Who wants to be a martyr?
Un articolo sul New York Times di Scott Atran, National Center for Scientific Research a Parigi e University of Michigan, autore di "In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion".
Credo anch'io che il terrorismo suicida sia provocato più da fanatismo e indottrinamento che dalla disperazione causata dalla povertà. Tuttavia, per convincere i popoli arabi del processo di democratizzazione in Medio Oriente, oltre a sostenere chi già si batte per questo, bisogna collegare la democrazia ad una speranza di benessere economico e di sviluppo. Ai poveri non si può parlare solo di principi, ma anche di 'pagnotte'.
Vero che gli arabi sono attratti dai nostri modelli, ma non comprendono le nostre azioni. Ripeto anche il forte bisogno di un più sapiente 'marketing democratico, occidentale e americano' presso le popolazioni arabe.
«President Bush and many American politicans maintain that these groups and the people supporting them hate our democracy and freedoms. But poll after poll of the Muslim world shows opinion strongly favoring America's forms of government, personal liberty and education. A University of Michigan political scientist, Mark Tessler, finds Arab attitudes to American culture most favorable among young adults (regardless of their religious feeling) — the same population that recruiters single out. It is our actions that they don't like: as long ago as 1997, a Defense Department report (in response to the 1996 suicide bombing of Air Force housing at the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia) noted that "historical data show a strong correlation between U.S. involvement in international situations and an increase in terrorist attacks against the United States».
«We need to show the Muslim world the side of our culture that they most respect. Our engagement needs to involve interfaith initiatives, not ethnic profiling. America must address grievances, such as the conflict in the Palestinian territories, whose daily images of violence engender global Muslim resentment».
«Of course, this does not mean negotiating with terrorist groups over goals like Al Qaeda's quest to replace the Western-inspired system of nation-states with a global caliphate. Osama bin Laden seeks no compromise. But most of the people who sympathize with him just might».
Leggi tutto
New York Times