Terrorism and Global Responsibility
An Alternative Reading in the Context of Globalisation
Keywords:
Terrorism, Global ResponsibilityAbstract
We live in a world that is terrorized by militant forces that cannot be exclusively attributed to any one region or country, or any particular religious or ethnic identity. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the economic boom brought about through various processes culminating in globalisation has not only achieved growth in leaps and bounds, but also has unleashed destructive powers that any responsible and peace-loving human being would never wish to visualize. As these forces are widespread all over the human habitat and as these forces are attempting to dismantle a civilization that has been founded on humane values, especially centred around a culture of life, various proactive initiatives are the need of the hour, so that human race as such and human civilization itself can be redeemed.
References
Kofi Annan, “Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All” (Report of the Secretary-General, presented at the Security Council Meeting on 17 March 2005), http://www.un.org/largerfreedom/contents.htm.
Yoram Schweitzer and Shaul Shay, The Globalization of Terror: The Challenge of Al-Qaida and the Response of the International Community, New Delhi: Viva Books, 2004, 218-219.
The United Nations, “Declaration on Decolonization,” §1 (1960). See http:// daccessdds.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/152/88/IMG/NR015288.pdf?OpenElement.
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, trans. and Intro. Lewis White Beck, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merril Educational Publishing, 1956, 85.
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, trans. Norman Kemp Smith, London: Macmillan, 1929, A316/B373.
As Romano Guardini put it, “power is as much a possibility for good and the positive as it is a threat of destruction and evil.” R. Guardini, Power and Responsibility: A Course of Action for the New Age, trans. Elinor C. Briefs, Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1961, 6.
John Sacks, To Heal a Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility, London: Continuum, 2005, 265.
cited in Tariq Ali, The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity, New Delhi: Rupa and Co., 2003, 285-286.
“The Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002,” enacted on March 28, 2002 (Act No. 15 of 2002), makes provision for the prevention of, and for dealing with, terrorist activities and for matters connected therewith. See http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/ countries/india/document/actandordinances/POTA.htm for the detailed text of the Act.
