tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/7-7-attacks-18821/articles7/7 attacks – The Conversation2016-07-06T16:34:03Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/615562016-07-06T16:34:03Z2016-07-06T16:34:03ZWhy refusing to build memorials for terror attacks is a bold political statement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129576/original/image-20160706-12753-bz22eb.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.flickr.com/photos/cgpgrey/5294700856/sizes/l">CGP Grey/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It has been 11 years since four bombs detonated in locations around London, killing 52 people and injuring hundreds more. Every year, the anniversary of the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/33401669">the 7/7 bombings</a> is commemorated with <a href="http://www.tavistocksquarememorialtrust.org/annual-lecture.html">lectures</a>, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33407554">ceremonies and services</a> for the victims. In 2009, a memorial featuring 52 stainless steel pillars – one for each life lost in the bombings – was unveiled in Hyde Park. </p>
<p>Even now, <a href="http://www.tavistocksquarememorialtrust.org/index.html">Tavistock Square Memorial Trust</a> is in the process of raising funds for a second 7/7 memorial, to be located near the site of <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/77-bombings-tavistock-square-bus-6017890">the bus</a> which exploded. In last year’s spending review, George Osborne allocated £50,000 worth of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chancellor-george-osbornes-spending-review-and-autumn-statement-2015-speech">Libor banking fines to the cause</a>, moving the charity substantially closer to its funding target.</p>
<p>But why does London need a second memorial? On one level, it seems natural and proper to mark such occasions. The exalted scholar of memory, Pierre Nora, once <a href="http://www.timeandspace.lviv.ua/files/session/Nora_105.pdf">stated that</a> “we speak so much of memory because there is so little of it left”. He meant that, unlike older generations, the rhythms of our lives have been <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/social-acceleration-and-the-need-for-speed/#!">sped up by neoliberal capitalism</a> and are no longer structured around religious services, cultural traditions and the seasons. </p>
<p>Without these traditional rhythms, we sometimes struggle to transform our memories into a compelling story about who we are and what we stand for. So, in the place of these traditional rhythms, different types of remembrance have been invented. Commemorations of various wars, anniversaries and celebrated people are organised by local and national governments, as a way of reminding us about our history. </p>
<h2>Memorial overload</h2>
<p>There has been such a rush to memorialise the past that the streets and parks of London are now overflowing with plaques and statues – so much so that local councils have brought in regulations, which dictate that <a>20 years must pass</a> before campaigners can apply to build a historical marker (though this has been waived for the Tavistock Square memorial, given the significance of the bombing). </p>
<p>In particular, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-7-7-changed-the-way-britain-mourns-victims-of-terrorism-43975">memorialisation of terrorist attacks</a> has become far more prominent in recent years, in response to the so-called <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-lose-the-war-on-terror-panic-and-feed-islamic-states-narrative-50974">“war on terror”</a>. Increasingly, Western society thinks of itself as part of a struggle between civilisation and barbarism, hope and fear. Memorials are built for the victims of terrorism, to help us feel more connected to these stories and values.</p>
<p>This makes it all the more surprising that some cities decide against commemorating attacks at all. For instance, in May 2016, Manchester City Council expressly refused to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/15/newsid_2527000/2527009.stm">enormous IRA bomb</a>, which destroyed the city centre. <a href="https://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/news/council-turns-back-on-1996-ira-bomb">Their statement</a> read:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We do not forget the events of that day nor seek to downplay them. We recognise and respect the courage shown by the emergency services and Mancunians and the resilient spirit shown by the city. But nor do we choose to dwell on the events of June 15, 1996, every five years … Rather than harking back to one moment in the city’s eventful history, we prefer as a council to look forward. Northern Ireland, in whose politics the bombing had its roots, has thankfully moved on. The world has moved on. Manchester has moved on.</p>
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<p>This raises the question: why is there an overload of memorials in some places, and none in others?</p>
<p>The first explanation may simply be practical: no one was killed in the Manchester bombing, whereas 52 people lost their lives on 7/7. The survival of everyone caught in the Manchester blast zone has led to a different dynamic: there are no grieving families, and emergency responders were not traumatised by seeing bodies with injuries rarely sustained outside of war zones.</p>
<p>But this suggests that the impact of the bombing was less significant in Manchester: it ignores the injuries suffered by 212 people, and the £700m worth of damage to the city itself. To attribute Manchester’s decision to the lack of fatalities would be to misjudge the severity of the event.</p>
