{"id":44518,"date":"2014-07-14T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2014-07-14T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=44518"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:33:40","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:33:40","slug":"before-the-next-isis-we-need-nonviolent-counterterrorism-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/07\/before-the-next-isis-we-need-nonviolent-counterterrorism-strategies\/","title":{"rendered":"Before the Next ISIS, We Need Nonviolent Counterterrorism Strategies"},"content":{"rendered":"

A relatively new group engaging in non-state political violence, ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, recently called for the creation of an Islamic state in Iraq and Syria and a continuation and strengthening of jihad during Ramadan, according\u00a0to a video that emerged through social media<\/a>.\u00a0 ISIS, born of Al Qaeda members in Iraq and matured in the Syrian civil war power vacuum, is so radical that\u00a0Al Qaeda \u201cdisowned\u201d it<\/a>.\u00a0 As if its goals of coerced dominance aren\u2019t bad enough, Al Qaeda criticized ISIS for its brutality against civilians and Muslims.\u00a0 Repeat: Al Qaeda criticized ISIS. For brutality.<\/p>\n

Enough is enough. All violent counterterrorism-intervention policies have completely failed. We\u2019re sowing and reaping perpetual tragedy with this violence machine and the only people benefitting are sitting on top of a mountain of cash in the conflict industry (I\u2019m looking at you, Lockheed Martin.) It\u2019s time for a major shift in conflict management strategies. Can we finally start listening to the numerous scholars and studies with scientifically supported strategies for nonviolent counterterrorism? Here is a three-step strategy all sensible persons (and politicians) should advocate:<\/p>\n

First, immediately stop sending funds and weapons to all involved parties. This is the easiest of the three. Ten years of terrorism-making and we still think our guns aren\u2019t going to fall into the \u201cwrong\u201d hands? The hands they fall into are already \u201cwrong.\u201d If you need a good example, take a look at our darlings, the Free Syrian Army, and their blatant human rights violations, such as using child soldiers, documented by Human Rights Watch in\u00a02012<\/a>\u00a0and2014<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Second, fully invest in social and economic development initiatives in any region in which terrorist groups are engaged. In his 2004 book, \u201cNonviolent Response to Terrorism,\u201d Tom Hastings, Ed.D., professor of conflict resolution at Portland State University, questions: \u201cWhat if the terrorists \u2013 or the population base from which they draw \u2013 had enough of life\u2019s necessities? What if they had secure jobs, decent living standards, drinkable water and healthy food for their children? Do we seriously think they would provide a recruiting base for terrorism?\u201d Harvard lecturer Louise Richardson, author of the 2007 book \u201cWhat Terrorists Want\u201d makes the same argument, and Kim Cragin and Peter Chalk of the Rand Corporation drew the same conclusion from their\u00a02003 study on social and economic development to inhibit terrorism<\/a>.\u00a0 ISIS gained some of its current strength from economically providing for the families of fallen fighters, promising education to young boys (and then handing each a weapon), and capitalizing on grief and anger in Syrian communities. If we want to weaken ISIS and any other group engaging in terrorist activities, we have to start focusing on the needs they fill in those communities. Local communities in the region should be self-sustainable and civilians should feel empowered to provide for themselves and their families without taking up arms or using violence.<\/p>\n

Third, fully support any and all nonviolent civil society resistance movements. Whoever is left \u2013 give them whatever support is needed the most. Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephen, in their\u00a02011 groundbreaking study on civil resistance<\/a>, \u201cWhy Civil Resistance Works,\u201d found that \u201cbetween 1900 and 2006, nonviolent resistance campaigns were nearly twice as likely to achieve full or partial success as their violent counterparts.\u201d In addition, successful nonviolent resistance campaigns are less likely to descend into civil war and more likely to achieve democratic goals. We should have fully supported the nonviolent Syrian revolution when we had the chance. Instead, we gave legitimacy to the violent rebel factions \u2013 those same groups now fighting alongside Al Qaeda and ISIS. If we send our unconditional support to whatever nonviolent civil society actors are left on the ground in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, we might just find that the best remedy for\u00a0terroritis<\/em>\u00a0has been right in front of us the entire time \u2013\u00a0civil society<\/em>.<\/p>\n

These are three easy paths any rational politician could advocate that will decrease hostilities, prevent the emergence of new terrorism recruiting environments and empower local communities to engage in nonviolent conflict resolution strategies. \u00a0We\u2019ve had centuries to discover that violence doesn\u2019t work, hasn\u2019t worked and won\u2019t work. It\u2019s time to try something different. Global leaders need to get on board the logic train and put some serious and sustained effort into nonviolent counterterrorism strategies. Otherwise, it\u2019s only a matter of time before ISIS starts criticizing the next group for wanton violence and human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

Erin Niemela (<\/em>erinnpdx@gmail.com<\/a>)\u00a0is a Master\u2019s Candidate in the Conflict Resolution program at Portland State University,\u00a0<\/em>PeaceVoice<\/em><\/a>\u00a0editor and\u00a0<\/em>PeaceVoiceTV<\/em><\/a>\u00a0channel manager.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 warisacrime.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All violent counterterrorism-intervention policies have completely failed. We\u2019re sowing and reaping perpetual tragedy with this violence machine and the only people benefitting are sitting on top of a mountain of cash in the conflict industry (I\u2019m looking at you, Lockheed Martin.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nonviolence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44518\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}