Note on terrorism in the US

Dan Goodman, 14 September 2001

We should resist the idea currently being pushed by some politicians and commentators that the recent terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon are an attack against democracy and freedom. The targets of these attacks are, or were, symbols of US economic and military power, not symbols of democracy and freedom. If the attacks were really against democracy and freedom the choice of targets would have been different, perhaps the White House and the Statue of Liberty. Many people would sacrifice their own lives to protest against oppression, but is it really plausible that anyone would sacrifice their life to protest against freedom and democracy? Insisting, repetitively, that these were the targets serves a calculated political purpose; democracy and freedom are almost universally approved, US economic and military domination are not.

The use of overwhelming military force against countries suspected of harbouring terrorists and the erosion of our domestic civil liberties in the name of preventing terrorism will not stop someone who is determined from achieving something similar in the future, although the incident will undoubtedly be used by US and other Western governments to justify doing exactly this. Unless the causes of the discontent that is the spur for such incidents is addressed, they will continue.