Terrorism will die when hopelessness ends
A few days ago, the news was all about a 15 year old suicide bomber who was disarmed moments before he could set the bomb off in Iraq.
God only knows what’s going on in the name of God. But since he’s not saying, let me give it a shot. But first I would like to add a disclaimer.
I’m not a religious type.
I do not practise any religious rituals by myself. But, I do believe religion is good for human beings. So if my family is having an important religious function, I take part in it. The fact that if I don’t, my 13 year old is likely to use me as an excuse to skip it for Facebook, may play a role in this ;-)
Anyway, last year on a visit to the UK, I noticed a church being converted into an apartment block. I was told many such churches have been converted like this to commercial complexes, restaurants, schools and so on. It seems attendance at churches has been falling, and the cost of maintaining them is no longer financially viable.
This is the opposite of what’s happening back in India. Like in my home city, there’s a temple called Attukal Temple which has a festival every year that’s only open to women. These devotees sit on both sides of the roads outside the temple, and cook a sweet dish over wood fires as an offering to the temple goddess.
When I was a kid, the number of women gathering outside the temple on the festival day used to total only a few thousand and was limited to the roads around the temple. Last year on the day of the festival, I was caught in a massive road block as the lines of women at the festival stretched for kilometres along the highway. This year, it’s expected 4.5 million women will take part, making it a Guinness World record for a women-only gathering.
So while the West is losing its religion, the East is finding it.
I don’t think this has much to do with the actual religion itself. My home state of Kerala in India has over six million Christians (St Thomas landed in India in 52 AD, and established Christianity here). These Christians are just as religious as the Hindus and Muslims, regularly attending church on Sunday, having elaborate church weddings, taking out processions on the road on holy days, doing social work to help those less well off in the community, active church organisations doing charitable work, and so on.
These kind of regular community activities are why religion is alive in the East. What’s revealing is how these same Indians change when they emigrate and settle abroad, which is a common trend in India. The religious belief, especially of those that don’t interact much with the Indian communities abroad, often begins to lose its intensity. They tend to go the West way of ‘Me, Myself, and My Things.’
There’s one other major factor that makes the East more religious.
Upbringing.
In the West, people believe that they make their own destiny, and any misfortunes and accidents are purely a matter of luck.
In the East, we are brought up to believe that misfortunes happen because of our karma. The Law of Karma states the good and bad you do will come back to you.
So what happens if you have been good and something bad still happens to you. Well, according to Karma, it’s because of the bad you did in your past lives. Your karma will catch up with you, someday, in this life or the next!
This is where God comes in.
Indians believe God is the only one with the power to change your karma. In this sense, being religious is a simple transaction between God and you.
You promise to pray to him regularly, do his work in the form of good deeds and charity, and in return he will prevent your bad karma from giving you what’s coming to you. This explains why in India you will find even the biggest criminals and Mafia dons are extremely religious. They are in effect, trying to bribe God to ignore their trespasses.
When I was studying, there were many kids who wouldn’t study till the exams were upon us. They would then panic and swot like crazy. They would also promise God they would break a dozen coconuts in the temple as an offering, or put money in the church donation box if God helped them pass their exams. God’s help could happen in many ways. Like an easy exam paper, or questions only from the few chapters he/she had time to study, or the exams postponed by some coincidence.
As these kids grow up into adults, this approach to life becomes ingrained in them. They regularly go to places of worship to ward off the evil eye. Sure unfortunate things will still happen to them. But they strongly believe it would have been much worse if they didn’t have the protection of the Gods.
It’s this belief that’s making religion flourish in the East.
Like if you are caught in an accident, and don’t get hurt, you go to the temple, pray to the Gods for protecting you, and make a donation to charity, like sponsoring the lunch for the day at the local orphanage. In the West, the escape would be attributed to good luck and left at that.
The suicide bomber
I started thinking about all this after I came across a video of a suicide bomber in an armoured car. It was taken moments before he drives off, and blows himself up. Though he had a scarf wrapped around his face, he looked like a normal guy, maybe a bit overweight, with just a little of the stress showing through.
What kind of belief system must someone have to sacrifice his life so casually for his organisation? What makes it possible for a person to justify to himself the killing of innocents, including children?
I have heard the usual reasons. The suicide bomber wants revenge as he has lost family members or friends, or is just upset at fellow members of his religion or community being killed. Or his family is desperately in need of money, and will be given a certain amount on completion of his mission.
But my question to myself is if I were in his situation, would I agree to go on a suicide mission? And my answer would be no.
Religion may be a factor but it’s not necessarily what drives a suicide bomber. Rajiv Gandhi, who was about to be re-elected as the Prime Minister of India was killed by Tamil Tigers. Religion didn’t come into the picture.
I believe it all boils down to one word.
Hopelessness.
Why do we believe we will never be suicide bombers? Is it because we have never been in his situation? Maybe.
So let me try to get into the shoes of a suicide bomber.
Let’s say Trump becomes President, and leads the US into a new war in the Middle East on one hand, and incites civil war between the whites and the rest at home on the other hand. Russia jumps into the fray and the US is soon in a World War like scenario abroad, and massive internal strife in the country. In no time, the US becomes a failed economy with political, economic and social chaos, with crimes rates spiralling out of control.
