On Terrorism

Returning from the G20 demonstrations in London to hear pious Yank Bill O'Reilly refer to the protesters as 'loons' that want to 'give peace a chance whilst Bin Laden and his crew cut off people's heads', I found it staggering that this blatant manipulation of the facts could still be swallowed by so many enough to warrant that gasbag on the air. al-Qaeda didn't fly planes into the World Trade Centre on September 11th because they hate Western freedoms. Hezbollah didn't hold Terry Anderson hostage in Beirut in 1985 to force Islam upon a predominantly Christian West. Hamas didn't fire rockets into Israel early this year for any reason other than to resist an oppressor. In all practical terms, we are that oppressor.
It's very much true what they say – one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Just as the Scottish idolise William Wallace or the Welsh revere Owain Glyndŵr – national heroes that fought a superior oppressive force for the emancipation of their people and for their country's independence, the only difference is their romanticising over time. Just as Owain Glyndŵr massacred the English in the 15th century and now has a Wetherspoons named after him, the depths of our hypocrisy is terrifying.
I don't advocate murder, but I do advocate resistance. By funding the UN-condemned expansion and armament of the state of Israel, we are providing fuel to the fire of that resistance. History has shown us that there's only so much the people can take before they start fighting back.
Noam Chomsky once world-wearily said - “There is a solution, a straightforward solution… Israel could stop its US-backed crimes in the occupied territories and then presumably the reaction to them would stop. But that’s not on the agenda.” - the question is why is it not on the agenda? Again our hypocrisy is terrifying when we condemn humanitarian attacks such as 9/11 by terrorist groups whilst the government we vote for show little regard for human life themselves. Even as the steamroller of US imperialism storms through the Gaza Strip and West Bank, under the guise of the IDF, Lebanon remains a forgotten vestige of the crimes funded by our government.
We are told to fear these people. We are told, in paranoid xenophobic sincerity by those that have everything to lose, that these people hate the West and work towards its destruction. They breed an 'us-and-them' mentality, one that – at its root – can find justification in the pettiest of things - be it race, religion or nationality.
Images of the wave of UK university occupations for Gaza did a lot to disperse the myth that we, the silent population behind the government that aids in the genocide, advocate the actions of our democratically elected government. The occupations, the marches in London, the rallies and talks and direct actions, were all followed closely by our cousins in the Middle East. If we are to put an end to needless killing and terrorism, we need to express our solidarity and speak out against the actions of our government in our masses. We need to ensure the crimes of the West won't be left out of the history books. That the will of the people is stronger than any missile or bomb.
It's important to remember that terrorist groups aren't centralised organisations that can be defeated by capturing an individual or number of individuals. These groups are ideological stepchildren of oppression, and for as long as that oppressive force remains the resistance against them will grow. And still Israel continue to expand beyond their 1948 partition plan borders, like a plague in the Middle East, and still our hypocrisy is terrifying.