Global terrorism

Your column “Jihadist ‘evils’ a product of times” repeats the familiar refrain that we must understand that the terrorists see themselves as anti-imperialists waging war against the West. But perhaps, rather than accepting the author’s postcolonialist interpretation, we should take the terrorists at their bloody word.

They proclaim themselves as the new imperialists, seeking to establish a caliphate that does not tolerate minorities or enlightened values. How else should we explain the fact that this “war against the imperialist West” also victimises Nigerian schoolgirls, Kenyan university students, Lebanese Shia, Yazidis and Kurds, among others? We might also ask why Western colonialism has not caused the same reaction among other people who have undoubtedly suffered from it, Maori included.

Also, the starting point of the “root causes” narrative is always some 100 years ago. Western imperialism in the Middle East began after WWI, when the Ottoman Empire crumbled after some 500 years. It lasted until around the end of WWII. If we must look for causes, should we not consider that the prospect of reinstating the last Muslim caliphate, which preceded Western colonialism and endured for several centuries longer, may provide a better “explanation” for the Jihadists’ actions?

Juliet Moses, Auckland.