VARIOUS TYPES OF TERRORISM IN THE WORLD AND HOW TO DEFEAT

THEM
Fernando Alcoforado *
The world faces at present three types of global terrorism: 1) terrorism practiced by the
great imperialist powers, especially the US ruling sectors and its allies aimed at the
conquest of natural resources and the domination of markets of the peripheral capitalist
countries; 2) terrorism practiced by organizations that react to the imperialist action
throughout the world, particularly Arabs, fighting against the military occupation of
their country by the big imperialist powers, as in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria,
among other countries; and, 3) terrorism practiced in central capitalist countries against
Muslims and their offspring born on the continent, especially in Europe, with the rising
tide of "Islamophobia" - discrimination suffered at work and on the streets to violent
attacks.
The imperialism practiced by the great Western powers against the peripheral capitalist
countries has meant war and terrorism throughout history. Of all violent forces that have
arisen to date throughout history, was imperialism (British, French and American,
among others), who committed the greatest crimes against humanity - of interimperialist wars as the 1st and 2nd World War to calls limited wars like the Korean
War, the Vietnam War and the sponsorship of terror regimes and military dictatorships
established in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s, including in Brazil. Through
subordinate schemes to their interests, the US government and its allies have sponsored
all possible acts of terrorism, including illegal arrests and detention, torture, murder,
among other actions. Millions of people in Asia, Africa and Latin America have
suffered from these acts of state terrorism.
From its origins as a social mode of production in the sixteenth century, capitalism has
been characterized by barbarism which means savagery, cruelty, inhumanity, incivility.
Massacres, genocides and multiple forms of human degradation characterize capitalism
in its historical development. It would be in the capitalist periphery countries where
capitalism would expose its most barbaric face. This is the case of the current refugee
crisis that is the biggest since the Second World War. The refugee crisis is the tragic
result of a criminal policy of war and military intervention for regime change,
implemented by the United States and the European Union in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan,
Libya and, above all, in Syria. What the world has witnessed today, with thousands of
desperate refugees trying to reach Europe, it is the effect of this criminal policy
maintained by major Western powers. In more than a decade, Afghanistan wars and
Iraq, waged under the pretext of being "against terrorism", and justified with vile lies
about "Iraqi weapons of mass destruction", devastated whole societies and killed
hundreds of thousands of men, women and children.
The rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) and the sectarian and bloody civil wars ongoing in
Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria are the product of economic and social devastation
promoted by the United States and its allies. Given the reduced humanitarian assistance
and the lack of prospects of returning home, many Syrians are trying to reach Europe,
especially Germany, through the Mediterranean, the most dangerous sea route. In
addition to the Syrians, there are more than three million refugees from sub-Saharan
Africa. The flow originating from countries that are already many years in crisis, such
as Sudan, Congo and Somalia, are in addition to hundreds of thousands of people who
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had to leave countries such as South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Nigeria and
Burundi.
The history of humanity has been characterized for centuries by the victory of barbarism
over civilization. Civilization and Barbarism have opposite meanings. According to the
dictionary, Civilization is a word imbued with qualities, that is, includes the educated
property, living in society, in short, that fit the established standards. In contrast,
Barbarism is the state in which the barbarians live and they are those without culture,
civilization, violent, cruel, in short, those who do not conform to established standards.
If the concept of civilized does not apply to people of the capitalist periphery because
they are not well educated, the concept of barbarian applies more than the civilized
those who consider themselves civilized (North American and European countries)
because they are violent, cruel and do not conform to established civilization standards.
The scenario in which we currently live on the planet sets what Thomas Hobbes called
the state of nature or state of war of everybody against everybody. According to
Hobbes, one of the three situations in which the state of nature can be seen occurs "in
the international society in which relations between states are not regulated by a
common power, a situation that could be called inter-state" (BOBBIO, Norberto.
Thomas Hobbes. Campus, Rio, 1991, p. 36). It should be noted that the concept "state of
nature" has been defined by the philosopher Thomas Hobbes in his Leviathan work.
According to Hobbes, in the "state of nature", reigns the absence of law, so there is no
space for justice. In this context, all seek to defend their rights by force. In the "state of
nature", therefore, as conceived by Hobbes, reigns war of everybody against everybody.
The state of nature is, therefore, the state of freedom from external law, that is, no one
can be obliged to respect the rights of others also cannot be sure that others respect their
rights and can much less be protected against acts of violence of others. This is the
situation that prevails in current international relations.
There isnt today what Hobbes called common power on the world, that is, the existence
of agreement of all the countries to leave the state of nature to establish a situation such
that each countries follow the dictates of reason, with the security that others will do the
same. This is, according to Hobbes, the primary condition for peace. Hobbes says that
the state of nature is a state of insecurity and that the purpose of the agreement is to
remove the causes of insecurity. The main cause of insecurity is the lack of a common
world power and the only way for this is that all states consent to waive his own power
transferring it to a legal person, such as the UN restructured.
As long as humanity not build a common mental power shall prevail the law of the
jungle, this is the state of nature at the international level. While prevail the political,
economic and military hegemony of the United States that seeks to impose its will in the
context of the interstate system, the war of everybody against everybody shall prevail.
Until the emergence of a common world power, that is, a world government,
international relations will be governed by the law of the strongest. And this is the worst
case scenario because no country for more power that it have will be able to avoid the
war of everybody against everybody.
The economic, financial, ecological, social and political global crises, the development
of current criminal activities such as trafficking in drugs and arms and terrorist advance
show that they are insoluble without the existence of a world government. One must
understand that the problems affecting the world economy and the global environment
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and contribute to the advancement of terrorism can only be resolved with the existence
of a truly democratic world government representative of all the peoples of the world.
International law cannot be applied and respected in the absence of a world government
that is accepted by all countries and ensure their governance.
Terrorism as practiced recently in Paris, Brussels, Istanbul and Nice made by the
Islamic State makes becomes an imperative to create a new international legal
superstructure and policy to deal with these new issues, ie the structure of world
government given that no great power will be able to defeat them acting in coalition
with other great powers. The preservation of peace is the first mission of every new
form of world government. It would aim to defend the general interests of the planet
making it compatible with the interests of each nation. The world government would
also work towards mediating international conflicts and build consensus among all
nation states to make every national state respects the rights of its citizens, and seek to
prevent the spread of global systemic risks. Actions to be global governance object of
Nations Concert in 1815, of the League of Nations in 1920 and the United Nations in
1945 were in vain because the great powers not relinquished to impose their will
through the use of force in global level.
* Fernando Alcoforado, member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor of Territorial
Planning and Regional Development from the University of Barcelona, a university professor and
consultant in strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is
the author of Globalizao (Editora Nobel, So Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova
(Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, So Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, So
Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado.
Universidade de Barcelona, http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalizao e
Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, So Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Sculo XVI ao Sculo XX
e Objetivos Estratgicos na Era Contempornea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of
the Economic and Social Development-The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Muller
Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrcken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catstrofe
Planetria (P&A Grfica e Editora, Salvador, 2010), Amaznia Sustentvel- Para o progresso do Brasil e
combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Grfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, So Paulo, 2011),
Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econmico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012) and
Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudana Climtica Catastrfica no Sculo XXI (Editora CRV,
Curitiba, 2015).