Our opponents have presented quite convincing evidence proving the existence of the threat posed by terrorism. We have to admit that this threat is real and has caused visible damage to certain regions. However, we intend to prove that the imminence and scale of terrorism are exaggerated. Moreover, there are some more serious dangers that modern society faces worldwide, such as state violence and religious and ethnic intolerance. Therefore, governments should focus on them instead of inflicting unnecessary fear on their citizens and using it to achieve their political goals.
Before we present our arguments in detail, we would like to note that the term “terrorism” is quite vague and has changed throughout history. According to Martini and Emeka, there is still no “universally accepted definition” of it (73). Thus, anyone can attribute it to any violent act to attract attention or, on the contrary, can fail to label some dangerous act as terroristic due to the term’s vagueness. Consequently, presenting terrorism as an existential threat can become a weapon of state violence (Wolfendale 249). In our opinion, it can be even more dangerous than the potential terrorism threat.
Our opponents have provided several examples of dire consequences of ignored or underestimated terrorism threats for some regions. We accept the existence of this threat, but we are still sure terrorism narrative as an existential threat is doing more damage to a larger amount of people than local terroristic attacks. For example, Team 1 claims that terrorism threatens democratic regimes as some governments have to violate their citizens’ human rights to prevent or eradicate terroristic acts. However, we believe that the negative impact of such countermeasures may be even greater and more violent than the acts themselves.
In such cases, a government becomes a terrorist who inflicts fear on its citizens instead of protecting them. Lleshi believes that the conflict in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina is a perfect illustration of it (162-163). The former Serbian leaders whose regimes used terror tactics, such as torturing, raping, murdering people, including civilians, justified their actions as a defense against terrorism (Lleshi 163). In our opinion, their actions are no less terroristic than those of their opponents.
We understand your position, but have you considered how current counterterrorism initiatives trigger even more serious and internationally relevant problems, such as religious intolerance and nationalism? We are certain that systematic discrimination can cause much more violence and damage than some potential risk of a terrorist attack many governments use as a pretext to justify their crimes. As Kopytowska and Baider note, the state’s terrorism narrative is full of the opposition of “‘us’ and ‘them’” where “us” are “civilized nations” and “them” are “militant Islam” (135). Such descriptions evoke stereotypes and prejudice, which then turn into fear, hatred, and violence. Thus, while we fear a potential threat, innocent people around us are being stigmatized by state terrorist attacks because of their ethnicity or religion.
To sum up, we claim that the terrorist threat is real, but not as serious as many politicians present it. There is no accepted definition of terrorism, so any government can use it to justify its crimes. We are sure that the narrative showing terrorism as an existential threat is much more harmful, and its negative influence is more large-scale than the actual threat. Such narrative promotes ethnic and religious discrimination and can be considered terroristic as well since it inflicts fear and results in violence against innocent people.
Works Cited
Kopytowska, Monika, and Fabienne Baider. “From stereotypes and prejudice to verbal and physical violence: Hate speech in context.” Lodz Papers in Pragmatics, vol. 13, no. 2, 2017, pp. 133-152, Web.
Lleshi, Astrit. “How States Carry Out Acts of Terror: Wars, Strategies and Tactics in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.” ILIRIA International Review, vol. 6, no. 2, 2016, pp. 161-172, Web.
Martini, Alice and Emeka T. Njoku. “The Challenges of Defining Terrorism for Counter-Terrorism Policy.” The Palgrave Handbook of Global Counterterrorism Policy, edited by Scott Nicholas Romaniuk et al., Springer, 2017, pp. 73-89, Web.
Wolfendale, Jessica. “The Narrative of Terrorism as an Existential Threat.” Routledge Handbook of Critical Terrorism Studies, edited by Richard Jackson, 2016, pp. 247-268.