Bill, Hans, You are both right in your different ways, but without realising the fact, you appear to be addressing different questions.
Regarding those who have already become terrorists, there is little that can be done except to maintain vigilance and work hard to hunt them down and put them in jail. Nonviolence is not going to persuade existing active terrorists to change their aims or their methods. Something more active is necessary. But that will not prevent ongoing terrorist attacks like the one in London this week, so long as the conditions remain that cause people to become so filled with desperation that a very small proportion turn to fanaticism, hate and terrorism, and a somewhat larger proportion provide varying degrees of support, ranging from providing money to merely looking the other way and not telling the police about anything they might see. Provided that there is a regular supply of new terrorists and adequate passive support for them, the problem will never go away. This means that political action is necessary to address the injustices suffered by the communities from which the terrorists come, so that those who are *not* terrorists see that there are other effective ways of getting justice. Only by doing so will the passive supporters be persuaded to withdraw their support. Only when the terrorists have been detached from their sources of support will it become possible to further restrict their activities and eventually capture those remaining. Note that I am not advocating "negotiating with terrorists", though of course that is exactly what the UK government did to successfully bring peace to Northern Ireland. I am advocating that western governments act in good faith to work to put right past and present injustices, and by this means show the people of other countries that they need not regard the West as their enemy. Given that western governments have a long history of empire and other interference in foreign countries, which has resulted in many injustices which are felt by people today, this is probably a task which will take a generation or longer to accomplish. All the more reason to start now. Regards Jonathan West _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