<h2>Silver linings?</h2>
<p>The second explanation for Manchester’s refusal to commemorate is more political. Disasters such as terrorist attacks are often described as <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/5036258.stm">“turning points”</a>, and held up as symbols of social resilience. In an attempt to mitigate the horror and suffering, and restore people’s confidence, political leaders and journalists often assert that disasters had positive consequences, such as exposing the “inner resilience” of communities, and their innate ability to work together. </p>
<p>This “silver linings” interpretation is also reflected in our laws: policies for emergency response and counter-extremism are often organised around the metaphor of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/resilience-in-society-infrastructure-communities-and-businesses">“resilience”</a> – the supposedly “innate qualities which help communities and structures bounce-back from shocks”. And memorials reinforce this notion: while acknowledging the lives lost in a disaster, they also evoke the heroic acts of first responders and community resilience in the aftermath. </p>
<p>For example, after terrorist attacks in Oklahoma, Manhattan and Paris, the authorities have planted memorial trees (“survivor trees”, in American parlance) to symbolise the regrowth of communities affected by these e vents. Commemoration, then, is not simply a reflection on the past. It actually ties past disasters to what happens after, with an emphasis on regrowth, progress and renewal. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129583/original/image-20160706-12739-raaawa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129583/original/image-20160706-12739-raaawa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129583/original/image-20160706-12739-raaawa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129583/original/image-20160706-12739-raaawa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129583/original/image-20160706-12739-raaawa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129583/original/image-20160706-12739-raaawa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129583/original/image-20160706-12739-raaawa.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">
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<span class="caption">New York’s survivor tree, commemorating the Paris attacks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>This connection is clearly identified, and rejected, in the statement of Manchester City Council. They forcefully assert that the bombing had little to do with the dramatic regeneration of the city centre, as is <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/5036258.stm">so often claimed</a>.</p>
<p>They refuse to commemorate the event, not because it wasn’t devastating, but because Manchester’s regeneration and resilience should not be attributed to the IRA bomb. Rather, it was the result of decades of work, starting in the early 1990s with the transformation of the industrial district of Hulme and the regeneration of the city centre. </p>
<p>The anniversary of 7/7, alongside the strange non-anniversary of the 1996 IRA bomb gives us a chance to reflect on memorialisation from a fresh perspective, and question what it means to build a memorial – or even two – to a terrorist event. It turns out, memorialisation is political: it reasserts political identity and social resilience after trauma. </p>
<p>But the refusal to commemorate is bold. It stands apart from the norm. It refuses to absorb the horror of a disaster within the comfortable rhetoric of resilience and recovery. Rather, it communicates that terrible events happen, and there’s no meaning that we can or should draw from them. It says that civic identity should not be defined by a simplistic story about tragedy revealing inner strength – life is far more complicated than that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61556/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlotte Heath-Kelly receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to research the reconstruction and memoralisation of War on Terror bombsites. She is also a trustee of the British International Studies Association.</span></em></p>Manchester downright refuses to commemorate the 1996 IRA bombings – it’s a bold political statement.Charlotte Heath-Kelly, Assistant Professor, Politics and International Studies, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/611292016-06-30T15:28:51Z2016-06-30T15:28:51ZFrom the Somme to 7/7: what war memorials can tell us about ourselves<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128836/original/image-20160630-30646-16xcesp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, Germany.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=pnrmoyA0d1fq1CK5aoonIw&searchterm=holocaust%20memorial%20berlin&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=173230571">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On July 7 2005, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33253598">a series of explosions</a>, unleashed by four terrorists, ripped through London, killing 52 and injuring more than 700 others. It was Britain’s deadliest ever terrorist atrocity.</p>
<p>The 11th anniversary of that atrocity is now just days away and comes shortly after events to mark the 100th anniversary of the battle of the Somme. The 2007 atrocity will be commemorated around the abstract July 7 Memorial in Hyde Park. <a href="https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/hyde-park/things-to-see-and-do/memorials,-fountains-and-statues/7-july-memorial">Designed by Carmody Groarke</a> and opened in 2009, the memorial will be the site of speeches, the laying of wreaths, and respectful silences. But are annual gatherings of this kind enough? Should we congregate around these monuments in remembrance more often, or would the endless replaying of terrible memories from the past stop us from moving forward towards the future?</p>
