By: Bikal Dhungel
I was shocked by the news when I read that a several ton Lorry was
driven towards the mass of people in a Christmas Market in Berlin,
Germany. This is clearly an act of terrorism, an act of cowardness
and a terrible crime. Until now 12 people lost their lives and
several dozens were injured. Probably hundreds of people who saw this
insanity in-front of their eyes in Berlin will be traumatized for the
rest of their lives. In addition to it, the feeling of 'Angst' that
Germans and Europeans have now will cause a vital change in people's
lives. People would attempt to avoid mass gatherings and hot spots
that are likely to be a target of terrorist activities.
Although the same kind of act took place in Nizza, France, this
time in Berlin left a shock in me. May be because I am one of them
and may be this is a special country for me, a homeland that taught
me so many things in my life. This country gave me higher education
which would not have been easier to gain otherwise. This is also a
country where I have most friends. In Berlin, at least many people
live whom I know personally and several dozens of my facebook
friends. Berlin is also very international, so people from all around
the world live there, hence, this news would reach to all corners of
the world within a short time.
The only two groups of people who celebrated this incidence I
guess were the terrorists themselves and the far-right extremist
parties that were busy spreading sentiments against refugees and
immigrants in general. Such incidences would mean that they will gain
voters. Soon after it, the politicians were writing posts and tweets
blaming Refugees, blaming our Chancellor and blaming Muslims and in
some extent, immigrants. The Chancellor was blamed for being liberal
( though she is not a liberal, she is a Conservative , from a
conservative christian party called CDU ). Other liberal parties were
blamed, who did nothing to fuel this terror. The only ones who were
to blame were the very politicians of such right wing parties and the
followers as well as those who were expressing their frustrations on
Refugees because they instrumentalize such incidences to fulfill
their racist goals. What will happen when a person blames on Refugees
in general after this ? This will create hate or increase hate and
fuel hate crimes. The days, weeks and months following, there will be
more hate crimes and yet other innocents will loose their lives.
Similarly, this will also increase fear. People then live with fear
but fear is a terrible thing. Fear fuels hate, fear fuels enemity and
makes impossible to live in a cosmopolitan place. Germany is already
cosmopolitan. Over 35% people in West Germany has a foreign root and
this number is even higher in big cities. So, such acts will create a
division of people like 'us' and 'they'. So, people writing any form
of blame will contribute to this fear and hate that can only end up
in tragedy. Secondly, this is exactly what the terrorists want, to
divide the Germans. So, acting in such a way in hot situations means
telling the terrorists that they have succeeded in what they wanted.
Fortunately, the wisdom of majority of German people did not let that
happen. Germans, and Immigrants and Refugees went to the streets with
candles and flowers and paid sympathy for those who lost lives and
condemned any act of terror towards innocent civilians.
It is easily said than done when people say, 'You have to control
people coming in'. Of course you need to know who is coming in but
the risks we face today is much broader. First, terrorists with real
intention of harm can enter the continent with any other type of
visa. The September 11 terrorist Mohammed Atta came ot Hamburg,
Germany as a student. Terrorists can come with a tourist visa or in
many cases, there are home grown terrorists who were born and raised
in the continent. And obviously terrorists can also come as a
tourist. 32 million tourists come to Germany in a yearly basis. It is
not possible to carry detailed check ins of all people.
Security risk is just one type of risk. But there are other types
of risks as well, like health risks. A person can enter the country
with any form of disease and can infect hundreds of people. So,
carrying out a detailed health check ups of every person coming in
would be vital. So, at last the 'things to do' can be so vast that it
would be cost effective to completely stop anyone from coming to the
country. This is obviously impossible.
So, what should we do in such a world. The simplified answer is to
start thinking globally. Solving security problems globally, solving
health issues globally and solving education problems globally.
Instead of trying to make a country secure from all sorts of threats,
it is important to understand the threat itself. Where do the threat
come from, and why ? What makes people to get radicalized ? When the
symptoms were found and solutions, it makes it easier to solve the
problems. German police cannot just think of blocking all Christmas
market with walls so that no lorries can drive in. Even if they are
successful in doing so, the next day the terrorists will find another
way to carry out such activities. But when the policy makers go back
to the roots of the problem and tackle it there, it far outweighs the
cost to tackle the problem. However, this is a separate issue.
Coming back to the topic, an attempt to divide the people from any
force can be best countered by even more unity and even more
cooperation. I see similar acts in developing countries press every
day. Politicians attempt to divide people based on ethnic groups,
origin, religion, geography and so on to secure their job and to gain
financial rewards in doing so. When people let themselves fooled by
such leaders, the result is always tragic. All ethnic division led
to destruction, countries divided and many are still fighting the
civil war, so called 'failed states'. Similarly, Nationalism or
Isolationism led to war and violence as well. Going back to 1933,
Hitler designed several propaganda that Jews were harming the
society, they are sucking the societal wealth and helping to keep
many people poor. Such propaganda were spread throughout the means
of mass communication. Then the people were told not to buy at Jews.
Then they burnt Jewish books, then suddenly burnt Jewish shops,
houses and finally, captured the Jews and other 'un-wanted' people
and killed them in Gas Chambers or Concentration camps etc. It all
started with 'us' versus 'them' and it took a whole of 7 years to
build up so much hate that people were ready to kill each others.
Many such holocausts are taking place in several countries throughout
Africa and Asia. When we look back to the origins of that, they all
started with 'us' versus 'them'.
Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda lived peacefully for hundreds of years,
and suddenly the ethnic nationalism killed one million Tutsis within
3 months time. Indians and Pakistanis lived in peace all the time
until there was somebody fueling 'Muslims' versus 'Hindus'
propaganda. During the partition alone, 1.5 million died and several
millions in the consequent years. Yugoslavians lived in peace for
hundreds of years despite cultural diversity until someone started to
tell, we are this and they are that. Consequence was a terrible civil
war with tens of thousands of deaths. What lesson we should learn
from this is, ' I will not let any portion of hate in my mind,
because hate destroys both parties'. Hate makes mind biased and
disturbs balanced thinking. One can 'not like' something, one can
also criticize something constructively but once hate comes before
anything, it will lead to a disaster.
I believe, without the liberal humanism of John F Kennedy and
Nikita Khurushev, the nuclear war between the two super powers of
that time couldn't be avoided. Without the Dalai Lama's stance of
peace and rejection of violence, China could not sleep today in
peace. All three of them rejected hate and believed firmly on the
power of love. The German society, along with the immigrants living
in Germany should move even closer, integrate more with a promise
that they wont let any single act of terrorism divide their
friendship and faith on each other. Together they can tackle their
common enemy and would make a society based on friendship and mutual
understanding possible. It is better to live in a society where there
are people whom one can trust than a society where one should
continually fear. The latter, surely would create lots of other
tragedy in the future. I am a firm believer in the wisdom of German
people and their capability of convincing those who have a different
opinion. By this way, the Germans and the peace lovers win and
terrorists and right-wing extremists/nationalists will loose.
