscathed, he too was shot in the hip and shoulder and his father only survived by pretending to be dead.</p>
<p>Without anger and strong in his faith he said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the Prophets of God were tested more severely.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Down every corridor the message was the same – the survivors urged unity and the strength to resist hatred, racism and vengeance.</p>
<p>At the community centre later that day I met Adnan Ibrahim the father of the youngest of the 50 victims killed at the two mosques. His son, Mucad Ibrahim, was only three years old. </p>
<p>Before he was killed, he had run toward the gunman thinking it was a game.</p>
<p>As Adnan retold the events, everyone became very silent. In deep pain and sorrow, he showed grace and dignity.</p>
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<p>Verily we belong to God and to Him we shall return.</p>
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<p>His most present thoughts were about the sad condition of humanity, that such things could happen.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-psychology-of-fear-and-hate-and-what-each-of-us-can-do-to-stop-it-113710">The psychology of fear and hate, and what each of us can do to stop it</a>
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<p>On my way to the carpark, I met Matiullah, a young man under 20 years old. I greeted him and asked if he lost anyone. He told me his father was killed while standing in prayer at the mosque. I embraced him and was struck by his gentleness and calmness.</p>
<p>The community elder Dr Hanif Quazi took me to see Ambreen Nadeem, who lost both her husband and her 21-year-old son, Talha.</p>
<p>Talha was completing an engineering degree. The entire family were planning to visit Pakistan in June and the tickets were booked.</p>
<p>As I met her with her two remaining sons, 17 and seven years old, I was filled with sadness.</p>
<p>Grief lined her dignified face.</p>
<p>And she said: </p>
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<p>I pity the killer because his heart was filled with hate, not love.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>“Pray for us,” she added quietly. I did.</p>
<p>At a time when we could expect that anger, vengeance and resentment could take hold in a community so demolished by violence, I found the exact opposite.</p>
<p>They were compassionate. They were forgiving. They were humane. And this is what we need right now.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114072/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mohamad Abdalla does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>At a time when we could expect anger, vengeance and resentment to take hold in a community so demolished by violence, Professor Mohamad Abdalla visited victims and found compassion and forgiveness.Mohamad Abdalla, Founding Director of the Centre for Islamic Thought and Education, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1137152019-03-18T05:48:38Z2019-03-18T05:48:38ZSocial media create a spectacle society that makes it easier for terrorists to achieve notoriety<p>The shocking mass-shooting in Christchurch on Friday is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-15/christchurch-shooting-at-mosques-leads-to-multiple-fatalities/10904306">notable</a> for using livestreaming video technology to broadcast horrific first-person footage of the shooting on social media.</p>
<p>In the highly disturbing video, the gunman drives to the Masjid Al Noor mosque, walks inside and shoots multiple people before leaving the scene in his car. </p>
<p>The use of social media technology and livestreaming marks the attack as different from many other terrorist incidents. It is a form of violent “<a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/CICrimJust/2015/21.html">performance crime</a>”. That is, the video streaming is a central component of the violence itself, it’s not somehow incidental to the crime, or a <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=_6MxDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA35#v=onepage&q&f=false">disgusting trophy</a> for the perpetrator to re-watch later.</p>
<p>In the past, terrorism functioned according to what has been called the “<a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_theater_of_terror.html?id=WWllAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">theatre of terror</a>”, which required the media to report on the spectacle of violence created by the group. Nowadays, it’s much easier for someone to both create the spectacle of horrific violence and distribute it widely by themselves.</p>
<p>In an era of social media, which is driven in large part by spectacle, we all have a role to play in ensuring that terrorists aren’t rewarded for their crimes with our clicks.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-news-outlets-should-think-twice-about-republishing-the-new-zealand-mosque-shooters-livestream-113651">Why news outlets should think twice about republishing the New Zealand mosque shooter's livestream</a>
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<h2>Performance crime is about notoriety</h2>
<p>There is a tragic and recent history of performance crime videos that use livestreaming and social media video services as part of their tactics. </p>
<p>In 2017, for example, the sickening murder video of an elderly man in Ohio was uploaded to Facebook, and the torture of a man with disabilities in Chicago was livestreamed. In 2015, the murder of two journalists was simultaneously <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/27/virginia-shooting-in-an-instant-vester-flanagan-broadcast-death-to-the-world">broadcast on-air, and livestreamed</a>.</p>