<p>Monuments of this kind are meant to remain “<a href="http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic822683.files/Riegl_The%20Modern%20Cult%20of%20Monuments_sm.pdf">alive in the minds of future generations</a>”, so we do not forget, so we do not repeat the same mistakes. But our interpretation of the past, as well as the monuments designed to remember them, are under constant change, determined by evolving societies, economics and politics. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128838/original/image-20160630-30632-12zblnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128838/original/image-20160630-30632-12zblnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128838/original/image-20160630-30632-12zblnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128838/original/image-20160630-30632-12zblnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128838/original/image-20160630-30632-12zblnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128838/original/image-20160630-30632-12zblnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128838/original/image-20160630-30632-12zblnn.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">
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<span class="caption">The July 7 memorial, in London.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/dl2_lim.mhtml?src=kTj00JayG65kDRQ9fXnlPA-1-0&clicksrc=download_btn_inline&id=267937034&size=medium_jpg&submit_jpg=">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, remembrance was relatively straightforward: monuments of war offered a powerful visual narrative representing just one side of a conflict – victory. A good example is the Royal Artillery Boer War memorial (1910) in London. The main statue, a female winged figure of peace, is calming a horse representing <a href="http://www.victorianweb.org/sculpture/colton/3.htm">the spirit of war</a>. </p>
<p>The relief on the base includes images of the army in action, but nothing about the monument refers to the devastation and horror of the Boer War in South Africa. The narrative is selective and its message is clear: the Royal Artillery brought peace to the region. The nuances of the truth are unimportant.</p>
<h2>The glorious dead</h2>
<p>How war was commemorated changed during the 20th century, as a result of the awful losses of World Wars I and II. Monuments from this period focused on the casualties – in many cases by adding their names to abstract structures, such as the 1919 <a href="http://www.learnaboutwarmemorials.org/youth-groups/gallery/monuments/">Cenotaph in Whitehall, London</a>. In many cases, these early 20th-century monuments were updated in the 1940s to add references to the fallen in World War II. </p>
<p>The main shift in commemoration <a href="https://www.questia.com/library/119515181/theories-of-social-remembering">came about in the 1990s</a>, however, as a result of the new political dynamic manifested in momentous events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and changes in government in South Africa and several Latin American Countries, such as Argentina and Chile. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128839/original/image-20160630-30635-1x5pds4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128839/original/image-20160630-30635-1x5pds4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128839/original/image-20160630-30635-1x5pds4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128839/original/image-20160630-30635-1x5pds4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=979&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128839/original/image-20160630-30635-1x5pds4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1230&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128839/original/image-20160630-30635-1x5pds4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1230&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128839/original/image-20160630-30635-1x5pds4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1230&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">London’s Cenotaph.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&searchterm=london%20cenotaph&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=390341194">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>There was a new hunger for a broader understanding of the past, including testimonies and points of view which had historically been ignored, even avoided. For example, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (AKA the Holocaust Memorial) in Berlin, which opened to the public in 2005, offers a “<a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/mpr">multidirectional approach to memory</a>” which includes the narrative of the victims of the Holocaust. </p>
<p>The Bebel Platz memorial, meanwhile, commemorates the site of the May 10 1933 Nazi book burning. This monument, designed by Micha Ullman in 1995, is underground – it can be viewed through a window – <a href="https://www.psa.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Austausch%20Vol%201,%20Issue,%202,%20Oct%20Souto.pdf">consisting of empty bookshelves</a>. Even though these examples were designed in a more abstract way than the memorials of the early 20th century, they still make vivid connections with the past, illustrated by the evocative empty library of the Bebel memorial or the cemetery-like structure of the Holocaust monument.</p>
