The only way to end terrorism and violence

Is to give everyone a real voice in government. 
The neoconservatives have the equation wrong: they think it is necessary to destroy terrorism in order to make room for democracy; they also believe that terrorism is the result of a wish to destroy democracy and freedom.

These attitudes are completely wrong.  Understood properly, terrorism and gang and militia violence are symptoms of something else.  That something else is almost in every case some combination of poverty and lack of representation in government.  Therefore, true democracy will cure the impulse to terrorism.

If someone is sitting on my head, and it begins to feel painful, the solution is not to take painkillers as a way of making it possible to get my head out.  This is backwards.  The solution is to get my head out first.

If people are committing acts of violence, it is because they want something.  The solution is to give them what they want, and the violence will stop.

In many cases, it is not possible to give everybody what they want.  However, people are much more willing to swallow being denied what they want, if they had a hand in the decision making process, if they were a party to the compromise.  In other words, if they were fairly represented by the decision-making body.

Hezbollah is blockading Beirut because the Shia are not fairly represented in Lebanese Politics.  Leftists protest in America because their views are completely shut out of the two-party system currently in place.  Palestinians commit suicide bombings because they have no power to influence matters through political means—they have no vote over the Israeli government which sends tanks to bulldoze their homes by the thousands, they have no legal recourse over the thousands of roadblocks and curfews imposed on them.  African-Americans commit acts of violence because their communities are poorly represented in government, and lacking adequate housing, education, and healthcare.  The voices of the poor African-Americans, like those whose lives were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, are not heard in the halls of government.  None of their grievances are taken into consideration.  They are not represented; our so-called “Democracy” doesn’t include them, just as Lebanese “Democracy” doesn’t include the voices of the Shia, and Israeli “Democracy” doesn’t include the voices of the Palestinians.

None of what I am writing here is an excuse for violence; it is an attempt to understand that violence is a sign of despair, a sign of lack of power.

Large groups of terrorist networks, like al-Qaeda, grow on the fertile soil of discontent.  The Arab world is sick of being invaded, occupied, having its wealth stolen from it by powerful Western corporations.  In other words, people in the Arab world are sick of not having power, sick of not being represented in the halls of power.  The solution, to end all of the violence and terrorism, is to allow them representation, pure and simple.  That means democracy on a global scale—in other words, the granting to nations the right not to be occupied by other nations, and the right to own their own resources.

Allowing all voices to be heard, all peoples to be party to decision-making, all grievances to be aired and taken seriously by those in power, is the only way to put an end to violence.  When people are able to sit down at a table together, and feel that their wishes carry some political weight, they have no need for violence, and they will renounce it. 

This is the only way to end terrorism.  Anybody who tells you anything different is either ignorant of human nature, power hungry for their own political group, or trying to sell arms or petroleum.

The fact that this, the only real solution to terrorism, is never discussed in America, is proof that those in power have no desire whatsoever to end terrorism—because their political careers, built on fighting against terrorism and supporting the arms industry—would end. 

I am sure we will find much to edify us in Bush’s State of the Union Address tonight.

Comments

[Frederick Smith]

While I may agree with some of what you said in regards to terrorism in the Middle East and Africa, I take exception to the blatant misrepresentation that the United States does not permit or allow the expressions or representation of minorities in our government or the media.
It is true the United States has had a long and speckled history when it comes to recognizing human rights. During the 20th Century we struggled with issues of racial and ethnic equality, with the result that several African Americans, Hispanics, and representatives of other racial groups hold high political offices. You need only to read a newspaper or watch the news in the United State to realize we are now in the process of chosing candidates for the next Presidential Election and those choices include Barrack Obama, who's heritage is not African, but he is most certainly a person of color and Hillary Clinton. And this is only for the National elections. We have many minority representatives in our government, and they are effective in their representation of their districts.
Perhaps the distinction you are missing here is that we have free access to elections. In the United States all you have to do to participate in an election is register. There is no fee, no papers of allegiance, no definition required besides asking you what party you identify with, and even then you have the right to declare yourself and independent or to write in another party if it is not on the ballot. As a matter of fact, our elections are so open you can decide to have a write in campaign for any office on the local ballots of most cities. counties, and states.
Are there African Americans who are impoverished? Yes, of course there are, just as we have peoples of all races in the same condition. But this does not indicate that we deny anyone here the right to speak or be heard. The only restriction on free speech in this nation is that you may not advocate violence against the government or any other group of individuals. To advocate violence is to invite others to commit a crime.
The point? We are a nation of inclusion and diversity, and there is no better evidence than to look at the scores of immigrants who daily apply to come to America. If our system is as you say, what would you gain by coming here?

[DeWayne Benson]

I believe that may well be the fear of the Corp-Gov concerning Iraq and the Middle East. They (Middle East) might indeed form a powerful and active Democracy working for the people. Then what would happen to the Constitutional dictatorship here at home, having outsourced all of Americas infrastructure into these colony and protectorate.