Let’s say in this situation, Trump unleashes a couple of nukes in the Middle East. In retaliation, the Russian led opposition decides to take out all Trump leaders with hundreds of drone attacks.
Now imagine bombs going off all night around you, and waking up every morning, to check which of your friends and relatives were killed in last night’s drone attacks. Or stepping outdoors to buy food, and then having it forcibly taken away by criminal gangs. Imagine women having to stay indoors as it’s no longer safe outside. Or calling for help, and when the police arrive, they ask to see your identity and calmly empty your wallet and split it with the gangs. Imagine going back to your apartment to find it’s been bombed into rubble, and your entire family has been wiped out.
Imagine the hopelessness of it all. Family gone, friends going, crime all around you, injustice anywhere you turn, and even basic necessities like food, water, sleep, medicines, clothes, and shelter, becoming a dream.
Now imagine a Trumpite calling you to say they are planning a suicide mission in one of the countries bombing the US, and they need volunteers. You ask if civilians will be hurt, and they hint to you that a major leader is being targeted at a music show and there will be casualties in all wars.
Is it just possible that you still might volunteer for the mission?
Ok, that may explain the mindset of the suicide bomber in a war zone. But what about people like the Boston Marathon bombers who have relatively good lives but still go out and kill innocent people?
In the crowd but not part of it
I believe it’s because these individuals have not integrated into society of the country they live in. They identify more with their co-religionists in war-torn countries. Over time, this becomes more real to them than their own lives. Eventually, they begin to identify with the hopelessness of those in war zones. And soon, the killing of innocents doesn’t seem wrong.
What strikes me is the common ground between the homegrown suicidal terrorists and the school killers. They are both not integrated into society.
Ideally, if you can integrate these alienated souls into society and culture, you could prevent them from exploding, literally and metaphorically. Some European countries are already insisting refugees learn the language of their country as a pre-condition for immigration. This shows that West is already beginning to see the urgent need for integration.
Other countries are objecting to the veil. They may be taking a tip from the Middle East where the local culture is enforced on non-locals. For instance, even in a relatively moderate country like UAE, it’s a crime to be seen eating in the daytime during the month of Ramadan. In the more extreme Saudi Arabia, all women have to wear veils, regardless of nationality or religion.
Killers who look like the boy next door
Forcing people to integrate like this is impractical. It’s easy to put on the appearance of being integrated while actually being just the opposite. I saw a video of the younger Boston bomber strolling in the exact spot where he’s about to plant the bomb that seconds later will kill and maim people standing right next to him. He ‘looks’ like a perfectly normal kid.
What’s even more amazing is how detached he’s about the killing. The same video shows him ten minutes after the bomb has exploded, in a supermarket where he’s having trouble trying to choose between skimmed or full fat milk. After the bombing, a friend asked the older bomber if he didn’t feel sad about the kids killed in the bombing. His reply was, “God will take care of them.” These two outwardly integrated, God-fearing individuals had completely convinced themselves that killing innocents was actually a good thing.
Instead of enforcing integration, a more workable solution may be to keep an eye on those who don’t integrate, as they could be potentially dangerous. Institutions, organisations, law enforcement officials need to actively do this.
Maybe the West doesn’t have to go all Big Brother on this. But there will have to be some level of surveillance and loss of privacy as is currently happening. This is the price the West has to pay for sticking its nose into other countries’ business.
I mean Saddam Hussein was a monster, but he kept Pandora’s Box shut. When the West used the excuse of Saddam stocking WMD to knock him off, they opened that box. So instead of one monster in Iraq, thousands of unholy monsters escaped and spread to all corners of the world.
There is a fine balance between knowing when to interfere to pre-empt a Hitler, and when not to do the same with a Saddam. The wrong call in Iraq and other countries in the region has led to the refugee situation in Europe. Governments are facing a dilemma. They know it’s inhuman to close their borders. Yet if they open their doors, the unwanted elements will sneak in along with the innocent refugees, and the spiral of violence will continue.
Integration is just one step in the defusing the threat of prospective worldwide religious conflict. Coming back to 15 year old child suicide bomber in Iraq. What could make a child do this? The local authorities say the terrorist organization “trained and brainwashed” the boy. “They tell them if they do this, they will go to heaven and have a good time and get everything that they ever wanted.”
What I see is the same thread of hopelessness running in the background. Would the boy have agreed to carry out the attack if he was integrated into society, with a happy family background, and a bright future? I doubt it.
So is it even possible to end this increasingly vicious cycle of violence?
There’s only one thing that slays hopelessness.
Hope.
The religious already have hope built into their system through their beliefs of heaven and a God who will reward the good. So if we can remove their sources of hopelessness, they will go back to their normal lives. Not that their old lives are perfect.
Like in India, there’s a lot of violence. The usual causes are money, religious conflicts, political confrontations, and sexual violence (which is usually a statement of power in disguise). But what stands out is that there are almost no school killings in India. Because in India, people have hope.