<h2>Informal connections</h2>
<p>The abstract aspect of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, together with its location in the city, has brought about a less formal interaction with it. It is used as a public space, where people interact and even play – games of hide and seek, or jumping from one stellae to the next are common pastimes here. There are, however, rules. On the ground you can find instructions on how people are expected to behave around it – loud noises, pets, bicycles and alcohol are prohibited. </p>
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<span class="caption">Berlin’s Bebel Platz.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/dl2_lim.mhtml?src=R5507VnKMBohYEE796iDkw-1-0&clicksrc=download_btn_inline&id=73788916&size=medium_jpg&submit_jpg=">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p><a href="http://www.fodors.com/world/south-america/argentina/buenos-aires/things-to-do/sights/reviews/parque-de-la-memoria-477395">The Memory Park in Buenos Aires</a>, which marks those “disappeared” during the country’s military dictatorship, not only offers a site for remembrance, but also encourages other activities. Music, dance, theatre and arts workshops are commonplace.</p>
<p>The abstract representation of conflict, war, terrorism and violence begs an important question: to what extent do the public comprehend the message of these structures? Would it be better to go back to a more descriptive approach, such as the narrative one used at the beginning of the 20th century? </p>
<p>In the United Kingdom, new war memorials now are concentrated in one location: <a href="http://www.thenma.org.uk/whats-here/about-the-memorials/">the National Memorial Arboretum</a>. The 150-acre site includes more than 320 memorials, representing military associations, charitable organisations, emergency services, fraternity groups and individuals. The most significant and iconic structure is the Armed Forces Memorial, which sits on top of a hill and commemorates veterans who have fallen in conflicts from 1945 (Palestine) until the present, including the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Their names are engraved on the main walls of the monument, as a tribute to their lives, as a reminder of the human cost of these wars.</p>
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<span class="caption">The Tower of London Remembers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/dl2_lim.mhtml?src=5nKehbzJ03my-VwNKv7QYw-1-11&clicksrc=download_btn_inline&id=216735970&size=medium_jpg&submit_jpg=">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>However, it seems as if this space has a very specific audience, who are often connected somehow to the armed forces. It is initiatives such as the <a href="http://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/tower-of-london-remembers/#gs.2wrWAqQ">Tower of London Remembers event</a>, in November 2014, that has a more powerful engagement with the general public. </p>
<p>During this, 19,000 volunteers helped to install 888,246 ceramic poppies in the moat at the Tower of London, a transitory memorial visited by more than 5m people. Indeed, memories are best reinforced through the creation of new memories. As such, it is important that we all become part of acts of commemoration, to entwine our own memories with those of our predecessors – and to become a part of our shared history.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61129/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ana Souto 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>History shows how the act of remembrance has changed over time.Ana Souto, Senior Lecturer in Architectural History, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/510102015-12-04T11:11:40Z2015-12-04T11:11:40ZWhen fear is a weapon: how terror attacks influence mental health<p><em>Editor’s note: This article was updated on March 23, 2016 with information from the terrorist attacks in Brussels.</em></p>
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<p>Only four months after a series of coordinated <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/20/world/europe/Paris-terror-victims-list.html">attacks in Paris left 130 people dead</a>, Europe was once again the target of chilling acts of terrorism when yesterday, March 22, 2016, two explosions <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/23/world/europe/brussels-airport-explosions.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=span-abc-region&region=span-abc-region&WT.nav=span-abc-region&_r=0">rocked the airport in Brussels</a> and another ripped through a subway station in the Belgian capital. At least 30 people were killed and several hundred others were wounded in the attack.</p>
<p>The media is naturally reporting extensively on any news related to the terrorist attack, and one can easily spend several hours a day watching, reading and listening to these reports. This exposure can significantly influence your worldviews and how you live your life.</p>
<p>The aftermath of a terrorist attack can make people feel more vulnerable. And as cities go on alert because of the threat of future attacks, fear can color our daily routines and world views.</p>
<p>With my colleague S. Justin Sinclair at Harvard Medical School, I have been studying the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-psychology-of-terrorism-fears-9780195388114?q=daniel%20antonius&lang=en&cc=us">complexity of terrorism fears</a>, and <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-political-psychology-of-terrorism-fears-9780199925926?q=daniel%20antonius&lang=en&cc=us">how fear can affect</a> and motivate people.</p>
