Fear This
September 1st 2006 02:40
Fear This
I once stood in the center of the temple which supported the Bo Tree that was cultivated from the original tree that Lord Buddha was said to have found enlightenment under. Some years, I think it was 1983 or 84 when terrorist had burst into the temple and killed 40 monks, later the same day they attacked the bus station killing 21 civilians. What I found interesting at my visit in 1993 were the bullet holes that still remained in the heavy doors and walls. Some years earlier in 1990 I went with my wife to Sri Lanka for the first time and was introduced to her next door neighbors. A meeting that still find hard to forget. There son who was around the same age as my wife and used to travel with her on the same bus had been killed in a bomb blast in Colombo. They showed us his wallet that was pot marked with tiny shrapnel scars and explained how a tiny piece of metal that had killed. This happened one month after my wife migrated to Australia, at the same bus stand and at the same time that she usually caught the bus. More than 300 people we killed that day.
To me terrorism is a very cruel and callous beast. Yet when I hear that we need a new morality for the post 9/11 world I shudder.
I shudder to think what a post 9/11 mentality can bring and I will explain why.
Between my first visit to Sri Lanka 1990 and the second in 1993 the island descended into civil war. Terrorism may have been on the increase but that was nothing in comparison to the government at the time. Thousands of people were forced to leave Sri Lanka or face a certain death. Others were unable to escape. The iron fist of the government used its powers to firstly to try to stop the terrorist then later to adopt a policy of killing anyone they chose. I personally know one person who had to leave because he knew a defense lawyer that was requesting ‘Habeas Corpus’ for people arrested. Another person I know was only able to escape after his parents were able to convince the authorities that he was dead. Thankfully he lives to this day.
What I have had driven home to me in all of this history is how fragile human civilization is. Every act of murder committed by the government at that time was excused in the name of security. Australians may feel safer with less civil rights than our parents had, if it is to fight terrorism. However terrorists, no matter how vile, will never have the resources of a government. Governments have armies, police and secret agencies ready and waiting to unleash whatever terror a ruthless leader can dream up. Governments can be so much better organized in terror, if they so choose.
I once stood in the center of the temple which supported the Bo Tree that was cultivated from the original tree that Lord Buddha was said to have found enlightenment under. Some years, I think it was 1983 or 84 when terrorist had burst into the temple and killed 40 monks, later the same day they attacked the bus station killing 21 civilians. What I found interesting at my visit in 1993 were the bullet holes that still remained in the heavy doors and walls. Some years earlier in 1990 I went with my wife to Sri Lanka for the first time and was introduced to her next door neighbors. A meeting that still find hard to forget. There son who was around the same age as my wife and used to travel with her on the same bus had been killed in a bomb blast in Colombo. They showed us his wallet that was pot marked with tiny shrapnel scars and explained how a tiny piece of metal that had killed. This happened one month after my wife migrated to Australia, at the same bus stand and at the same time that she usually caught the bus. More than 300 people we killed that day.
To me terrorism is a very cruel and callous beast. Yet when I hear that we need a new morality for the post 9/11 world I shudder.
I shudder to think what a post 9/11 mentality can bring and I will explain why.
Between my first visit to Sri Lanka 1990 and the second in 1993 the island descended into civil war. Terrorism may have been on the increase but that was nothing in comparison to the government at the time. Thousands of people were forced to leave Sri Lanka or face a certain death. Others were unable to escape. The iron fist of the government used its powers to firstly to try to stop the terrorist then later to adopt a policy of killing anyone they chose. I personally know one person who had to leave because he knew a defense lawyer that was requesting ‘Habeas Corpus’ for people arrested. Another person I know was only able to escape after his parents were able to convince the authorities that he was dead. Thankfully he lives to this day.
What I have had driven home to me in all of this history is how fragile human civilization is. Every act of murder committed by the government at that time was excused in the name of security. Australians may feel safer with less civil rights than our parents had, if it is to fight terrorism. However terrorists, no matter how vile, will never have the resources of a government. Governments have armies, police and secret agencies ready and waiting to unleash whatever terror a ruthless leader can dream up. Governments can be so much better organized in terror, if they so choose.
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