To save itself from rogue immigrants, the West needs to start with the actual cause of the conflict in the Middle East. It began in the last century when the US economy needed more oil than their own oil wells could produce. That’s when the US began interfering in the Middle East politics, unscrupulously supporting any regime which gave them oil, and bringing down those regimes that didn’t. That set off a chain of events which has ended up with the present situation.
The current move into electric cars is therefore essential to get the West out of its addiction to oil, and thus out of the Middle East. With the irritant of the US presence out of the way, things may simmer down over time.
But what’s done can’t be undone. The refugees who have emigrated to the West will multiply and at some point of time, there will be internal conflict, similar to the ongoing ‘Black Lives Matter’ confrontation between whites and blacks. Except, there will be a religious dimension to the conflict.
Instead of seeing this as an obstacle, the West should view this as an opportunity. India serves as a model of how the belief in God can avert hopelessness and prevent such horrors as school killings. After all, history does show that Asians who emigrate to the West usually integrate well as they are hard working, and prosperity automatically negates hopelessness.
However the experience of France with emigrants shows an alternate reality. Most are poor, unintegrated into general society, and live sad, hopeless lives. With nothing to look forward to, violence has inevitably followed.
Looking at from this perspective, just opening the border gates to refugees is not enough. They need to be educated or taught skills that enable them to earn a living and hence integrate into society over time. If a country cannot do this, then it might be better to keep those gates closed.
What about school shootings?
The debate in the US on this seems stuck in the gun culture. Guns are only a symptom. What’s the cause? Why did the would-be-killer buy the gun?
Let’s assume that I’m right and it’s the same hopelessness that drives the perpetrators to kill. They see no meaning in their present lives, and their future looks bleak. Being atheists, they don’t even have the consolation of an afterlife and heaven to look forward to.
So how do we give them hope?
This is an issue unique to the West. As I mentioned earlier in this piece, we in India, sort of have hope inbuilt into our systems as a result of religion and upbringing. This is not a recent discovery.
120 years ago, a Hindu monk made this very insightful comment.
“Social life in the West is like a peal of laughter; but underneath, it is a wail. It ends in a sob. The fun and frivolity are all on the surface: really it is full of tragic intensity. Now here, it is sad and gloomy on the outside, but underneath are carelessness and merriment.” — Swami Vivekananda
Ideally, the West needs to get religion. But that’s not going to happen, as religion is going out of fashion in the West.
It all starts with your family
Let me, from my perspective as a middle class Indian, analyse how religion in India breeds hope. And see if we can replicate the process without the religion component.
Most kids in India have to pray, regardless of religion or economic status. What’s relevant is that it’s a family affair. The prayer may happen several times a day, or only when they go to bed, or weekly or occasionally… but it will happen.
For instance, when a beloved grandfather passes away, his grandchildren gather with their grieving parents, watch old home videos, and pray his soul will go straight to heaven.
This joint prayer deepens their faith in God.
Their grandfather’s absence hurts the kids but their grandmother is inconsolable on losing her companion of over half a century.
The kids begin to understand what real love is.
After the funeral, the whole family takes the ashes and makes a long pilgrimage to a distant temple. The journey is tedious, the hotels are dirty, and the food is substandard. At the temple, it’s hot and sweaty, and the gravel on the path outside is painful on feet not used to going bare. The queues to enter the temple are endless, the crowds are unruly, and the danger of a stampede is ever present. The children see their elders endure all this without a murmur, with their minds focused on praying for the one who has departed.
The children learn sometimes you have to put yourself and your needs aside.
After the rituals are done, the family goes down to the holy river, and immerse the ashes of the grandfather. The children see burning pyres all along the banks of the river, and they begin to realise that death is a natural part of life.
Outside the temple and by the banks of the river, there are hundreds of homeless who beg for money, some of them being mere kids.
They children become conscious for the first time of how lucky they are to be born in well-off families.
Back home, the family organises a lunch for the children at the local orphanage as a sign of gratitude to the Gods for being merciful to them. The simple joy the orphans show in their food is an eye opener for the kids.
The grandmother departs alone to another temple. She spends a week there, serving food to the devotees eating the free lunches at the temple canteen. When she returns, she seems to be coming to terms with the death of her husband, and more at peace with herself.
I can keep writing endlessly about this but I think I have made my point.
Can hope be created without the religion?
Religion in India is more of a tool to pass down values to their children. You can remove religion from the above entire process of raising kids, and they will still grow up with hope ever present in their lives. But only if there is a family willing to take the effort to teach the children these values, and set an example by putting them into practice in real life.
Hope can come only to those who break free from the tyranny of the ‘Me, Myself and My Things’ approach to life. It will only come when you stop being self centred, begin to feel the pain of those less privileged than you, start doing things for others with no thought of getting anything in return, and eventually discover the simple pleasure of giving.
Is this possible in the West where families are breaking down, and single parent families are the new normal? Can it happen where people have no time for anything other than working to make ends meets?
Maybe that is the real problem. The human species is a social species. If an individual has no proper family or support groups, he will become a dysfunctional human being with no moral compass, and a danger to society.
Well, that’s another blog!