<p>It is probably not a surprise that a terror attack can have a major impact on people’s mental health. But what sort of effects are common, and how long do they last? </p>
<p>To answer that question, we can turn to a growing body of research examining the psychological aftermath of terror attacks.</p>
<h2>Increases in PTSD symptoms are often seen after terror attacks</h2>
<p>In 1995 and 1996, France experienced a wave of bombings that killed 12 and injured more than 200. A 2004 retrospective study examined post-traumatic stress disorder rates in the victims and found that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.161.8.1384">31 percent experienced post-traumatic stress disorder</a>. </p>
<p>Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (or <a href="http://www.apa.org/topics/ptsd/">PTSD</a>) can include flashbacks, nightmares or intrusive thoughts about the event. People may also avoid situations that remind them of the trauma, or have intense feeling of anxiety they didn’t have before. </p>
<p>Research has also found an increase in psychiatric symptoms among people living in a city when it is attacked.</p>
<p>For instance, a survey of Madrid residents one to three months after the attacks on a commuter rail line in 2004 <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16568454">found an increase</a> in post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.</p>
<p>Further research suggests that this increase is temporary. </p>
<p>In a 2005 study of London residents conducted <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16126821">a few weeks after the July 7 attacks</a>, 31 percent of respondents reported a significant elevation in stress levels and 32 percent reported an intention to travel less. A follow-up study conducted seven months later found that the elevated stress levels were significantly <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.106.029785">reduced</a>. But, the study also noted that a residual level of worry remained. Many people reported relatively high levels of perceived threat to self and others, and a more negative world view. </p>
<p>We would expect to see an increase in psychiatric disorders among people who were directly affected, or who lived in the city at the time of the attack. But this can also happen in people who weren’t living in a city when it was attacked.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12215130">survey</a> conducted soon after the September 11 attacks found that 17 percent of the U.S. population living outside of New York City reported symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder. Six months later, that dropped to 5.6 percent.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17143080">2005 review</a> of psychological research about the effect of September 11 highlighted the uptick in psychiatric symptoms and disorders immediately after the attacks and the relatively quick normalization in the following 6-12 months. However, people living closer to the area attacked, and thus more directly exposed, were more vulnerable to developing post-traumatic stress disorder than people living farther away.</p>
<p>Why do symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder increase in people who weren’t directly exposed? The explanation might be the intense media coverage of terror attacks.</p>
<p>In the aftermath of September 11, a U.S. study of more than 2,000 adults found that more time spent watching television coverage of the attacks was associated with <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12150669">elevated rates of post-traumatic stress disorder</a>. </p>
<p>In essence, a media-related <a href="http://www.psychology-lexicon.com/cms/glossary/36-glossary-c/2057-contagion-effect.html">contagion effect</a> is created where people live and relive the attacks when they watch or read stories about them. This overexposure may, as argued by some, produce <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17516775">a subjective response of fear and helplessness </a> about the threat of future attacks in a minority of adults.</p>
<h2>Fear changes behavior, at least for a little while</h2>
<p>Fear is a natural response to events like the attacks in Paris or Brussels. While everyone feels and reacts to fear differently, it can push people to make different decisions about employment, whom to socialize with, using public transportation such as buses and trains, congregating in public and crowded places, and traveling on airplanes. </p>
<p>If you look at these changes across an entire population, you can see how fears of terrorism can have significant consequences on both the national and global economy. Tourism and shopping may be particularly vulnerable. For example, <a href="http://traveltips.usatoday.com/effects-911-airline-industry-63890.html">airlines suffered</a> major economic losses after 9/11 and were forced to lay off large numbers of employees.</p>
<p>While stock markets in New York, Madrid and London <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/17/business/dealbook/the-fallout-from-attacks-is-measured-in-more-than-stock-markets.html?_r=0">dropped after the attacks</a>, they rebounded relatively quickly. </p>
<p>Similarly, after the recent attack in Paris, there was reportedly a <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurielaird/2015/11/16/the-paris-attacks-and-the-economic-impact-of-terrorism/">limited impact on the nation’s stock market</a>.</p>
<h2>Attacks can change how people relate to government</h2>
<p>Terrorists use fear as a psychological weapon, and it can have serious psychological implications for individuals and whole countries. </p>