<p>American journalist Gideon Lichfield <a href="https://qz.com/489002/before-you-watch-a-tragic-graphic-news-video-ask-who-wants-you-to-see-it-and-why/">wrote</a> of the 2015 incident, that the killer:</p>
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<p>didn’t just want to commit murder – he wanted the reward of attention, for having done it. </p>
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<p>Performance crimes can be distinguished from the way traditional terror attacks and propaganda work, such as the hyper-violent videos <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-really-hollywood-the-medias-misleading-framing-of-islamic-state-videos-66131">spread by ISIS in 2014</a>. </p>
<p>Typical propaganda media that feature violence use a dramatic spectacle to raise attention and communicate the group’s message. But the perpetrators of performance crimes often don’t have a clear ideological message to convey. </p>
<p>Steve Stephens, for example, linked his murder of a random elderly victim to <a href="https://www.essence.com/news/steven-stephens-ex-girlfriend-joy-lane/">retribution for his own failed relationship</a>. He shot the stranger point-blank on video. Vester Flanagan’s appalling murder of two journalists seems to have been motivated by his anger at being <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/two-roanoke-journalists-killed-on-live-television-by-angry-former-colleague/2015/08/26/8e534e0e-4c0c-11e5-902f-39e9219e574b_story.html?utm_term=.04a726f8928c">fired from the same network</a>.</p>
<p>The Christchurch attack was a brutal, planned mass murder of Muslims in New Zealand, but we don’t yet know whether it was about communicating the ideology of a specific group. </p>
<p>Even though it’s easy to identify <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/new-zealand-mosque-terrorist-may-have-targeted-country-because-it-n983601">explicit references to white supremacist ideas</a>, the document is also strewn with confusing and inexplicable internet meme references and red herrings. These could be regarded as <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/the-shooters-manifesto-was-designed-to-troll/585058/">trolling attempts to bait the public</a> into interrogating his claims, and magnifying the attention paid to the perpetrator and his gruesome killings.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/christchurch-attacks-are-a-stark-warning-of-toxic-political-environment-that-allows-hate-to-flourish-113662">Christchurch attacks are a stark warning of toxic political environment that allows hate to flourish</a>
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<h2>How we should respond</h2>
<p>While many questions remain about the attack itself, we need to consider how best to respond to performance crime videos. Since 2012, many academics and journalists <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/12/the-media-needs-to-stop-inspiring-copycat-murders-heres-how/266439/">have argued</a> that media coverage of mass violence should be limited to <a href="http://theconversation.com/the-media-need-to-think-twice-about-how-they-portray-mass-shooters-91972">prevent the reward of attention</a> from potentially driving further attacks. </p>
<p>That debate has <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-news-outlets-should-think-twice-about-republishing-the-new-zealand-mosque-shooters-livestream-113651">continued</a> following the tragic events in New Zealand. Journalism lecturer Glynn Greensmith <a href="https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/christchurch-shootings-and-the-power-that-comes-from-denying-killers-their-fame-20190315-p514ng.html">argued</a> that our responsibility may well be to limit the distribution of the Christchurch shooting video and manifesto as much as possible. </p>
<p>It seems that, in this case, social media and news platforms have been more mindful about removing the footage, and refusing to rebroadcast it. The video was taken <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/streamed-facebook-spread-youtube-new-zealand-shooting-video-circulates-online-n983726">down within 20 minutes by Facebook</a>, which <a href="https://twitter.com/fbnewsroom/status/1107117981358682112">said</a> that in the first 24 hours it removed 1.5 million videos of the attack globally.</p>
<p>Telecommunication service Vodafone moved quickly to <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/111322733/facebook-battles-to-stamp-out-horror-footage-of-christchurch-shooting">block New Zealand users from access to sites</a> that would be likely to distribute the video.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1107117981828431872"}"></div></p>
<p>The video is likely to be <a href="https://www.dia.govt.nz/Sharing-of-Christchurch-shooting-video-likely-to-be-against-the-law">declared objectionable material</a>, according to New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs, which means it is illegal to possess. Many are calling on the public not to share it online. </p>
<h2>Simply watching the video can cause trauma</h2>
<p>Yet the video still exists, dispersed throughout the internet. It may be removed from official sites, but its online presence is maintained via re-uploads and file-sharing sites. Screenshots of the videos, which frequently appear in news reports, also inherit symbolic and traumatic significance when they serve as visual reminders of the distressing event.</p>
<p>Watching images like these has the <a href="https://journals-sagepub-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/doi/abs/10.1177/0263276415619220">potential to provoke vicarious trauma</a> in viewers. Studies since the September 11 attacks suggest that “distant trauma” can be <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200111153452024">linked to multiple viewings of distressing media images</a>. </p>
