How to End Terrorism:

     Just kidding.  The recent attack in Norway has given us all a shock to the system, and is an unfortunate reminder that our world is not so safe after all.  My heart goes out to each and every victim from the horrendous events of the past few days.  As distant as wars in the Middle East might seem to the public nowadays, an attack in a European country somehow feels different.  This terrorist attack was not, however, executed by any Afghan or al-Qaeda related group.  Yet again, a nationalist, anti-multiculturalist rightwing nutjob has taken matters into his own hand by using violence to spread a message.  This post is not to give any political sway one way or another on the matter, but intsead, to point out a certain trend across Europe.  According to an al-Jazeera article:

     "As Mehdi Hasan, editor of the New Statesman, has pointed out, figures compiled by Europol, the European police agency, suggest that the threat of Islamist terrorism is minimal compared with "ethno-nationalist" and "separatist" terrorism. According to Europol, in 2006, one out of 498 documented terrorist attacks across Europe could be classed as "Islamist"; in 2007, the figure rose to just four out of 583 - less than one per cent of the total. By contrast, 517 attacks across the continent were claimed by - or attributed to - nationalist or separatist terrorist groups, such as ETA in Spain."

(Read the full article here): http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/07/201172482841769458.html

      It seems interesting that despite the fact that 100% of media coverage regarding terrorism in the past years has involved al-Qaeda or Middle Eastern groups, only 1% of the violence in Europe has come from these certain groups.  It is important to remember that there seems to be a much stronger and growing resistance to multiculturalism throughout Europe.  The point of this post is not to persuade the audience that rightwing political groups are more dangerous than Islamic fundamentalists, but that it is important to not get swept up by media 'outrage' or propaganda, and look at the full picture before blaming any certain group.  (It is well-known that before any information was gathered about the Norway attacks, that Muslim groups were automatically blamed as the culprits.)

     It will be important in the future to learn how to deal with this seeminlgy growing movement of Nationalist groups throughout Europe, that feel threatened by increasing multi-culturalist societies.  Especially because it seems to be an increasingly violent trend.

Kai

Missing journalist Dorothy Parvaz safely returns with horrific story

     Al-Jazeera English has been the home page on my computer for a couple months now, and it really has had a large role in changing my concept of what is newsworthy these days.  American politics is great for its squabbles and media-created "scandals", just ask Common.  But in the end, media coverage in the United States has become reduced to a Neil Postman-esque "entertainmentization" of the news.  This is why I have come to respect al-Jazeera's approach, and I always feel that its coverage is simply on the side of the people, and in many regions, the oppressed people.  It is with this context that I have been following the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, etc.  While I could easily delve into the issue of U.S. involvement and our foreign policy, one recent al-Jazeera article really caught my attention.
     Dorothy Parvaz, a journalist for the network, went missing on April 29.  The only reason I knew this, was because al-Jazeera adamantly stood up for the reporter, although the story might have been covered on American networks as well, I'm not sure.  She returned 19 days later, having been held for 3 days in Syria, and then a following 16 days in Iran.  Her story is grim to say the least, and is very telling of the situation that the Middle East is currently in.  During Parvaz's detainment in Syria, she recalls hearing beatings and screams of young Syrians, men and women, who were accused of being involved in anti-government protests.  Many of them had no idea why they were being interrogated, and only wanted to return to their families.  Parvaz's cellmate at one point was a 16-year-old girl.  She asked herself, how much of a threat could this girl really be to the regime?  Were they really that scared?  The Syrian interrogators were convinced that Parvaz was either an American spy for Israel, or a journalist for al-Jazeera (it seemed that both options were equally threatening).  Parvaz was then sent to Iran, were she was treated more kindly, but had to defend herself against the accusation of being a Zionist spy in the Middle East before finally returning to Qatar.  The whole story can be found on al-Jazeera's website here: Dorothy Parvaz: Inside Syria's secret prisons.

     Now, occurrences like this are not new by any means, and the U.S. has even sent some of its prisoners to Egypt to be detained in secret prisons probably similar to the one described here.  However, a detailed and first-hand experience like this is the first I have personally heard about, and it affected me on two main levels.

     On the one hand, it makes me thankful to live in a country where I don't have to worry about this sort of occurence happening to me.  Although, with the Patriot Act and other laws, it is debatable as to whether we enjoy many more freedoms, or simply live believing the myth of individual freedom and privacy.
Secondly, it is extremely difficult to call for the U.S. to help out every country with military aid (our government picks and chooses those scenarios depending on what it has to gain).  However, that is not all that we are limited to doing as Americans.  We can support the people of the Middle East uprisings in other ways.  Facebook and social networks allow communities to form and stand up together. 

     Not only this, but simply being aware of these situations around the world can shift our attention to what we believe is really important.  We are continuously reading about people around the world who are very much in favor of democracy and all its ideals, yet have no chance of that in their own country.  Dictators and oppressive regimes are being pressured by their own people to either reform or step down.  Those of us who are privileged enough should be supportive of their cause, after all, such is how our own country was founded .  It's important to step out of our own little bubble once in a while, and realize that perhaps the news of the day in the United States is not the most important development in the world and consequently, our own lives.

I strongly suggest reading the article.  Here is a video from al-Jazeera as well.