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Sir,

It should go without saying that crime and terrorism are not congenital defects of any particular racial group. We are all equally capable of committing any number of atrocities against fellow mankind, you know; most of us choose not to, because… well… we’re decent.

Terrorism is not a 21st century phenomenon because it has its roots in early resistance and political movements. In the first century of the Common Era, a terrorist organisation by the name of ‘Sicarii’ was founded to oppose and overthrow the Romans in the Middle East. The Sicarii was a Jewish organisation that held the view that Jews ought to be ruled by God alone and that armed resistance against the Roman Empire was appropriate and necessary.

The use of terrorism to accelerate a political cause has accelerated in recent years. Modern terrorism largely came into being after World War II with the rise of nationalist movements in the old empires of the European powers. These early anti-colonial movements recognised the ability of terrorism to both generate publicity for the cause and influence global policy. The ability of these groups to mobilise sympathy and support taught a powerful lesson to similarly aggrieved peoples elsewhere; who saw in terrorism an effective means of transforming local conflicts into international issues.

In 2014, we counted 44 490 fatalities from terrorist attacks across the world. Modern terrorist attacks are not much different from the historic attacks of the Sicarii for example, except that human expedition and science have advanced the weaponry employed to carry out such attacks to genuinely frightening potential. A dagger used to terrorise civilians in the first century is a far cry from a nuclear bomb of today.

The Orlando massacre of 2016 is a sobering display of the threat of a single act of terrorism today. In just three hours Omar Mateen killed 49 and wounded at least 53. Stephen Paddock, the perpetrator of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting killed 58 and wounded more than 850 people.

I know it seems like we’ve singled out a certain country in the west here, but since the sweeping gun control measures after the Port Arthur massacre, there have been no mass shootings in Australia for over 20 years; just saying. I think there’s a lesson there somewhere.

Mangaliso