<p>While the savage violence of the event is distressing in its own right, this additional potential to traumatise people who simply watch the video is something that also plays into the aims of those committing performance crimes in the name of terror. </p>
<h2>Rewarding the spectacle</h2>
<p>Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are powered by a framework that encourages, rewards and creates performance. People who post cat videos cater to this appetite for entertainment, but so do criminals.</p>
<p>According to British criminologist Majid Yar, the new media environment <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1741659012443227">has created</a> different genres of performance crime. The performances have increased in intensity, and criminality – from so-called “happy slapping” videos circulated among adolescents, to violent sexual assault videos. The recent attack is a terrifying continuation of this trend, which is predicated on <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1741659012443227">a kind of exhibitionism and desire to be identified as the performer of the violence</a>.</p>
<p>Researcher Jane O'Dea, who has studied the role played by the media environment in school shootings, <a href="https://philpapers.org/rec/ODEMAV">claims</a> that we exist in: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a society of the spectacle that regularly transforms ordinary people into “stars” of reality television or of websites like Facebook or YouTube.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Perpetrators of performance crime are <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/CICrimJust/2015/21.html">inspired by</a> the attention that will inevitably result from the online archive they create leading up to, and during, the event.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-a-truly-inclusive-society-requires-political-restraint-113719">View from The Hill: A truly inclusive society requires political restraint</a>
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<h2>We all have a role to play</h2>
<p>I have <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=_6MxDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA53&vq=that%20otherwise%20may%20not%20have%20occurred&pg=PA53#v=snippet&q=that%20otherwise%20may%20not%20have%20occurred&f=false">previously argued</a> that this media environment seems to produce violent acts that otherwise may not have occurred. Of course, I don’t mean that the perpetrators are not responsible or accountable for their actions. Rather, performance crime represents a different type of activity specific to the technology and social phenomenon of social media – the accidental dark side of livestreaming services. </p>
<p>Would the alleged perpetrator of this terrorist act in Christchurch still have committed it without the capacity to livestream? We don’t know. </p>
<p>But as Majid Yar <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1741659012443227">suggests</a>, rather than concerning ourselves with old arguments about whether media violence can cause criminal behaviour, we should focus on how the techniques and reward systems we use to represent ourselves to online audiences are in fact a central component of these attacks.</p>
<p>We may hope that social media companies will get <a href="https://www.keyt.com/news/national-world/why-ai-is-still-terrible-at-spotting-violence-online/1060036679">better at filtering out violent content</a>, but until they do we should reflect on our own behaviour online. As we like and share content of all kinds on social platforms, let’s consider how our activities could contribute to an overall spectacle society that inspires future perpetrator-produced videos of performance crime – and act accordingly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113715/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart M Bender does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Until social platforms improve filtering of extremist content, we all have a role to play in ensuring our online activities don’t contribute to a spectacle society that rewards terrorists with clicks.Stuart M Bender, Early Career Research Fellow (Digital aesthetics of violence), Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1136512019-03-15T07:33:43Z2019-03-15T07:33:43ZWhy news outlets should think twice about republishing the New Zealand mosque shooter’s livestream<p>Like so many times before with acts of mass violence in different parts of the world, news of shootings at two Christchurch mosques on Friday instantly ricocheted around the world via social media. </p>
<p>When these incidents occur, online activity follows a predictable pattern as journalists and others try to learn the name of the perpetrator and any reason behind the killings. </p>
<p>This time they did not have to wait long. In an appalling example of the latest technology, the gunman reportedly livestreamed his killings on Facebook. According to <a href="https://10daily.com.au/news/a190315uge/gunman-opens-fire-in-new-zealand-mosque-20190315">reports</a>, the footage apparently showed a man moving through the interior of a mosque and shooting at his victims indiscriminately. </p>
<p>Amplifying the spread of this kind of material can be harmful. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/since-boston-bombing-terrorists-are-using-new-social-media-to-inspire-potential-attackers-94944">Since Boston bombing, terrorists are using new social media to inspire potential attackers</a>
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<h2>Mainstream media outlets posted raw footage from gunman</h2>
<p>The video was later taken down but not before many had called out the social media company. The ABC’s online technology reporter, Ariel Bogle, blamed the platforms for allowing the video to be shared.</p>