<p>An <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-psychology-of-terrorism-fears-9780195388114?cc=us&lang=en&">underlying sense of fear</a> can linger for years after an attack. In prolonged conflicts with multiple attacks, such as the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/troubles">Troubles in Northern Ireland</a> or the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflict">Israeli-Palestinian Conflict</a>, chronic fear and anxiety have arguably resulted in a high levels of segregation and suspiciousness. </p>
<p>This underlying fear may also affect <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-political-psychology-of-terrorism-fears-9780199925926?cc=us&lang=en&">political engagement and trust in government policymaking</a>.</p>
<p>People generally tend to place larger degrees of trust in their government’s ability to keep them safe from future violence following large-scale terrorist attacks. For example, prior to the September 11 attacks, the public’s trust in the US government was in decline, but the attacks primed people’s fears, and trust in the US government to protect and keep the public safe from future attacks <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/0162-895X.00294/abstract">rose to a level</a> not seen in decades. </p>
<p>However, increased trust in the government may also come without fear. In countries where there already are high levels of trust in the government, fear has been found to play a less important role.</p>
<p>A study examining the association between fear and trust in Norway right before, right after and 10 months after the 2011 terror attack found that <a href="http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199925926.001.0001/acprof-9780199925926-chapter-14">high levels of existing trust</a> may actually buffer against the negative effects of terrorism fears, while still creating a rallying effect around governmental policies. </p>
<p>The threat of terrorism does not, of course, have the same effect on everyone. Most people arguably respond to threats of future terrorism in a rational and constructive manner. For instance, very compelling research suggests that anger may actually function as a protective factor. In the context of feeling angry, people tend to have a larger sense of being in control, a preference for confrontation and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.01433">feeling optimistic</a>; whereas with fear comes a greater sense of not feeling in control and pessimism.</p>
<p>The paradox of the fear that terrorism inspires is that while it can negatively affect people and societies, it can also serve to strengthen resilience.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51010/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Antonius 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>It is probably not a surprise that a terror attack can have a major impact on people’s mental health. But what sort of effects are common, and how long do they last?Daniel Antonius, Director, Division of Forensic Psychiatry, University at BuffaloLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/450192015-07-22T05:20:19Z2015-07-22T05:20:19ZTen years after the de Menezes killing, we’re no better at identifying faces<p>It was ten years ago that the Metropolitan Police <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33562889">killed</a> Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell station in south London in a case of mistaken identity. The family of the Brazilian electrician are <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/10/jean-charles-de-menezes-arguments-strasbourg">still fighting</a> for justice at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Police procedures <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/law-unto-themselves-revelations-that-show-police-reforms-have-a-long-way-to-go-9627237.html">were overhauled</a>, but an uncomfortable truth will not go away. We have not learned much about face recognition since then. It is hard to be confident that the same thing could not happen again. </p>
<p>The events on July 22 2005 in south London followed the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/33401669">7/7 attacks</a> on the underground that had killed more than 50 passengers two weeks earlier. A second attack <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/feb/04/terrorism.world1">took place</a> on July 21, but only the detonators exploded and the terrorists escaped. A massive police hunt was launched. A gym membership card with an address in Scotia Street, Tulse Hill, was found in one of the unexploded backpacks – the same block where 27-year-old de Menezes happened to live. </p>
<p>CCTV images showing the suspects had been circulated. When one of the surveillance officers on Scotia Street saw the Brazilian coming out of the flats, he flagged him as a potential match for the suspect. A series of flawed procedures ensued, leading ultimately to the shooting at point blank range of an innocent man. </p>
<p>Then as now, we are good at recognising familiar faces. We <a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/361/1476/2109">first identified</a> the brain structures dedicated to face perception at the turn of the millennium with <a href="http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=bodymr">functional magnetic resonance imaging</a> – more commonly known as fMRI. Researchers <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/107/25/11163">argued that</a> the brain has specialised systems for faces, pointing to their importance for social interaction and mate selection.</p>
