The horrible massacre in Dhaka is only the latest in a chain of attacks of the same kind: Paris, Tunis, Sousse, Brussels, Baghdad, etc. This time however, as unfortunately at the Bardo Museum in Tunis, the Italians were directly affected, and this shows us - if there were any need - that no one is safe. And the chain of attacks corresponds to a litany of considerations, almost always the same. Corriere on Monday 11 July is no exception, dedicating Ernesto Galli della Loggia's comment to the "Words that Islam does not say".
IN THE FIRST PLACE THE RESPONSIBLE
Minister Gentiloni says that Daesh's claim is reliable. And, of course, it would be very convenient to be able to think of a "spectre" of evil to which all these massacres could be attributed. Let's cut off the snake's head, and it will all be over. But is it really so?
By now everyone realizes that the two main hornet's nests in Syria and Iraq have their days numbered. And it is known that by stepping on a hornet's nest, insects spread everywhere. But above all the advantage of what we call Daesh is that it can be attributed to every criminal act. An assassination becomes terrorism as long as it is framed in an "Islamic" frame such as an invocation to God or a verse from the Koran. One suspects that bad teachers find excellent laborers in the most maladapted and angry communities and that it is too easy, at least today, to relocate criminal acts under the umbrella of Islam.
More than a direction, what we have before our eyes is therefore a kind of franchise without schemes and without structure, very easy to activate, to claim, or to deny, if necessary.
However, what interests most of us is What can we do. To know this, a little more effort of reflection is needed.
Consider the objective: Terrorism is made to terrorize, but to terrorize who? And to get what? And since it is difficult to think that terrorists believe they can frighten the United States, Germany, England or France, there is a well-founded suspicion that another objective, perhaps even the first, is also that of get big repressive reactions and a widespread hatred of diversity, which will inevitably involve many innocent people in the Arab world - and beyond - by helping the terrorists to bring many Islamic communities to their side that have never shared or implemented violence. The murder of the Nigerian in Fermo is the result of this hatred, and he too connects the violence he practices to an ideology, which is that of football fans: in the absence of serious religions or ideologies, everything makes soup!
It is unthinkable to give up defending yourself and therefore not to prosecute the perpetrators of such heinous crimes. But the goal must be pursued with suitable methods, which cannot be limited to intelligence services, police and armies.
The inhabitants of Ben Gardane, a small Tunisian town on the border with Libya, chased the terrorists through the streets reacting as a whole community, confirming that victory against all criminal organizations and mafias can only be guaranteed by the consent of human communities.
It is easy and much faster to strike from a drone or make some arrests, than to organize programs and projects of mutual knowledge and collaboration with the immense communities of the Arab world, which do not share and do not support terrorism. Many speak of actions of this kind, but hardly ever mention is made of the contents or funds available: yet it would not take much if one had clear objectives and defined policies. For example, support the media of the Arab world, journalists, students, women, trade unions, parties, etc. but not those of these who are "on our side" but all, whether or not they have a beard or a scarf on their heads.
THE WORDS THAT ISLAM DOESN'T SAY
Solo everyone's dialogue with everyone, within a single building or in a State can positively bring out the roots of horror, helping families and communities to produce antibodies and to be in solidarity with the institutions of the States. Experts, specialists, actors and TV talk show extras are scrambling to ask the Arab world to call itself out of terrorists and their acts, but even when there are declarations to that effect, they are never enough, implying that deep down for many Arabs terrorists continue to be "comrades who make mistakes". In reality, if it is true that many components of the Arab world have expressed condemnation and indignation, we must try to understand the silence of many others. Anyone who knows that world well knows that majorities remain silent for two reasons. The first is fear, since we are talking about criminal organizations that do not hesitate to intimidate and kill dissenters.
The second is certainly one "Wad Syndrome" as if to say: if we condemn the comrades who make mistakes, we will find them against us, but without being sure that we will be welcomed in the Western world - which protests and chatters so much - in a common homeland, founded on respect for democracy and human rights.
The repressive solutions are just and inevitable, but if they remain the only solutions, then terrorism will win many more lost souls and the silent majorities of the Arab world will be smaller and smaller and more in trouble.
