“Vengeance is not the point; change is. But the trouble is that in most people’s minds the thought of victory and the thought of punishing the enemy coincide.” (Barbara Deming, Non-Violence Theorist and Women’s Rights Proponent)
The fight for land has always been raging. Avenging some other people’s incursion into one’s own land becomes a grand spectacle of violence. People, too, revenge against those that take back the land they have comfortably settled on. The former is avenging invasion. The latter is revenging infringement on human rights. Terrorism is not too far from where these concepts lie.
Terrorism comes with a few buzzwords such as oppression, injustice, persecution, revenge, self-sacrifice, patriotism, autonomy, national sovereignty, extremism, death – and all their attendant synonyms. When all these concepts come together in one explosive end, with great force and to an excessive degree, it becomes vengeance. Blood is spilled at that moment.
Wreaking havoc is said to be the business of radical Islamists. Many a times we’ve heard that they do so out of vengeance. They are out to revenge the persecution of their lot through the millennia (or for much more recent turn of events, with most). The heart of a terrorist is full of hatred and wrath. That, we know. That, we are told. His mind is sharp only in terms of brainwashed dictum and dogma. This, we have an inkling, too.
Their clamor is that of self-determination. That’s a technocratic way of saying they want the piece of land that they have settled on. They want self-rule. That’s a bureaucratic way of saying they want to be able to govern themselves and collect some form of taxes for their own. They want to impose their own brand of law, and be able to perpetuate their definitions of order and control. Their imperialistic streak, though, is coming late in the day. But all these concepts are not unique to radical Islamism.
If one looks closely, there is essentially no difference among the different campaigns of those who want to occupy land. The motive of radical Islamists that want to occupy Somalia or Gaza is the same as the intent of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka. Is there really a difference between what Hamas is fighting for and what Fatah wants? To be able to occupy and rule their portion of Mindanao is what Bangsamoro in the Philippines is fighting for. The tribal groups in the Amazon have suffered countless deaths in the hands of farmers who have been quickly inching their way into tribal land.
The conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region started as a territorial dispute between nomads and pastoralists. Nomads have been encroaching on farming communities in Darfur for many years. Set against the backdrop of ever-widening desertification, the dispute has taken massive proportions. Nearly half a million deaths in gross proportions, to be exact. This dispute has been used for further and wicked political ambition whose price is paid in genocidal proportions.
