TERRORIST ATTACKS DO NOT THREATEN FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, BUT THE “WAR ON TERROR” DOES. GUNNAR WESTBERG When I write this message the terrorists who attacked the Charlie Hebdo are not yet captured. Twelve people are murdered in the worst attack against journalists in decades in Europe. The debate lacks certain important aspects, in my opinion. The terrorist attack is not as serious an attack on freedom of the press as is the “war on terror”. I . Terrorism is a very small problem in Western Europe and in the USA. In 2013 almost 18 000 terrorist attacks in the world were recorded by the official US Global Terrorism Database, with almost 10 000 fatalities. In Europe there were 220 incidences, in the USA 7 (!), with altogether only a few people dead. In November last year, according to BBC, “Jihadists” killed about 5000 people. On the same day as the attack in Paris a car bomb killed 37 persons in Yemen. 2. A major factor behind the terrorism is the chaos in the Middle East after the wars on Iraq. One third of all terrorist attacks and of the fatalities occurred in that country. The two brothers involved in the Charlie attack became radicalized when they learnt about the war in Iraq, including the torture committed by US soldiers in the Abu Ghraib prison. This is in detail discussed by Juan Cole < juancole/2015/01/terrorist-radicalized-torture.html>. 3. Some journalists admit that terrorist attacks have at times caused them to refrain from criticising certain aspects of militant Islam. However, a recent study by the international journalist organisation PEN reports that 73% of US journalists say they have never been as worried about freedom of the press as they are today, because of the surveillance they are subject to. Many say that they employ self-censorship! The reason, or pretext, for this surveillance is the “war on terrorism”. It is thus logical to claim that this so called war, intended to secure our democracy and freedom, is a major threat against our freedom of expression. We have helped al Qaida win in its fight against freedom and democracy.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 13:38:00 +0000
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