Everyone’s war

The world has reacted with understandable outrage and horror to the serial terror attacks in Paris, which have left 129 dead and more than 350 injured. The shootings and bombings of unarmed civilians in crowded public areas like restaurants, concert halls and sports arenas, chillingly reminiscent of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, have been called an “act of war” by French President Francois Hollande. Yes, Paris did seem like a warzone on Friday night, with gunshots and bomb explosions rocking the city, amidst the wail of police and emergency sirens. And the immediate impact has been similar to an act of war — a shaken and scared civilian population, and a renewed sense, not just in Paris, but around the world that no one, and no place can be considered safe anymore. To that extent, the attackers may have achieved what they wanted to. But in so doing, they may have also achieved what even the 26/11 attacks could not — nudged even more people into the dangerous belief that the world is in a state of war.

Terrorists invariably trot out a political justification for their acts. This time too, the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the heinous attack, has said it was in response to France’s policy in Syria. To accept such simplistic ‘cause and effect’ explanations is tantamount to rationalising random and mindless violence. While there is plenty that is wrong with the manner in which the US and its western allies have intervened in countries such as Syria and Libya, suicide bombers who have no specific targets and are prepared to kill anyone who happens to be at their chosen spots, are undeserving of any political explanation or validation. It is one thing for Hollande to promise a “pitiless response”. But a response against what, or whom? How can a country seal its borders against its own citizens? How does one identify the enemy, when the enemy is within?

It may be tempting for France and other European nations to react by shutting their doors to refugees. But they would do well to consider why it is that people driven out of their homes by conflict are flocking to their shores in such numbers. It is not just for a safe refuge from fighting, because that would have been possible closer to home. Instead, what has drawn these migrants is the idea of not just a safer, but a better tomorrow where their children would no longer be prisoners of the past. It is this very idea that the terrorists wish to obliterate. While Hollande may have likened the attacks to war, the restraint and maturity with which the French media and its talking heads, political and other, dealt with the crisis are commendable. There are lessons in this for India, where it has become commonplace to shed any semblance of moderation and discuss issues with a bitter and noisy acrimony.

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