The five days since my last post have been monotonously eventful.
   Another Bombing in Jerusalem, Another Massacre in Uganda, Another Uprising in Haiti.
   But life goes on, students^ at the Catholic High School I attend still maintain narrow-minded, naive views of the world -
“all suffering and violence is caused by terrorists, terrorists are evil, they are muslims, they are evil”
views shared by many people in wider Australian and western society. These people believe that their beliefs and values set them apart from all other inhabitants of this world, that they know what they are talking about because they’ve seen it on their imported american news / propaganda channels, that we must fight against these people – “haters of peace”.
   In the wake of September 11, 2000, Mayor Rudolf Giuliani of New York summed up the feelings of the people of the US when he said: “Those who practise terrorism lose any right to have their cause understood … We’re right, they’re wrong. It’s as simple as that.”. But it has proved, and was evident prior to the attacks, that this is not the case. Continued ignorance of the plights of those driven to desperate acts of violence has only contributed to the hostility of the world climate.
   Terrorism is today connected with images of bearded dark men in turbans, arabs, muslims, suicide bombers, a situation which clearly shows the portrayal of “terrorism” in the mass media. A simple look at the word itself provides for a much more objective interpretation of it’s meaning – Terror-ism – “the installing of terror”. With this objective definition of a word – used so often by todays media that it has near lost its meaning – it is a lot easier to gain a perspective into the other side of the conflicts in the world. Living in a situation where you constantly fear for your life and the lives of your children and families is living in terror. The feeling of fear is not unique to people of the western world, or people being subject to “terrorist” attacks, it is felt by people of all religions, races and nationalities, on both sides of wars, conflicts and the world.
   Imagine this, You are a Palestinian parent living close to the Israeli – Palestine border, you live in an apartment building setup after your house and farmland were taken from you by the Israeli’s. You have to cross through checkpoints every morning and afternoon to arrive at your work place inside Israeli territory and to earn a living. Each day you fear that you’re home will be demolished, that your children will be killed, or that you will be shot or blown up leaving your family without support.
   Is it wrong that someone must live in constant fear? Does a single attack against the United States of America have the same effect as a lifetime of oppression, violence and fear? Can we, those who have lived our lives in the safety, wealth and indulgences of the western world sit here and safely say that WE are not the real “terrorists”?
   There are only two ways of erradicating terrorism, fear and violence in our world. You can either wipe out the entire race or stop fighting.
^The students mentioned above are in no way a reasonable representation of either the community of this high school, or catholics in general. No suggestion is being made that catholics or students are in any way less capable of objective reasonable opinion making.