<p>We can recognise familiar people from bad quality images, and even from photos that have been stretched. As anyone who has strolled along the banks of the Seine in Paris can attest, we can identify people from caricatured line drawings. All of these abilities are impressive and imply that we are experts at face recognition. The problem is that when it comes to recognising unfamiliar faces we do not do so well.</p>
<p>Research <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=1999-01801-001">shows that</a> we get it wrong with unfamiliar faces around 30% of the time, even when somebody stands in front of us holding a fake ID. When two unfamiliar photographs are placed side by side and we are asked to decide whether they depict the same person, <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0103510">we still</a> get it wrong just as often. Recently a study <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0103510">even showed that</a> Passport Control officers do not fare any better than university students: all they do is take more time over their decisions. </p>
<p>Despite this, photographic identification is still the main way that terror and criminal suspects are identified. And in court cases there is still great weight placed on eyewitness testimony, particularly in how confident a witness claims to be. </p>
<h2>Recognition in future</h2>
<p>So what can we do to ensure that innocent people are not misidentified again? One solution is to identify people who are much better than average on tests of face recognition. It is inferred that about 1%-2% of the population are extremely good at recognising faces. These so-called “<a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/you-super-recogniser-take-test-5892509">super recognisers</a>” can remember about 80% of the faces that they encounter in daily life. Security services are currently looking for such people to help them identify people from CCTV or pick people out of large crowds. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89238/original/image-20150721-24298-1w6jeja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89238/original/image-20150721-24298-1w6jeja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89238/original/image-20150721-24298-1w6jeja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89238/original/image-20150721-24298-1w6jeja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89238/original/image-20150721-24298-1w6jeja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89238/original/image-20150721-24298-1w6jeja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89238/original/image-20150721-24298-1w6jeja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89238/original/image-20150721-24298-1w6jeja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=463&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">Super recognisers could be part of the answer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&searchterm=face%20recognition&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=2626867">zimmytws</a></span>
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<p>If Britain is faced with another large-scale suspect hunt in future, super recognisers might be employed to make crucial decisions to avoid a fatal misidentification. In tandem, researchers have a role to play too. Research suggests that <a href="http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/biometrics">biometric measures</a> such as <a href="http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/oostveen/2015/05/21/iris-scanners/">iris scans</a> might be more useful than photographs for identifying faces, for example.</p>
<p>In our lab at the University of Stirling we are <a href="http://recognitionmemory.org/">looking at</a> what can be done to improve face recognition for unfamiliar faces. We are investigating brain function during face recognition to see if familiar and unfamiliar faces are recognised using different retrieval processes, and exploring how <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mnemonic">mnemonic strategies</a> identified from memory research can be used to improve unfamiliar face recognition. <a href="http://www.human-memory.net/processes_encoding.html">For example</a> if you thought about what hobbies a person might have when studying their photo, it might help to form a more stable memory representation that could be recognised as easily as a familiar face.</p>
<p>There has also been some interesting work into face matching led by <a href="https://www.york.ac.uk/psychology/staff/faculty/mikeburton/">Mike Burton</a> at York University. My understanding is that they have found that training in face matching improves performance, but that individual differences are huge. The conclusion seems to be that security services should recruit people with natural ability – which again points to the value of super recognisers.</p>
<p>So although we are barely any further forward in the ability of the police to avoid disaster, there is at least the prospect of employing super recognisers and improving police training in future. That way, the type of misidentification that led to the death of Jean Charles de Menezes might eventually be easier to avoid.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45019/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graham receives funding from the BBSRC for the 3-year project investigating how to improve memory for unfamiliar faces mentioned in the article</span></em></p>The death of the Brazilian electrician at the hands of the Metropolitan Police was a notorious case of mistaken identity. The same thing would probably happen today.Graham MacKenzie, Research Fellow, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.