BALANCING THE SCORE
In the wake of the attacks in Paris, remember the only way to beat terrorism is to make the world a better place, writes
On Monday, the first day of what was obviously going to be, in the wake of Friday’s horrific attacks, a sombre and difficult work week, my daughter texted me delightful news from Paris: two of her closest friends in France had just that day given birth, one to a daughter, the other to a son.
“So fantastic!” I texted back. “Congrats to all . . .” In a world of shock, pain, fear and grief, it felt like balancing, on a tiny human scale, a bit of the score.
When news of the atrocities first broke in North America Friday afternoon, our texts were more fraught as I frantically tried to make sure my daughter, who has lived in France for more than six years, and her husband, who could well have been out with their peers on that beleaguered strip of cafés and bars, were safe.
“Are you and M all right?” No reply, so then: “Worried . . . reply ASAP.” After a painful interlude she texted back: “We’re OK . . . be careful over there too.”
I happened to be in New York City, sitting in a Starbucks in Penn Station, waiting for my husband and a family friend, gazing at two National Guard soldiers patrolling, so being careful “over there” was a prudent message.
As news crews descended on Paris, as social media became engulfed by grief, shock, anger and political posturing (not to mention bathed in red, white and blue) as details of the dead and wounded emerged, and video was released showing how horrific the armed attacks had been — at the stadium, at the concert hall, in bars and cafés — it felt as though we were once again in a worldwide defensive crouch.
Most of the assailants were dead but so what. When is the next one coming?
This isn’t just “a war against youth,” as French President François Hollande gravely put it, understandably focused on the fact that so many of the dead and wounded in the Paris attacks were under 30. The pictures of their faces, broadly smiling because they were young and invincible and had their whole lives ahead of them, are heartbreaking.
But if it’s a war against the young, what do you call last month’s bombing of a Russian jet in Egypt, which left 224 passengers of all ages dead? What do you call the double suicide bombings in Beirut the Thursday before the Paris attacks that killed more than 40 and wounded hundreds?
No, this is a war against life. It is, from the Islamic State standpoint, a fanatic, vicious and indiscriminate campaign to deliver mortal retribution to as many civilians as possible. Young, old, French, American, Lebanese, British, Canadian, Jews, Muslims, Christians, you name it.
What is frightening about the Islamic State is who its increasingly bold and charismatic leaders are getting to do the deadly work: young, disaffected, sometimes criminally minded, sometimes ideologically impassioned, homegrown assassins. They hover in cramped apartments getting ready to die. Terrorism is the opposite of life.
They kill, we bomb. They issue declamations of responsibility and threats of more to come, we debate how to beat them back.
“Boots on the ground,” “training missions,” “ramped-up surveillance.” All these strategies, however rationalized, have let us down and seem clichéd — a dangerous thing in a world that needs fresh thinking. What doesn’t sound like a cliché is education. Education deflects many murderous instincts. How else do people who need a better life understand it’s out there for them, if not for education?
The result of terrorism is always personal, a red flag of fear planted in all our hearts.
While still in New York, I sat at lunch with smart, well-meaning friends, and asked their feelings about the refugees. I heard generosity, but I also heard the phrase “Trojan horse.”
The Trojan horses are already here. In every European and North American city, there is someone who believes it’s their mission to kill others in the name of ideology, fuelled by a perverted sense of religion that every member of the faith invoked should publicly decry.
As for the refugees this terrorism has wrought, of course we take them in. Refugees are victims of terrorism. But if it takes a little longer than the new government’s quick timeline to be prudent about security, so be it. Not all those with fears about refugees are haters and xenophobes. They deserve reassurance, just as refugees deserve to be welcomed.
In the midst of fear and uncertainty, of moments of silence and anger and defiance, that bit of happy news on Monday made me pause and marvel. Whether during the major world wars and all the wars since, or even in this ongoing complex worldwide battle against terrorism, these new parents are the lucky ones, filled with the happiness hormone that surges through you when you bring new life into this world.
You think, there is nothing more beautiful than our baby. You think, now it is my job to protect her. You think, she deserves a better world.
There is no retreat from this thought. The only way is forward. Judith Timson writes weekly about cultural, social and political issues. You can reach her at judith.timson@sympatico.ca and follow her on Twitter @judithtimson.