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<p>ABC investigative reporter Sophie McNeil asked people on Twitter not to share the video, since the perpetrator clearly wanted it to be widely disseminated. New Zealand police similarly <a href="https://twitter.com/nzpolice/status/1106402006183219203">urged people</a> not to share the link and said they were working to have the footage removed.</p>
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<p>Following a spate of killings in France in 2015 and 2016, French mainstream media proprietors decided to adopt a policy of not recycling pictures of atrocities. </p>
<p>The editor of Le Monde, Jérôme Fenoglio, <a href="https://qz.com/744406/in-a-massive-attempt-to-stop-the-spread-of-terror-french-media-are-no-longer-publishing-photos-of-terrorists/">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Following the attack in Nice, we will no longer publish photographs of the perpetrators of killings, to avoid possible effects of posthumous glorification. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Today, information about the name of the Christchurch gunman, his photograph and his Twitter account, were easy to find. Later, it was possible to see that his Twitter account had been suspended. On Facebook, it was easy to source pictures, and even a selfie, that the alleged perpetrator had shared on social media before entering the mosque.</p>
<p>But it was not just social media that shared the pictures. Six minutes of raw video was <a href="https://www.news.com.au/world/pacific/gunman-who-opened-fire-on-christchurch-mosque-addresses-attack-in-manifesto/news-story/70372a39f720697813607a9ec426a734">posted by news.com.au</a>, which, after a warning at the front of the clip, showed video from the gunman’s helmet camera as he drove through the streets on his way to the mosque.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mainstream-media-outlets-are-dropping-the-ball-with-terrorism-coverage-78442">Mainstream media outlets are dropping the ball with terrorism coverage</a>
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<h2>The risks of sharing information about terrorism</h2>
<p>Sharing this material can be highly problematic. In some past incidences of terrorism and hate crime, pictures of the wrong people have been published around the world on social and in mainstream media.</p>
<p>After the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, the wrong man was fingered as a culprit by <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-22214511">a crowd-sourced detective hunt</a> on various social media sites. </p>
<p>There is also the real fear that publishing such material could lead to copycat crimes. Along with the photographs and 17 minutes of film, the alleged perpetrator has penned a 73-page manifesto, in which he <a href="https://www.news.com.au/world/pacific/gunman-who-opened-fire-on-christchurch-mosque-addresses-attack-in-manifesto/news-story/70372a39f720697813607a9ec426a734">describes himself</a> as “just a regular white man”.</p>
<p>A Norwegian extremist who killed 69 people on the island of Utøya in 2011, took a similar approach to justifying his acts. Before his killing spree, he wrote a 1,518 page manifesto called “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-14267007">2083: A European Declaration of Independence</a>”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-ways-social-media-companies-and-security-agencies-can-tackle-terrorism-78903">Four ways social media companies and security agencies can tackle terrorism</a>
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<h2>The public’s right to know</h2>
<p>Those who believe in media freedom and the public’s right to know are likely to complain if information and pictures are not available in full view on the internet. Conspiracies fester when people believe they are not being told the truth.</p>
<p>Instant global access to news can also pose problems to subsequent trials of perpetrators,<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2019/feb/27/pells-trial-shows-courts-cant-keep-secrets-in-the-internet-age"> as was shown </a>in the recent case involving Cardinal George Pell.</p>
<p>While some large media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, are under increasing pressure to clean up their acts in terms of publishing hate crime material, it is nigh on impossible to stop the material popping up in multiple places elsewhere.</p>
<p>Members of the public, and some media organisations, will not stop speculating, playing detective or “rubber necking” at horror, despite what well-meaning social media citizens may desire. For the media, it’s all about clicks, and unfortunately horror drives clicks.</p>
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<p>Update from the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-15/christchurch-shooting-live-stream-think-twice-about-watching-it/10907258">ABC</a>: Facebook says it has taken down a video of the shootings at a New Zealand mosque and removed the identified shooter’s accounts from its platforms after being alerted by police.</p>
<p>Facebook New Zealand spokeswoman Mia Garlick said in a statement the company was “also removing any praise or support for the crime and the shooter or shooters as soon as we’re aware.”</p>
<p>Both YouTube owner Google and Twitter also said they were working to remove video of the shootings from their sites.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113651/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colleen Murrell is on the executive board of the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia (JERAA). </span></em></p>People are sharing the gruesome video posted by the Christchurch mosque gunman. What is the responsibility of news agencies in such a situation?Colleen Murrell, Associate Professor, Journalism, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.